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It was with genuine and deep sadness that I learnt yesterday of the death of Sir Michael Quinlan, aged 78, on Thursday.

In a career within the UK civil service that spanned 40 years, Sir Michael served in a variety of roles and departments, including as Permanent Under-Secretary (the most senior civil servant) at the Ministries of Employment (1983—88) and Defence (1988—92). Indeed, defence was his primary interest and focus and he earned a reputation as one of the finest strategic thinkers in post War Britain, particularly on nuclear issues.

After “retiring”, Sir Michael became a more public voice on defence and security matters: first, as Director of the Ditchley Foundation (1992—99) and subsequently as a writer and academic. He wrote three books: European Defense Cooperation: Asset or Threat to NATO? (2001), Just War (with General Lord Guthrie, 2007) and Thinking About Nuclear Weapons: Principles, Problems, Prospects (2009). The last of these was published just two weeks ago.

I got to know Sir Michael in late 2007, when he was a Senior Consulting Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and “thesis adviser” to George Perkovich and me for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons.

In fact, it was Sir Michael who first conceived of this project, in the spring of 2007. Although a firm believer in the importance of nuclear deterrence in today’s world, he also thought that if the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was to be “load-bearing” component of the broader non-proliferation regime, it was imperative for the nuclear weapon states to take their article VI commitment—to work in good faith towards disarmament—seriously. For him, this started with undertaking an intellectually rigorous exploration of the feasibility of disarmament, without any preconceptions. His essay in Survival is still, to my mind, the clearest and most brilliant explanation of why this is worth doing.

I always looked forward to going to an event at which I knew Sir Michael would be present. He was not only intellectually brilliant and witty, but also modest, approachable and thoroughly decent. I greatly appreciated his criticism of our work, which, although invariably direct and honest—in fact, precisely because it was so direct and honest—helped shaped it quite profoundly.

I asked Mark Fitzpatrick, Senior Fellow at IISS and a friend of Sir Michael’s, to add a few words:

Sir Michael was a role model beyond peer, a visionary who combined a pragmatic understanding of the need for deterrence with a Jesuitical sense of justice. His clear-thinking analysis, willingness to hear out every point of view and, not least of all, his exquisite use of the Queen’s English was inspirational. Notwithstanding the intellectual gifts and senior rank that give many former officials a sense of self-importance, Sir Michael remained always modest, and easily befriended every colleague, no matter position or age. At an office cultural outing to the English National Opera, one such befriended intern felt moved to want to clasp him around the shoulder. All who knew him will clasp his memory.

BBC Radio 4 aired a documentary called The Human Button last night about the command and control system for Britain’s Trident fleet—and it’s available to listen to online for the next 5 days.

I haven’t heard the full thing yet but it is presented by the outstanding Peter Hennessey and covers some of the issues I blogged about a year or so ago. He got a very high level of access for the program, including being present on a submarine for a launch drill. He also interviewed Dennis Healey, a former Defence Secretary, who interestingly says that had the decision come to him he would have decided not to retaliate.

There’s a summary of the program here with some pictures including this classic piece of excruciating Britishness:

Caption: “The printed message is collected by the submarine’s executive officer who carries it to the control room. They hold the printed message aloft with an officer behind checking to make sure the message has not been switched.”

The National Academies is having a release party (ok, release event) for the English-Chinese, Chinese-English Nuclear Security Glossary.

I saw Ben Rusek and Wu Jun give a joint talk on the subject in Qingdao.

Be there or B ² Sorry, math joke.

The Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC) of the U.S. National Academies, with its partner the Chinese Scientists Group on Arms Control (CSGAC) of the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament, recently completed an English-Chinese Chinese – English Glossary of Nuclear Security Terms. This glossary of approximately 1000 terms is built on 20 years of CISAC CSGAC Track II discussions on nuclear arms control, nuclear nonproliferation, nuclear energy, and regional security issues and is intended to facilitate progress in diplomatic, academic, scientific, or other activities where unambiguous understanding is essential.

Speakers

Ming-Shih Lu, Committee Chair, Brookhaven National Laboratory (retired)
Richard L. Garwin, CISAC China Dialogue Chair, Thomas J. Watson Research Center, IBM Corporation (emeritus)
Raymond Jeanloz, CISAC Chair, University of California, Berkeley
Benjamin J. Rusek staff officer, CISAC

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

2:00PM – 4:00PM

Room 204, National Academy of Sciences Keck Building

500 5th Street, NW Washington, DC, 20001

Please RSVP for building security

Please RSVP by Fax: 202-334-1730 Phone: 202-334-2811 or Email: ybutt[at]nas.edu

The event is free and open to the public. Users who are unable to attend can access an on-line version of the glossary designed for English and Chinese speakers, and instructions on how to comment on the contents of the glossary at: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/cisac/Glossary_CISAC.html For additional information please contact: Ben Rusek at cisac[at]nas.edu or by phone at 202-334-2811

Well, not so much self promotion as advertising…

Any of you thinking about doing a Masters starting in the autumn might like to consider King’s College London’s MA in Science and Security or our brand new MA in Nonproliferation and International Security.

I’ll unashamedly add that (i) you get to be in the Department of War Studies (which not only has a great name and is in the heart of London but it is rather good academically); (ii) our students have a very high success rate of going on to get jobs in the field; and (iii) we have studentships of £8,500 to offer!

Plug over.

Oh, and while we are at it with the public service announcements … UCS will release of Toward True Security with Richard Garwin, Frank von Hippel and Lisbeth Gronlund on Wednesday.

What: Briefing and discussion about Toward True Security: Ten Steps the Next President Should Take to Transform U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy

When: 1:30-3 p.m., Wednesday, February 13

Where: Carnegie Endowment, 1779 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC

Who: Richard Garwin, Frank von Hippel, Lisbeth Gronlund

CAP has an interesting panel on US policy toward Iran up. Not sure if I will make it over there, but you should.

Nuclear Meltdown: Rebuilding a Coherent Policy Towards Iran

A book discussion with Barbara Slavin and Trita Parsi
December 13, 2007, 12:30pm – 2:00pm

A light buffet lunch will be served at 12:00 p.m.

Featured Panelists:

Barbara Slavin, Senior Diplomatic reporter for USA Today (on leave this year as a fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace) and the author of Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the U.S., and the Twisted Path to Confrontation

Trita Parsi, President of the National Iranian American Council and author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States

Moderated by:

Joseph Cirincione, Senior Fellow and Director for Nuclear Policy and co-author of Contain and Engage: A New Strategy for Resolving the Iranian Nuclear Crisis

I’ve got Slavin’s Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies on my “to read” list once I finish Arsenals of Folly and Surrender Is Not An Option, which I am hoping to skim.

I am starting a category of arms control wonk public service announcements. Today’s comes from Joel Wit, who is looking for stories from the Cold War:

I am starting an archive of reminiscences about the U.S.-Soviet nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. The archive will focus on the ordinary people who were part of that struggle. Personal stories are welcome from military and civilian personnel who served in the Strategic Air Command, the nuclear submarine force, war planning, theaters such as Europe, at nuclear weapons laboratories, in intelligence (overhead/space recon, Moscow station and special forces), and in nuclear arms control negotiations. If you have interesting, funny, sad, scary or any other tales to tell, please contact joelwit [AT] earthlink.net.