Atomic Football: The Nuclear Playbook in a Strange New Era (highlights)

Hollywood, Health & Society’s panel “Atomic Football: The Nuclear Playbook in a Strange New Era” was a night to think about the unthinkable: nuclear proliferation and war, near-catastrophic errors when it comes to keeping arsenals secure, the use of cyber attacks and the grim prospect of terrorists getting their hands on a weapon of mass destruction.

But there was also a ray of hope breaking through all the visions of mushroom clouds, and that is the role entertainment can play in raising public awareness and concern.

The event, held Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017 at the Garland Hotel theater in North Hollywood, featured special guest speakers William J. Perry, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and former U.S. Secretary of Defense; Valerie Plame, former covert operations officer for the CIA who worked in nuclear counter-proliferation, and author of “Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House”; Barbara Hall, creator/executive producer of “Madam Secretary” (CBS); David Grae, executive producer of “Madam Secretary”; Eric Schlosser, an investigative journalist and the author of “Command and Control”; and Eric Chien, technical director of Symantec’s Security Technology and Response Division.

Hollywood, Health & Society, a program of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, offers free resources to film and TV writers and producers on a wide range of health and security topics. HH&S’ services include access to experts, writers room briefings, on-site custom research visits, film screenings and panel discussions.