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The Rosenkranz Foundation Hosts First Intelligence Squared U.S. Debate Series
[June 15, 2010]

The Rosenkranz Foundation Hosts First Intelligence Squared U.S. Debate Series


Jun 15, 2010 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- The Rosenkranz Foundation announced it hosted its first Intelligence Squared U.S. (IQ2US), an Oxford-style debate series, outside of New York City.

According to The Rosenkranz Foundation, the conference saw four of the country's cyber experts discuss issues related to the threats and challenges of the nation's cyber security as they debated the motion "The Cyber War Threat Has Been Grossly Exaggerated." The team arguing against the motion carried the day. Prior to the debate, 24 percent of the audience was in favor of the motion, 54 percent were against it and 22 percent were undecided. At the debate's conclusion, the audience voted again and this time 23 percent supported the motion, 71 percent rejected it and only 6 percent remained undecided.



The evening's winning team included Vice Admiral (ret.) Mike McConnell, Director of the NSA 1992-96; Director of National Intelligence 2007-2009; currently senior VP at Booz Allen Hamilton and Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School; co-founder and faculty co-director, Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center and Bruce Schneier, security technologist and author and Chief Security Technology Officer of BT argued for the motion.


The debate was produced with underwriting support from Neustar. WAMU 88.5, a local public radio station for NPR news and information in the greater Washington, D.C., area, worked with IQ2US and will broadcast the debate, along with the 220 NPR stations that regularly carry the series. Intelligence Squared U.S. debates are also broadcast internationally by the Bloomberg Television network.

The goal of Intelligence Squared U.S., an initiative of the Rosenkranz Foundation, is to raise the level of public discourse and promote a realization that, on contentious issues, those who challenge the conventional wisdom have intellectually respectable and often persuasive viewpoints.

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