Traditional arms control agreements are no longer effective in keeping rogue states from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and lethal technology. Innovative solutions such as the Proliferation Security Initiative hold much greater promise.
Issues 2012 provides candidates for elected office the ability to quickly identify the key issues of the day and present clear policy recommendations, supported by facts, for addressing them. Read More.
The United States is at war. Since the September 11, 2001, attacks, the United States has detained alien unprivileged belligerents under the law of war and the congressional Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). Read More.
In December 2010, the Senate’s resolution of ratification to the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) imposed a condition to begin a next round of arms negotiations on tactical nuclear weapons systems between the Obama Administration and Russia. It is essential that the Administration does not make concessions to… Read more
Abstract: The U.S. nuclear triad of heavy bombers, intercontinental-range ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) is aging. The nuclear testing moratorium, which has reached nearly two decades, and the required reductions under New START are magnifying questions about the U.S. nuclear arsenal’s reliability. These growing questions will eventually… Read more
The Obama Administration launched a push for an international Code of Conduct pertaining to activities of space-faring nations, but its activities have been cloaked in secrecy. This lack of transparency caused 37 Republican Senators to request more information about the Administration’s negotiations on this issue in February 2011. According to… Read more
Since the end of the Cold War, the Air Force has struggled to maintain standards of excellence when fulfilling one of its most important missions: being prepared to respond to an adversarial nuclear attack. Recently, the Air Force has decided to move away from having one squadron of bombers dedicated… Read more
On November 25, after four years of intensive negotiations, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), a U.N.-based process through which participating nations adopt protocols to regulate or limit the use of conventional weapons, failed to reach an agreement on a new protocol to regulate cluster munitions. The U.S. had… Read more
The Obama Administration, which once pledged to impose “crippling sanctions” on Iran’s hostile regime, now seeks to dilute economic sanctions that Congress is considering against Iran. The proposed sanctions, contained in an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, would penalize foreign financial institutions that do business… Read more
Abstract: Iran will remain a hostile power that poses threats to its neighbors, the United States, and its own people as long as the current regime remains in power. International sanctions have weakened the Iranian economy, but sanctions alone will not halt Iran’s nuclear… Read more
Section 1228 of the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 1540), sponsored by Representative Mo Brooks (R–AL), would impose an absolute ban on sharing sensitive missile defense technology with Russia, including the technology for performing hit-to-kill intercepts of attacking ballistic missiles. On the… Read more
President Obama's "lead by example" nuclear-nonproliferation policy of strategic-weapons cuts and treaties (such as the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia) isn't having the desired effect. In fact, the "fallout" is quite the opposite: All the news points toward a more nuclear world. Just last… Read more
Abstract: In a world of multiple nuclear powers, the U.S. government should exchange Cold War–style deterrence for a policy of “protecting and defending” the U.S. and its allies against nuclear attack. Pursuing such a policy will require both maintaining a credible nuclear posture, which… Read more
Abstract: Proponents of a containment policy toward Iran are ignoring the harsh realities inherent in seriously pursuing such a policy. First, the U.S. has been trying to contain Iran since the Iranian revolution in 1979, with little success. If Iran develops a nuclear weapon,… Read more
Abstract: Most Americans—whether members of the public or politicians in Congress—ignore or are unaware of the very real threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. A nuclear device detonated high in the atmosphere above the American mainland can easily disable the country’s electrical grid—shutting… Read more
It has been revealed that EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton is pushing for the lifting of the EU’s 1989-imposed arms embargo on China. EU leaders failed to reach agreement on the issue at their summit in Brussels in December, but Lady Ashton is reported… Read more
Abstract: The Obama Administration is asserting that the New START arms control treaty with Russia has a “robust” verification regime, and that it is effectively verifiable. But it is certainly much less verifiable than the original START. The U.S. will know significantly less about… Read more
(Delivered September 26, 2006) The challenge to the national security of the United States posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and nuclear weapons in particular, along with the related challenge presented by terrorism, should be of supreme concern to Congress. Thus, this is a timely and… Read more
Delivered Before the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia and the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives on June 27, 2007 The potential for the intersection of terrorism and nuclear weapons is arguably the greatest threat to American national, even global,… Read more
In March 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, with a red button symbolizing a new “reset” policy with the Russian Federation. Prophetically, and as a result of an incompetent translation, the letters on the button read “overload” instead of “reset.” … Read more
President Obama is working hard to make a Russian dream of a superior nuclear weapons arsenal come true, writes...… Read more
According to the recent news, the United States will not be signing the European Union Code of Conduct for Outer Space...… Read more
President Obama visited the Pentagon on Thursday to outline his plan for gutting our nation's military. Obama's vision...… Read more
In a “no news is news” story, The Washington Post reports that, in spite of nominal support from President Obama in...… Read more
As the U.N. General Assembly meets this week, arms control and disarmament are likely to be hot topics on the agenda....… Read more
The State Department has posted a speech by Ann K. Ganzer, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Threat Reduction,...… Read more
Those following the debate over the New START treaty inked by Presidents Obama and Medvedev in April know that both...… Read more
It’s no secret that President Obama has a great interest in nuclear arms control. In Prague last year, the President...… Read more
The New START Treaty, which was signed on April 8th, 2010, in Prague, is being heralded by the Obama Administration as...… Read more
Ambassador John Bolton’s encyclopedic knowledge of the history of arms control deserves the respect of all senators,...… Read more
Senior Research Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy, The Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies
Vice President, Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, and Director, The Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies
Senior Research Fellow, Northeast Asia
F.M. Kirby Research Fellow in National Security Policy
Jay Kingham Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs