[ JessicaStern - 12 - 06:05:54 ]
RE: [Tish/NASAChatHost] Good morning - Thank you for being with us here today Jessica. Let us know when you are ready and we will begin.
Good morning. Nice to be here. I'm enjoying my work writing. It's fun!

[ JessicaStern - 16 - 06:08:02 ]
RE: [students/WoodElem.] Good morning - thank you for letting us chat with you. How do you make money being a scholar?
That's a very good question. Normally scholars teach at university. I have been raising money from foundations that like to support work on terrorism. But it's not the easiest way to make money -- it would be easier to teach so I wouldn't have to spend time applying for grants!

[ JessicaStern - 17 - 06:09:42 ]
RE: [Chordiantdaughtersday] Jessica, what was the single turning point in your career path toget you where you are now?
Hmm. The single turning point? I guess it was deciding I wanted to focus on national security affairs when I was in graduate school. It's often hard to decide what you want to do with your life, but once you do, things begin to fall into place.

[ JessicaStern - 18 - 06:11:16 ]
RE: [students/WoodElem.] Hi Jessica - We are wondering how true the movie the Peacemaker was?
Good question. It does not accurately reflect my job, that is for sure. I was working in an office, not running around the world. But it does accurately reflect some of the things we worry about in Russia.

[ JessicaStern - 21 - 06:12:35 ]
RE: [ZACCARO/EDISON] What did you do before becoming involved terrerism and weapons of mass destruction?
I studied chemistry and Russian in college.

[ JessicaStern - 22 - 06:13:10 ]
RE: [Chordiantdaughtersday] Jessica, Do you work in an office or at home?
I work at home. I like working at home, but sometimes it's lonely!

[ JessicaStern - 27 - 06:15:58 ]
RE: [students/WoodElem.] Good morning Jessica - Do you still do any work with the government now?
I don't really do any work for the government now, although I still talk to my former colleagues a lot, as well as with representatives in the Congress.

[ JessicaStern - 31 - 06:19:28 ]
RE: [students/WoodsideElem.] What do you think could be the worst scenario currently if terrorists got hold of weapons and what actual weapons could then get?
Terrorists are more likely to acquire simple poisons than anything else. And they are more likely to try to frighten people than to use these weapons truly as weapons of mass destruction. People feel very fearful of these weapons, and terrorists, unfortunately, like to scare people.

[ JessicaStern - 32 - 06:20:53 ]
RE: [ZACCARO/EDISON] How do you socialize with people if you work at home? Do you think that is important?
Yes, I do think it's important to socialize with people. Last night I went to a lecture and had dinner afterwards with a lot of friends. This morning I'm socializing with you, and I'm also having lunch with someone. So most days it's not a problem at all!

[ JessicaStern - 33 - 06:22:09 ]
RE: [Geng/BurleighManorMiddleSchool] Hi Jessica, Nuclear scientist sounds pretty far away for me. How did you want to study nuclear physics in the first place? When did you make up your mind?
Hi! Becoming a nuclear scientist sounds far away but if that's what you want to do, you can do it! You'll be amazed how quickly the time passes, and before you know it, you're a scientist.

[ JessicaStern - 37 - 06:24:19 ]
RE: [FairfieldIntermediate] Do you think that Japan would ever participate in a terrorist act against the U.S. ?
I think it is highly unlikely that Japan would participate in a terrorist act against the US.

[ JessicaStern - 40 - 06:26:24 ]
RE: [students/St.Joseph] What actually does the Interagency smugglinhg group do?
What the nuclear smuggling group really does is sit around a table and plan policy. But that doesn't sound nearly as exciting as running around the world! People in the military do the sort of things portrayed in the Peacemaker. People in the White House and the National Security Council spend their time thinking, writing, planning, setting policy, trying to keep the country safe.

[ JessicaStern - 41 - 06:28:22 ]
RE: [FairfieldIntermediate] Do people in the Nuclear Smuggling Group know how to make a bomb or diffuse a bomb?
No they generally do not. The people who know how to make bombs work in the national laboratories, like Livermore Lab in California. The people who know how to defuse them work at Livermore but also in the Armed Forces and in the Nuclear Emergency Team. Are you interested in learning how to defuse bombs?

[ JessicaStern - 42 - 06:30:08 ]
RE: [Geng/BurleighManorMiddleSchool] When you work at National Security Council, who was the President then? Did you talk to him? And how did you feel about it?
When I worked at National Security Council President Clinton was in office. And yes I did get to talk to him. It was pretty exciting. I never thought, when I was your age, that I would ever get to meet a president. Study hard, and you never know what kind of unpredictable adventures you might have!

[ JessicaStern - 48 - 06:33:50 ]
RE: [ZACCARO/EDISON] Could you define and give examples of weapons of mass destruction (that phrase really scares me!!!)??
The phrase "weapons of mass destruction" usually refers to chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. Chemical weapons are toxic chemicals. Biological weapons are usually living microorganisms that make people ill. You know what nuclear weapons are. It's a very scary subject. I don't spend a lot of time feeling scared about these weapons -- I spend my time thinking about how to prevent them from being used -- I don't have time to be scared.

[ JessicaStern - 49 - 06:35:34 ]
RE: [ZACCARO/EDISON] What were you interested in as a child that led you to work in the area if "terrorism and weapons of mass destruction"?
That's a very good question. I was a pretty ordinary child -- I played with dolls with my sister. Spent a lot of time outdoors. I loved animals, especially our dog. I read a lot, played the piano, and studied dance. Nothing unusual!

[ JessicaStern - 50 - 06:37:17 ]
RE: [students/St.Joseph] Are there any current air lifs of weapons going on?
On Monday there was a story in the New York Times about another operation to remove nuclear materials from Georgia in the former Soviet Union. Maybe you can find the article on line at the New York Times web page. And yesterday there was a story about the same thing in the Washington Post. You may find these stories exciting!

[ JessicaStern - 53 - 06:40:48 ]
RE: [Geng/BurleighManorMiddleSchool] You said that you "decided" to write after you "left" the NSC. Why did you leave the NSC? And why did you decide not to have a job but to write at home? I was always fascinated and puzzled by how people decide to do things.
You ask very good questions! Some people seem to try to plan their lives out from an early age -- they start doing one thing and they stick with it. I haven't done much planning. I left the NSC because my husband was teaching economics at U.C. Berkeley and he wanted to go back to teaching. I became a National Fellow at Stanford University which is not too far from Berkeley. Now my husband is working at the Council of Economic Advisors in the White House so we moved back to Washington. And the reason I work at home now is that I thought I might get more work done that way, and I haven't found anything more exciting. But if something more exciting were to come up, I would consider it!

[ JessicaStern - 54 - 06:41:29 ]
RE: [FairfieldIntermediate] Have you ever seen a bomb explode before?
No, and I hope I never do.

[ JessicaStern - 58 - 06:44:11 ]
RE: [Chordiantdaughtersday] What is currently being done to prevent actos of terrorism?? Is it just a simple thing like talking amongst countries?
There is a lot being done to prevent acts of terrorism. The Department of Energy, a part of the government, is working with nuclear laboratories and facilities in Russia to help them make their nuclear materials and nuclear weapons more secure. I went to visit one of those Russian facilities. It was very exciting. The Russian scientists were so happy to work on this joint project with their American counterparts, and they were excited about the new technologies for protecting nuclear materials that they were developing together.

[ JessicaStern - 62 - 06:51:22 ]
RE: [Chordiantdaughtersday] What is your typical day like??
My typical day is that I have breakfast and read the newspaper, then I go up to the top floor of our house and start working. At some point during the day I will take a walk or go to the gym, and sometimes I have lunch with a friend or I go to a lecture or I give a lecture.

[ JessicaStern - 63 - 06:53:54 ]
RE: [ZACCARO/EDISON] How do you think that terrorists would get a hold of these "weapons of mass destruction"? Your bio said that there was a lack of security in Russia (protecting these weapons) how do you think that they could improve their security? You you find that it is high on Russia list of things to do ?
There are lots of ways to improve security for nuclear materials. Some facilities in Russia had fences with holes in them -- so it might be a matter of repairing the fence. There is also a lot of equipment that can be put in place, for example, there is something called a "portal monitor" which is like a door with special radiation detectors, so that if a worker is trying to walk out of the plant with nuclear materials in his pocket a bell would ring.

[ JessicaStern - 64 - 06:56:05 ]
RE: [students/St.Joseph] Do all the plans and policies that the Interagency group make actually get implemented?
The biggest problem is getting everyone in an Interagency Group to agree. Sometimes people argue a lot! But if everyone agrees, usually you can push a policy through. But it takes a lot of energy and pushing to make it happen, especially if the policy costs money!

[ Tish/NASAChatHost - 65 - 06:57:14 ]
We are getting close to closing this chat and getting ready for Judy Woodruff at 8:00 - so we will not post any more questions, but give Jessica a chance to answer those last few posted and then close down. Thank you for all your thoughtful questions.

[ JessicaStern - 66 - 06:57:27 ]
RE: [ZACCARO/EDISON] Your bio said that you spent tow years analysing the prospects for theft or unauthorized use of nuclaer weapons in russia.......what conclusions were you able to draw from your reseatch?
My conclusion was that we needed to help the former Soviet governments by supplying them with the kind of equipment I mentioned. And we needed to make everyone aware of the need to maintain good security practices -- all around the world.

[ JessicaStern - 67 - 07:00:01 ]
RE: [Geng/BurleighManorMiddleSchool] Are there many women working on making bombs at Livermore?
There are a lot of women who work at Livermore Lab, though not very many women work on bombs per se. One of the women I know there is a specialist on seismic monitoring. She knows a lot about what happens to the earth when there is an earthquake, and how the shaking in an earthquake is different from the shaking if there is an underground test of a nuclear weapon.

[ Tish/NASAChatHost - 68 - 07:03:15 ]
Unfortunately it's time for our next chat. We apologize if one of your questions did not get answered but there were so many excellent questions. Thank you for joining us and thank you so much Jessica. That was a fascinating hour! This chat will stay up in this locatin today and then be archived and linked from Jessica's profile tomorrow.