Monthly Archives: May 2010

This week, American soldiers began installing Patriot guided missiles at Poland’s Morag military base, less than forty miles from Russian territory. Russia’s Foreign Ministry criticized the move as diminishing both security and trust. Many Americans see Russia’s criticism as unwarranted … Continue reading →

My last post cited research coming out of Air Force think tanks that argued we could reduce our current nuclear arsenal by roughly 95% and still possess a highly credible deterrent. An even more basic question also deserves attention: Does … Continue reading →

Military and political leaders frequently emphasize the need for the United States to maintain a credible deterrent. While I have never seen them define that term*, there has always been an implicit assertion that a much smaller nuclear arsenal would … Continue reading →

When the US battleship Maine exploded in Havana harbor in 1898, “Remember the Maine!” became a rallying cry that led to the Spanish-American war, even though it is far from clear that Spain had anything to do with the incident. … Continue reading →

Eight months ago, a Newsweek cover story argued that Obama Should Learn to Love the Bomb: We now have 64 years of experience since Hiroshima. It’s striking and against all historical precedent that for that substantial period, there has not … Continue reading →

Could improving our nuclear weapons help pave a path to “zero” — a world free of nuclear weapons? Or, could the path already be paved and we just don’t realize it? Continue reading →

It was known that New Orleans was vulnerable to the kind of devastation that Katrina wrought, but no one paid attention until it was too late. Could the same happen with a nuclear disaster? Continue reading →

Amazingly, no one seemed to know. That was the situation until two years ago when I published the first paper to estimate the risk. … Continue reading →

When talking about nuclear weapons, it’s easy to get lost in arcane terminology like megatons, extended deterrence and more. But, as explained in the following short article, common sense is all you need to understand that change is needed. Continue reading →