Yesterday The Junior Statesmen Summer School at Stanford had the honor of hosting Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at Stanford’s own Hoover Institute. The Hoover Institute is a leading think tank in public policy. Mr. Diamond, whose expertise encompasses democracy in Asia, Africa, and Latin America along with U.S. foreign policy affecting democracy abroad, was a senior advisor with the George W. Bush administration. He was a leading force in constructing Iraq’s transition government after the removal of Saddam Hussein.

Mr. Diamond spoke about national security risks, and the United States’ role in dealing with these risks, as well as the challenges it may face. He discussed the nuclear threat posed by Pakistan and North Korea, along with global terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda. Global warming was also a major part of his talk. He also discussed the difficulty that world leaders face in balancing short term conflicts that affect their own countries and long term conflicts that affect the world. Mr. Diamond’s talk had a visible effect on the students, as more than 40 of them immediately sprang up to get in line to ask him questions. Students asked about topics ranging from war profiteering to controversial laws in Afghanistan to democracy in Iraq. Mr. Diamond and the JSA staff were very impressed by the caliber of the questions, and the eloquence of the students.