Published in DefenseOne on July 24, 2013 What Ash Carter Gets Wrong about Nuclear Weapons SpendingHistorically, cost has not played a decisive role in the United States’ nuclear weapons policy. For most of the nuclear age, money for the nuclear enterprise was viewed almost entirely in the abstract: $1 million was just a number and […]
Fact Sheet: The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI)
By Sam Kane and Kingston Reif WHAT IS THE PROLIFERATION SECURITY INITIATIVE (PSI)? • The Proliferation Security Initiative is an international effort that aims to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and their related components and materials. WHO IS INVOLVED WITH PSI? • Initially, PSI’s membership consisted of eleven countries (the […]
Obama in Berlin: Empty aspiration or inspiration to action?
Published in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Online on June 18, 2013. Article link here. In his speech delivered on Wednesday at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, President Barack Obama reprised history and tried to evoke the solidarity that linked Germany and the United States during the Iron Curtain era. Coming almost exactly 50 years after President […]
What Obama should say on nuclear weapons
Published in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Online on June 18, 2013. Article summary below; read the full text here. One of the many rumors echoing around Washington, DC, is that President Barack Obama will soon deliver a speech outlining his second term nuclear policy priorities. While the exact date of the address is uncertain, […]
Fact Sheet: The 2005 Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) and the International Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT)
By Sam Kane and Kingston Reif What Are These Conventions? -CPPNM was opened for signatures in 1980, and entered into force in 1987. The original convention required signatory states to maintain adequate physical protection of nuclear materials in international transport. The 2005 amendment to CPPNM extended these physical protection standards to nuclear facilities and […]
