Arms Control Wonk

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Experts Predict 2010 Will Be Terrible

In June 2005, Senator Richard Lugar released the findings of a survey he commissioned of nonproliferation experts. Eighty-five of us responded. Here are some of our pessimistic findings: Question 1: In your estimate, how many nations that do not currently…

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Emilio Largo's Revenge

What better occasion than Christmas to ponder nuclear terrorism? According to a Dec. 19 story by Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt in the New York Times, the forthcoming Nuclear Posture review will be just as much about preventing nuclear terrorism…

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UD3 Initiators: A Red Herring?

This video is just a little more interesting than watching paint dry—until you realize that it is sound causing that little bright dot in the center! Sonoluminescence, light emitted by a plasma created at the center of a converging spherical…

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Holiday Fudge Recipe

What is more festive that a batch of Holiday Fudge? A recipe for Holiday Fudge on WMD stationary! My friend Stephanie Kaplan — wonk and entrepreneur — sat down to whip up a batch (she’s a wonderful cook) when she…

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Arms Control Person of the Year 2009

Sen. Richard Lugar and former Sen. Sam Nunn near Shchuchye, Russia in 2007 (AP Photo/Douglas Birch) The Arms Control Association is holding their annual “Arms Control Person of the Year” contest. Vote for the 2009 Arms Control Person(s) of the…

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Bulavas Whirling Though the Sky

We’ve had quite a discussion in the comments over Russia’s recent failed Bulava SLBM test and the pretty spiral it made before crashing into the ocean. Oooh. Aaah. Having largely dispensed with the usual spate of extraterrestrial and paranormal hypotheses…

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Death and Resurrection

Many have declared the practice of nuclear arms control to be dead or dying. This was especially true after the Carter administration pulled the plug on SALT II in 1979. Here’s a sampler: Arms control has essentially failed. Three decades…

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Uranium Deuteride Initiators

You have no doubt seen the Times of London story, in which Catherine Philp claims to have obtained a 2007 “technical document” from from Iran that “describes the use of a neutron source, uranium deuteride, which independent experts confirm has…

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Why The Navy Should Retire TLAM-N

The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, or TLAM, is named after the Tomahawk — a Native American axe. If you have ever seen a Western movie, the tomahawk is thrown overhand, and can be quite dangerous as Ed Ames — who…

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Off To Beijing!

I am off to Beijing for the next week, to participate in the Seventh US-China Conference on Arms Control, Disarmament and Nonproliferation, co-hosted by the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association and the Monterey Institute’s James Martin Center for Nonproliferation…