Name: Bo Gardner

Social Justice Group: International Nuclear Disarmament

Date of Fieldwork: February 18, 2022

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Lynn Rusten – NTI

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :

On Friday, February 18th, my group mate and I were given the opportunity to talk with and interview Lynn Rusten. Lynn Rusten is currently the Vice President of the Global Nuclear Policy Program at NTI. The NTI, which is short for Nuclear Threat Initiative works, with lawmakers to forward the goal of nuclear disarmament. Lynn Rusten also served as the senior director for arms control and nonproliferation on the White House National Security Council staff.

During the duration of the interview, my group mate Edward and I interviewed Lynn Rusten about many different topics relating to nuclear disarmament. One of the topics that we interviewed her about was the use of tactical nuclear weapons. Tactical nuclear weapons are nuclear weapons that are significantly smaller, and less powerful than most others. The point of tactical nuclear weapons is for them to be used during an actual battle, and for them to be used on a battlefield. When we questioned her about this, she mentioned that the military does not prefer nuclear weapons and that they don’t see them as useful or practical devices of war, but instead as deterrence.

Overall Edward and I learned a lot of really helpful information during our interview with Lynn Rusten, and we are really grateful for her time.