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Conference Agenda   (Review the rescheduled sessions below) *not confirmed

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24th, 2010

6:00 pm - 7:15 pm
Session I:   KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Seymour M. Hersh, United States Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist; Author

Moderator: Morton H. Halperin, Senior Advisor, Open Society Institute, Open Society Policy Center

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25th, 2010

10:30 am - 1:15 pm
Session II:  RECURRENCE OF LIMITS ON KNOWLEDGE
Throughout the history of the U.S. there have been moments when limits on what can be known have increased. What are the general features of these moments? Are there built-in restraints that set limits?

The Secrecy System, Democracy and Wise Policy
Daniel Ellsberg, former Defense and State Department official; Rand Analyst; released the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times

Recent Increases in Limits on Knowledge
David Barstow, reporter, The New York Times; Pulitzer Prize-winner for investigative reporting

Infrastructure Restraints
Christopher Capozzola, Associate Professor of History, Lister Brothers Career Development Associate Professorship, MIT

The Role of the Media
Glenn Greenwald, reporter, Salon; author; former constitutional law and civil rights litigator

Moderator: James Miller, Chair of Liberal Studies and Professor of Political Science, The New School for Social Research

Concluded by Q&A with the audience

1:15 pm - 2:15 pm      BREAK

2:15 pm - 5:00 pm
Session III:  ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST LIMITS ON KNOWLEDGE IN A DEMOCRACY
There are those who have made strong arguments in favor of limiting knowledge and those who have argued that there should be no limits on what we can know.

Risks of No Limits
Philip Kitcher, John Dewey Professor of Philosophy, James R. Barker Professor of Contemporary Civilization, Director, Undergraduate Studies for Columbia College, Columbia University

Disadvantages of Limits on Knowledge in a Democracy
Jameel Jaffer, Director, National Security Program, ACLU

The Inverse Relationship between Secrecy and Privacy
Julie E. Cohen, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Moderator: David Z. Albert, Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy, Director of M.A. Program in The Philosophical Foundations of Physics, Columbia University

Concluded by Q&A with the audience

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
FILM SCREENING: SECRECY, A film by Peter Galison and Robb Moss

Followed by Q&A between:
Peter L. Galison
, Joseph Pellegrino University Professor, Director, Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University

Jameel Jaffer, Director, National Security Program, ACLU

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26th, 2010 RESCHEDULED: THURSDAY, MAY 27th, 2010

10:30 am - 1:15 pm
Session IV:  LIMITS ON KNOWLEDGE: THE NEXUS OF POWER, POLICY AND RESEARCH

Limits on what we can know are not only imposed by governments but emerge from the nexus of power, the politics surrounding the making of policy, and from within the research community itself.

Geo-engineering and the Self-Imposed Limitation of Knowledge Within the Scientific Community
Michael Oppenheimer, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School and Department of Geosciences, Princeton University

Public Health Surveillance and Privacy
Ronald Bayer, Professor, Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Media Censorship (Explicit and Implicit) and Media Distortion
Nicholas Lemann, Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor, The Journalism School, Columbia University

Recent Increases in Limits on Knowledge
Eric Lichtblau
, Washington bureau reporter, The New York Times

Moderator: Kenneth Prewitt, Carnegie Professor of Public Affairs, Department of Political Science, Vice-President for Global Centers, Columbia University; former US Census Bureau director

Concluded by Q&A with the audience

1:15 pm - 2:15 pm      BREAK

2:15 pm - 5:00 pm
Session V:  MECHANISMS OF LIMITING KNOWLEDGE

What are the actual processes that are used to limit knowledge in the U.S.?

Secrecy
*Judith Miller, adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute; Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist

Cultural, Political, and Practical Limits: What We Seek to Know, What We Choose Not to Know, What We Don't Bother Knowing
Daniel Sarewitz, Professor of Science and Society, Director of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University

The Impact of New Technologies on Increasing Limits and Transparency
*John Palfrey, Henry N. Ess III Professor of Law, Vice Dean, Library and Information Resources, Harvard Law School, Faculty Co-Director, Berkman Center for Internet & Society

Economic Sanctions and Secrecy
David D. Aufhauser, Senior Advisor, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Moderator: Trebor Scholz, Assistant Professor, Culture and Media Study, Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts

Concluded by Q&A with the audience

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Session VI: PANEL
WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED ABOUT LIMITING KNOWLEDGE IN A DEMOCRACY
This panel will discuss: how should we proceed and how should limits be drawn?

Daniel Ellsberg, former Defense and State Department official; Rand Analyst; released the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times
*Peter L. Galison, Joseph Pellegrino University Professor, Director, Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University
*Martha L. Minow, Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Harvard Law School
*Victor Navasky, Director, Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism; Delacorte Professor of Journalism, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Session Moderator: *Aryeh Neier, President, Open Society Institute

Concluded by Q&A with the audience

Two papers will not be presented because of snow cancelations on February 26, but we do expect to publish them in the special issue of Social Research, which can be preordered on the tickets page:

Theories of Secrecy
Peter L. Galison
, Joseph Pellegrino University Professor, Director, Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University

National Security Secrecy: How the Limits Change
Steven Aftergood
, Senior Research Analyst and Director, FAS Project on Government Secrecy, Federation of American Scientists

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27th, 2010

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be hosting custom tours of their art collection to illustrate how issues of secrecy, censorship, and public access to information are represented in art. Tour tickets are $15 and include admission to the museum. Tours are now full.

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