Avatar photoSufficiency

The Nixon administration needed to make many adjustments in order to prepare for strategic arms limitation talks with the Kremlin. One change was in the terminology used to describe how US nuclear forces were supposed to stack up against the Soviet Union. Prior to the SALT negotiations, US Presidents and Congressional leaders lined up squarely …

Avatar photoNooks and Crannies in Iran

Hans Blix said a lot of things while Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency for 16 years, and one of them was this: “We cannot inspect every nook and cranny in a large country.” Before running the IAEA, Blix was a politician, a career civil servant, and a foreign minister, and in public …

Avatar photoCTBTO Policy Course

The CTBTO is going to live-stream a policy course entitled Proven Treaty, Political Challenge: The CTBT and Multistakeholder Security, with a pretty high quality list of speakers.  And, if you are in Vienna, the course is free of charge. The CTBT Diplomacy and Public Policy Course, entitled, “Proven Treaty, Political Challenge: The CTBT and Multistakeholder Security”, …

Avatar photoThe Triad

Amidst talk of budget cuts and further strategic arms reductions, the Pentagon has issued another ritualistic affirmation of the Triad in its report to Congress on Nuclear Employment Strategy. During the Cold War, the big plus of maintaining a strategic force posture consisting of bombers, land-based, ocean-spanning missiles and ballistic missile-carrying submarines was clear: diversification …