Nuclear Weapons

The Cold War is over, but the United States and Russia still keep thousands of nuclear weapons on alert and in reserve. Understand the issues with our technical and political analysis.


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Latest Nuclear Weapons Posts

US Should Extend the New START Nuclear Weapons Treaty To Make Us All Safer

, co-director and senior scientist

April 22, 2020 12:12 PM EDT

Obama and Medvedev signing the New START treaty (Source: White House photo)

According to an AP News story, last Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the fate of the 2010 New START agreement, as well as potential future agreements to limit nuclear weapons.

Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s desire to extend New START from February 2021 until 2026 and clarified that two of Russia’s new weapon systems would be covered under the treaty. This alone should be reason for the United States to extend New START. But Russia has also said it is open to negotiating a new treaty that would limit other Russian weapons systems now under development.

This is a no-brainer. It is foolhardy for the United States to throw out something good because it wants something better, leaving it with nothing.

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Lessons From A Small-Town Fire Department On Prevention, Preparation, and Leadership

, manager of strategic campaigns

April 2, 2020 1:38 PM EDT

Matt Chesin/Unsplash

The COVID global pandemic lays bare the consequences of when our leaders fail to lead and fulfill their most solemn duty—protecting those they are supposed to serve. Our president and every member of Congress could learn a great deal by better understanding what public safety officials in my town and in towns across the country do every day.  Read More

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Fitting Hypersonic Weapons into the Nuclear Arms Control Regime

April 1, 2020 4:00 PM EDT

Former President Barack Obama signed the instrument of ratification of the New START Treaty in the Oval Office on Feb. 2, 2011. The only active treaty limiting the deployment of US and Russian nuclear weapons, New START does not explicitly restrict hypersonic missiles.

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Are There People Living in Hiroshima?

, China project manager and senior analyst

March 5, 2020 9:30 AM EDT

It seems this question is put to internet search engines with surprising frequency.

The answer is yes, and the people living there have a message for the curious: you don’t want to suffer what we suffered. Save yourselves before it’s too late. Read More

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Nuclear Weapons and the 2020 Presidential Race: High Demand, Little Debate, Little Knowledge

, manager of strategic campaigns

March 2, 2020 4:00 PM EDT

Last year, I spent a couple of hours at a park in Cambridge, Mass asking passers-by who they thought was involved and had the authority to launch US nuclear weapons. Not surprisingly, most people incorrectly assumed that “Congress,” the “military,” the “Joint Chiefs of Staff” or “the experts” had some say.  And when they learned that under current policy, the US president has sole decision-making authority over nuclear weapons their responses included “spooky,” “worried” and “not good.”  Not good, indeed.
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