Analysis / Commentary, Next Gen CommunityNuclear SemanticsByEvan Thompson and CSIS PONIPublished May 9, 2016Hot off the heels of the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit, the international community is once again abuzz with plans to secure nuclear materials and thwart the efforts of terrorists to acquire these materials. Chief among these efforts is securing nuclear and radiological materials. Are these efforts the same, though? The answer is a resounding “No.”
Analysis / CommentaryUnited Kingdom Debates Scrapping Nuclear Program: Why the United States CaresByRebecca HersmanPublished Feb 26, 2016The United Kingdom has maintained a continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent since April 1969, with one ballistic missile submarine on patrol at all times.
Analysis / CommentaryNorth Korea’s Nuclear ProvocationByRebecca HersmanPublished Jan 6, 2016Today North Korea claimed to have successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb. Though experts have not verified this claim, it corresponds to a 5.1 magnitude seismic event recorded on Tuesday. The purported test, which would signify a significant increase in North Korea’s nuclear capability, has been widely condemned by world leaders.
Analysis / CommentaryNuclear Deterrence in a Disordered WorldByRebecca HersmanPublished Nov 16, 2015Whoever takes office in January 2017 is likely to inherit a nuclear landscape of greater risk, complexity, and challenge than any time since the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
Analysis / Commentary, Next Gen CommunityWhat is behind South African President Jacob Zuma’s refusal to relinquish nuclear weapons material?ByJessica Gottesman and CSIS PONIPublished May 8, 2015In a recent piece of nuclear news easily overshadowed by the Iran deal, teh Center for Public Integrity (CPI) highlighted new information about South Africa’s refusal to give up six bombs worth of weapons-grade uranium. In 2011 and agian in 2013, President Obama wrote letters to South African President Jacob Zuma asking him to relinquish the country’s highly-enriched uranium, to blend it down to low-enriched uranium (LEU), or to transfer it to the United States in exchang for $5 million worth of LEU. President Zuma refused.