A group of distinguished Manhattan Project scientists based at the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory were among the first to consider whether or how to use atomic bombs in World War II. The Met Lab’s primary challenge was to establish…
Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb gets all the attention, but there are other great cinematic period pieces about the Bomb. My suggestion for wonkish Netflix lists is Seven Days in…
The Hebrew word for nuclear opacity or ambiguity is amimut, which Avner Cohen believes to be “Israel’s original contribution to the nuclear age.” Avner has written two books on Israel’s bomb. His latest, The Worst-Kept Secret: Israel’s Bargain with the…
Two of the best surveys of steps required to eliminate nuclear weapons were honchoed by the Carnegie Endowment (Universal Compliance, 2007) and the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission chaired by Hans Blix (Weapons of Terror, 2006). Both compendiums use the…
Why is Pakistan building so many nuclear weapons and blocking the start of fissile material cutoff negotiations? There are many reasons. One is that Pakistani military officers who establish nuclear requirements read what Indians have to say. They have read…
Abbottabad is a quiet, lovely city. The Stimson Center convened a Track II workshop there for rising Pakistani strategic analysts. The city’s most prominent feature is Kakul, the Pakistani military academy where outstanding recruits begin their studies and service careers.…
The most successful and longest serving Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency was the first man to hold this job, William C. Foster. During his tenure, the United States negotiated the Limited Test Ban Treaty and the Nonproliferation…
One of Herb York’s many talents was his ability to write clearly with a strong narrative line, despite his training in physics and immersion in technical detail. See, for example, Herb’s book, The Advisors: Oppenheimer, Teller, and the Superbomb (1976).…
Fred Charles Iklé did not leave lasting impressions during long stints in government as President Nixon and Ford’s Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and as President Reagan’s Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. In both jobs, he served…
Once a year or so, I devote a blog post to career counseling. Aspiring wonks: this one’s for you. Those who have already been through this drill, feel free to weigh in. The best reason to pursue a career in…
