The Nuclear Threat Initiative may soon receive a big boost from the deep-pocketed Peter Peterson.
Peterson today announced the establishment of a foundation whose aims include stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
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Peterson reaped $1.8 billion through the IPO of Blackstone Group, which he chairs. After a career that included a stint as commerce secretary under Richard Nixon, he is now ready to start giving away the bulk of his fortune.
He has committed $1 billion to the foundation, which will be headed David Walker, who is currently U.S. comptroller general.
Peterson is a former chair of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, which was founded by two Georgians - former Sen. Sam Nunn and CNN founder Ted Turner, who is a major contributor to the group.
The organization’s aim is to strengthen global security by preventing the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Its board is made up of high-profile figures from the U.S. and abroad, including former defense secretary William Perry, Sen. Richard Lugar and Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. Warren Buffett is an adviser.
The group has raised awareness about the issue through projects such as a film called Last Best Chance, which described how terrorists might buy or steal the materials to make a nuclear bomb, assemble it and smuggle it into the U.S. The movie featured Fred Thompson playing a sage and somber president, described by the New Yorker in 2005 as “the one jarringly unrealistic note in the picture.”
Last month, the Google Foundation announced a $2.5 million grant to the initiative, for a program addressing infectious disease in southeast Asia.
Prior grants to the organization include $7 million from the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, $3.2 million from the Better World Fund and $750,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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1 Comments
#1. Kim 02.15.2008
Prince El Hassan bin Talal is the antichrist and will soon become the ruler of the world.
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