The Risk of Nuclear Winter May 29, 2015
by Seth Baum Since the early 1980s, the world has known that a large nuclear war could cause severe global environmental effects, including dramatic cooling of surface temperatures, declines in…
Read morePublic Interest Reports
FAS’s online, quarterly science and security journal featuring articles by members of the FAS network on issues related to foreign policy and national security.
For prior issues of the FAS Public Interest Report from 1946-2005 see the PIR archive.
Mind the Empathy Gap May 29, 2015
by Charles D. Ferguson, Ph.D. Here is some news from recent research in neuroscience that, I think, is relevant for FAS’s mission to prevent global catastrophes. Psychologists Dacher Keltner of…
Read moreDual Use Research: Is it Possible to Protect the Public Without Encroaching Rights? May 29, 2015
by Tosin Fadeyi For decades, scientists have had reasonable freedom and control over their research and experiments and able to publish and share their work without much inconvenience. The freedom…
Read moreWho was Willy Higinbotham? May 29, 2015
Editor’s note: The following is a compilation of letters by Dr. William Higinbotham, a nuclear physicist who worked on the first nuclear bomb and served as the first chairman of…
Read moreThe False Hope of Nuclear Forensics? Assessing the Timeliness of Forensics Intelligence May 29, 2015
by Philip Baxter Nuclear forensics is playing an increasing role in the conceptualization of U.S. deterrence strategy, formally integrated into policy in the 2006 National Strategy on Combatting Terrorism (NSCT).
Read moreSeeking China-U.S. Strategic Nuclear Stability February 19, 2015
by Charles D. Ferguson, Ph.D. “To destroy the other, you have to destroy part of yourself. To deter the other, you have to deter yourself,” according to a Chinese nuclear…
Read moreLook to Texas Rather Than Nevada for a Site Selection Process on Nuclear Waste Disposal February 19, 2015
by Daniel Sherman Republican gains in the 2014 midterm elections have refocused attention on a number of policy areas–including nuclear waste storage. Although President Obama has consistently championed nuclear power…
Read moreReflections on the 70th Anniversary of the Manhattan Project: Questions and Answers February 19, 2015
by B. Cameron Reed I began my professional life by obtaining degrees in physics and entering a conventional academic career in teaching and astronomical research, but I had always been…
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