Conference Agenda

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

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.

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 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.? Recent Increases in Limits on Knowledge Eric Lichtblau, Washington bureau reporter, New York Times Economic Sanctions and Secrecy David D. Aufhauser, Senior Advisor, Center for Strategic and International Studies 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 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 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

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm      CONFERENCE RECEPTION The audience is invited to join the speakers, panelists, and conference organizers for refreshments in the Eugene Lang College Cafeteria, across the courtyard from the Tishman Auditorium Lobby.

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? Peter L. Galison, Joseph Pellegrino University Professor, Director, Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University Victor S. Navasky, Director, Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism; Delacorte Professor of Journalism, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Naomi Oreskes, Professor of History and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union 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