Take the case of one Heather Williams, the current director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)’s Project for Nuclear Issues (PONI). Few outside nuclear war strategist circles know about her or what she does. Williams came to EIR’s attention only recently, as the enthusiastic moderator for the notorious keynote address delivered Nov. 20 by Rear Adm. Thomas Buchanan, U.S. Strategic Command Director of Plans and Policy, where he talked so boldly about how the U.S. should prepare to win a nuclear war, should that be necessary to maintain U.S. global hegemony. Williams shaped the discussion to draw out these “helpful” arguments from Buchanan, who in turn spoke of the important role for STRATCOM of the “research” done by such outfits as PONI.
The Nov. 20 CSIS conference, an all-day affair, was centered on PONI’s just-released 94-page report, titled “Project Atom 2024: Intra-war Deterrence in a Two Peer Environment.” Williams was a lead co-author of that report, which EIR is now reviewing. One evident intent of the report is to push for a debate within the U.S. Establishment and broader population over what “winning” a nuclear war could mean.
Williams may be an American, but her intellectual home is London.
