Center for the Study of Democracy

Alan K. Simpson, one of the most distinguished Senators of the last quarter century, delivered the 2001-02 Peltason Lecture at UCI. Simpson spoke about the challenges facing America in the post 9/11 era, which will require new efforts to deal with international terrorism–and the poten-tial financial and political costs of these efforts. He discussed the Bush administration's ability to deal with these new challenges, and the skills they bring to this task. He also high-lighted two major unresolved issues that he believes the US must address: nuclear waste and population growth– stressing the need to address these issues based on the facts, not on emotion or fear.