Mr. Rich discussed how the United States came out the 1980's with high hopes for democracy and anticipation of a "peace dividend" from the end of the Cold War. But, the Persian Gulf war has quickly changed the optimistic perspective. Mr. Rich said the future geo-political environment is very different as the United States is no longer oriented to a Soviet threat. The relative accord between the superpowers, though, is being replaced by numerous regional problems. At present, there are at least 35 conflicts being fought throughout the world. Mr. Rich also assessed America's defense budget and how the future of the defense industry will affect engineers and scientists.