Updated June 2024 Despite the Biden administration’s previous decision not to pursue the development of a new nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) and its associated warhead, the W80-4 ALT, due to cost and strategic considerations, Congress provided funding for the continuation of the SLCM-N program in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act. In FY23 budget […]
Op-ed: Next step in arms control: Putin must be pragmatic
Senior Policy Director John Erath wrote a short reflection on the June 16 Biden-Putin Summit for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. “The June 16 Geneva Summit produced little mention of arms control, and that is probably a positive sign. Arms control agreements, at least good ones, do not appear overnight. They are products of […]
Process as a product: What can we expect from the Biden-Putin Summit?
By John Erath Oscar Wilde wrote that “to expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.” At the risk of being considered anti-intellectual, or possibly anti-modern, I believe it would be best to approach the June 16 Geneva Summit with limited expectations for a breakthrough on arms control. This, however, is by no means a bad result. Eagerness for quick fixes could […]
World Nuclear Inventories
Updated June 2025 There are nine nuclear-armed countries worldwide with about 12,000 nuclear weapons between them. The United States and Russia together have more than 90 percent of those weapons.
Missile Defense on Guam and the China Threat
By Genevieve Hackman Outgoing head of the Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson has made no secret what he believes to be the number one regional military threat: China. In March, he painted a grim picture for the Senate Armed Services Committee: “I worry that they [China] are accelerating their ambitions to supplant the United States,” […]
