At the launch of his Administration’s Missile Defense Review, President Trump declared that his goal is to intercept enemy missiles “anywhere, anytime, anyplace.” In the nuclear world, that sounded a lot like President Reagan’s nearly 40-year-old missile defense plan, “Star Wars.” We explain President Trump’s likely unrealistic and potentially dangerous vision with our Senior Science […]
Fiscal Year 2020 Defense Spending Briefing Book
The Fiscal Year 2020 Budget in Context Introduction President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget requests $544.5 billion for the Defense Department’s annual “base” discretionary budget, which is more than $70 billion lower than FY19 enacted levels. However, the Pentagon’s portion of the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account – which is often referred […]
Russia’s New Nuclear Missiles Squeeze Response Time
Senior Science Fellow Philip Coyle spoke with Scientific American about how the United States’ national missile defense system matches against Russia’s missiles. Although Russia’s new weapons sound frightening, none has actually been deployed yet. They may be ready in the next year or two, but “none of them are fully operational,” says Philip Coyle, a board […]
Mike Pompeo Again Refuses To Blame Kim Jong Un For Otto Warmbier’s Death
Senior Policy Director Alexandra Bell spoke with The Huffington Post about Mike Pompeo’s refusal to blame North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for American student Otto Warmbier’s death, and U.S. Representative Tom Malinowski’s line of questioning in a hearing. Alexandra Bell, a senior policy director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, said Pompeo has […]
Five Things to Know About Nuclear Terrorism
Since the beginning of the nuclear age, policymakers have worried about a nightmarish scenario: terrorists attacking cities with nuclear materials or a crude or stolen nuclear weapon. Here are five things to know about nuclear terrorism.
