"Corliss Lamont Lecutre and Symposium," a Belfer Center Seminar and Symposium

About

In January 1985, the Center received a grant from Corliss Lamont of New York to establish an endowed lecture series devoted to discussion of critical international security issues.

The first annual Corliss Lamont Lecture was given on April 10, 1985 by Dr. Deymour Melman, Professor of Industrial Engineering at Columbia University. Professor Melman spoke on "The Limits of Military Power: Economic and Otherwise," to a large audience that included many members of teh Greater Boston Community.  Professor Melman was introduced by his old friend, John Kenneth Galbraith, Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics Emertius at Harvard; Mr. Lamont was also in attendance. In his lecture, Professor Melman argued that the current U.S. defense buildup is actually undermining American security interests by depriving the civilian economy of about one of every three dollars of new capital formation.

Paired iwth the Lamont Lecture was a symposium on April 11, entitled "Coping With the Defense Budget." Two panels of guest speakers from government, private research institutions, and the Harvard faculty adressed qeustions of U.S. military preparedness and its social and economic costs.

The first panel addressed the question "Are We Spending Defense Resources on the Right Things?" This panel was chaired by Antonia Handler Chayes, Former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and an Adjunct Research Fellow at CSIA.  Panelists included Dr. Gordon Adams, Director of the Defense Budget Project at the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities in ashington, C.C.; Dr. William Kaufmann, Lecturer in Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government; Dr. Lawrence Korb, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Reserve Affairs, and Logistics; and Larry K.S mith, Studies Director, National Security Programs, John F. Kennedy School of Government.

A second panel, Chaired by Professor Galbraith, focused on the issue of "Are We Spednign Too Much on Defense?" Panelists included Professor Francis Bator, Professor of Political Economy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Professor Melman, and Dr. Korb.

The Symposium highlited the diversity of views on U.S. Defense policy and budget priorities.  Dr. Korb responded to Professor Melman's arguments by cautioning the participants to recognize that the costs of U.S. defense are high precisely because of the nature and scope of U.S. international commitments and the threat of Soviet aggression.  The other panelists differed markedly on the structure and size of armed forces required to meet existing U.S. obligations.  In all, the two days provided a provocative and stimulating assessment of the fundamental relationship between our national defense programs and the resources allocated to them.