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A Local Leader Speaks Out on Nuclear Weapons
The US spends more than $70 billion dollars each year to build and maintain nuclear weapons. That’s money that could otherwise be used to solve urgent and widespread security problems including the...
View ArticleUN Security Council Members Pledge to Avoid Nuclear War, but Words Are Not...
To ring in 2022, the leaders of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, also known at the P5 — pledged that they will,...
View ArticleWhy Scientists Need to Stay Engaged in the Nuclear Threat
I recently joined residents in New Hampshire, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C., in calling on national security advisor Jake Sullivan – who has called all three places home – to remind President...
View ArticlePutin is Holding You Hostage to Wage War in Ukraine
We are all Putin’s hostages. He wanted to remind us of that on Sunday night when he put Russia’s nuclear forces on elevated alert. The threat, repeated more than once, is louder now: Putin is willing...
View ArticleMaking Sense of Ukraine, Russia, and Nuclear Threats
The world is a changed and very dangerous place. Russian President Putin has turned a central premise of nuclear deterrence – that it is a stabilizing force – on its head. On February 27, Putin raised...
View ArticleCould US Nuclear Weapons Prevent an Attack on Taiwan?
“War is a contagion,” warned Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and fears that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could precipitate a Chinese communist attack on Taiwan are spreading. Could deploying US nuclear...
View ArticleI’m Worried About Ukraine, but it’s Not What You Think
As someone who works on nuclear weapons policy for a living, I’ve been getting questions from family and friends about the war in Ukraine and the risk of nuclear use. My colleagues are getting similar...
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What Is the Nuclear Taboo and Is Putin About to Break It?
EDITORIAL UPDATE, 3-16-22: a previous version of this blog noted there were eight more states that developed nuclear weapons and has been corrected to reflect the correct number which is seven.In...
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The Meteoric Rise in Satellite Numbers
Between April 31 and December 31, 2021, 866 satellites were put into orbit. While not as dramatic as the 836 launched in the first four months of the year, it completes a meteoric rise of 1,702...
View ArticleDo Look Up
A little more than three months on from its release, Netflix’s Don’t Look Up is generating buzz yet again as an Oscar nominee several times over, including for best picture. At first glance Don’t Look...
View ArticleUkraine and the Future of US-China Relations
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will make it more difficult for the governments of the United States and China to cooperate. It is hard to imagine any of the world’s major problems, especially the...
View ArticleNuclear Blackmail in Ukraine and East Asia
Officials from the United States and NATO are limiting their military involvement in Ukraine. They worry their Russian counterparts may use nuclear weapons to forestall a conventional defeat. US...
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Strategic Command Sounds Questionable Alarm on Chinese Nuclear Buildup
Admiral Charles Richard, the commander of the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM), recently told House appropriators China accomplished a “strategic breakout” that “requires the DoD to make...
View ArticleBiden Shows True Strength During Visit to Japan
Hard-line critics of President Biden often say he makes the United States look weak. But during his visit to Japan he appeared to strengthen the bilateral relationship and encourage Prime Minister...
View ArticleNATO and the Nuclear Ban Treaty: What Happens Next?
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has issued many statements declaring the alliance’s opposition to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), also called the nuclear ban...
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The Nuclear Ban Treaty Had a Conference. Now it Has a Plan.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into force in early 2021, for the first time defining nuclear weapons as illegitimate tools of war under international law. In Vienna...
View ArticleRussia’s Suspension of Nuclear Weapons Inspections Is Latest Blow to Arms...
Last week, Russia announced that it would temporarily suspend inspections under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START)—the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the United...
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The World’s Most Important Nuclear Treaty Faces New Threats, Familiar Failures
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is the most important diplomatic effort to reduce the risk of nuclear war, prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and achieve complete nuclear disarmament....
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Mishandling of Classified Nuclear Documents Is Bad. Mishandling of the Sole...
Headlines about the discovery of nuclear weapons-related materials in the trove of highly classified documents that former President Trump stashed at his private residence in Mar-a-Lago are not...
View ArticleHow Should the US Respond if Russia Goes Nuclear?
This week, as Russia’s military forces continued to face setbacks in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin accused the West of “nuclear blackmail” and issued new, thinly veiled nuclear threats, adding,...
View ArticlePutin’s Nuclear Threats and the Commitment Trap
Last weekend, President Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan went on the Sunday talk shows to convey the message that there would be “catastrophic” consequences for Russia if President...
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Budgets Reflect Our Priorities
Next year’s Pentagon budget is slated to be voted on after the November midterm elections. The Senate Armed Services Committee added $45 billion to the president’s requested budget for a total of $847...
View ArticleBiden Declares Cold War on China
The new US National Defense Strategy, released this morning, appears to treat China as an enemy of the United States. The aim of the strategy is to avoid war with China by making constant credible...
View ArticleThe Failures of Biden’s Nuclear Posture Review
Released today, the Biden administration’s unclassified Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is, at heart, a terrifying document. It not only keeps the world on a path of increasing nuclear risk, in many ways...
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