Avatar photoCNS/LLNL Safeguards Course

So, my employer — the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) — runs a nifty little safeguards course with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).  I’ve heard really good things about it, so I can heartily recommend it. Also, it’s here in Monterey which is better known as Paradise.  (The photograph above was taken by …

Avatar photoGuest Post: Droning On

A friend and colleague who for some reason wishes to remain nameless offers some thoughts on the uses and abuses of unmanned aerial vehicles. -Jeffrey If we’ve learned anything from Sen. Rand Paul’s Senate-floor soliloquy, it’s that equal parts bluster and bladder are the makings of modern cultural heroism. Actually, we’ve learned that the Obama …

Avatar photoHeading for the Wire on US-ROK 123

The Republic of Korea and the United States are running out of time to finish negotiations on a bilateral agreement for nuclear cooperation. The current agreement from 1974 expires next March. The conventional wisdom is that because the U.S. Congress requires 90 days of continuous session to review a finished agreement before entry-into-force, the two …

Avatar photoThe Well Read Wonk

Mastery of technical detail without an understanding of history is like learning to ride a bicycle without wheels. Ergo, The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy by Lawrence Freedman is must reading for aspiring wonks. The paperback on my bookshelf dates back to 1983; help yourselves to the third edition. Freedman acknowledges that “strategy” and “nuclear weapons” …