The annual report published Monday by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission is different – kind of toned-down – compared with the report published in 2005. The…
Read moreB83 thermonuclear bombs at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. Image © Paul Shambroom Ever wondered where all those nukes are stored? A new review published…
Read moreSally Lilienthal, the founder of the Ploughshares Fund, died on 24 October at age 87. All who knew her agreed that she was a force of nature. Some who have…
Read moreIn condemning the North Korean nuclear test and repeating its call for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, one of the Bush administration's first acts ironically has been to reaffirm the importance of nuclear weapons in the region. "The United States will meet the full range of our deterrent and security commitments," President Bush told Japan and South Korea after last week's test. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice strongly hinted that the commitments potentially include nuclear strikes against North Korea. But is it helpful or counterproductive at this stage to threaten North Korea with nuclear weapons?
Read moreIn an extraordinarily brief statement, the Director of the National Intelligence Office announced that the United States has confirmed that North Korea’s large explosion last week was nuclear. How do they know and why did it take them so long to confirm?
Read moreLast Sunday, North Korea apparently tested a nuclear explosive. The “apparently” is needed because the explosion was so small—by nuclear standards—that some have speculated that it may have been a large conventional explosion. What is the technical significance of the test, what does it mean, and what should we do now? There is no question that the political and security implications of the test are huge and almost entirely negative. The technical implications are more mixed; the technical significance of the test is somewhat less than meets the eye.
Read moreA decision to trim a tree in the Korean demilitarized zone in 1976 escalated into a threat to use nuclear weapons. After a fatal skirmish between U.S. and North…
Read moreChina has test launched a DF-31 long-range ballistic missile, according to a report by the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS. The missile was said to have been launched…
Read moreUpdate (February 22, 2007): DTRA announces that Divine Strake has been canceled. The controversial Divine Strake explosion has been delayed again, this time “at least several months into calendar…
Read moreThe French magazine Défense Nationale asked me to submit an article about the new U.S. National Military Strategy published by the Bush administration in March 2006 and how…
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