Senior Policy Analyst Dr. Sara Z. Kutchesfahani co-wrote a piece in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on the importance of countries working together to maintain and strengthen nuclear security actions.
When a Superman-shaped drone crashed into a French nuclear plant on July 3 of this year, officials were lucky it was just Greenpeace demonstrating vulnerabilities at the facility, and not a terrorist group intent on attacking the site. This incident highlights why the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review’s assessment that nuclear terrorism is “today’s most immediate and extreme danger” remains relevant: It underscores the importance of the sustained and persistent six-year effort from 2010 to 2016 to reduce the threat posed by nuclear terrorism, far from the headline nuclear issues of Iran, North Korea, and arms control with Russia.
With the future of the nuclear deal with Iran in jeopardy, uncertain prospects for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and arms control treaties with Russia also at stake, the issue of nuclear security may offer a more optimistic future and real opportunities for multilateral collaboration and progress. And as the July 3 incident highlights, the global nuclear security architecture must continue to evolve to address the threat posed by nuclear terrorism. Read more