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Joe Cirincione
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Joe Cirincione is President of Plougshares Fund, a global security foundation. He is author of Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons and is featured in the new documentary film, Countdown to Zero.

Blog Entries by Joe Cirincione

Six Essential Truths about U.S. Nuclear Policy

Posted January 8, 2012 | 18:17:32 (EST)

Phil Taubman writes in the Sunday New York Times what many people in Washington think about our outdated nuclear policy, but few say. He makes six key points.

Taubman knows what he is talking about, having spent years as the Times bureau chief in Moscow and Washington. He...

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A War We Never Should Have Waged

5 Comments | Posted December 15, 2011 | 12:27:14 (EST)

The Iraq War is the greatest strategic blunder in American history. It cost our nation $1 trillion, the lives of thousands of our finest warriors, and our international credibility. It made defeating al-Qaeda harder, stopping Iran more difficult, and global security more precarious. It was not, as some...

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Nuclear Turkeys

10 Comments | Posted November 20, 2011 | 20:51:08 (EST)

Washington is planning to spend over $700 billion on nuclear weapons and related programs over the next ten years. Some programs are necessary, some are questionable and some are simply turkeys gobbling up defense dollars.

With the failure of the Supercommittee almost certain, pressure to cut...

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Ed Markey Leads Coalition to Cut Nuclear Weapons Budget

4 Comments | Posted October 14, 2011 | 13:45:54 (EST)

As the congressional "supercommittee" moves toward recommendations to cut over $1 trillion from the government's budgets, House members have squared off over whether some savings can come from the hundreds of billions of dollars planned for nuclear weapons over the next 10 years.

The first shots were fired on Oct....

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Libyan Victory Validates Obama Doctrine

Posted August 24, 2011 | 14:31:02 (EST)

The collapse of the Gaddafi regime firmly establishes the benefits of Obama's national security strategy over the failed war policies that preceded him -- and are still promoted by his critics.

There is mop-up fighting in the streets of Tripoli and much work needed to consolidate a new Libyan government....

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Smart Money to Stop Nuclear Terrorism

Posted July 14, 2011 | 18:13:25 (EST)

Congress just took a small but important bipartisan step to make America safer.

On July 13 the House of Representatives approved an amendment offered by Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) and Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), along with Rick Larsen (D-WA) and John Garamendi (D-CA), to increase by $35 million the funding...

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The X-Men Didn't Save Us

Posted June 16, 2011 | 17:16:58 (EST)

It wasn't the mutants. It was humans that caused the Cuban Missile Crisis. Only luck saved us from nuclear war. But other than that, the new film, X-Men: First Class, gets a lot right about the historic crisis that is central to its plot.

So far, the film...

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Fighting City Hall's Nuclear Weapons

Posted June 15, 2011 | 18:08:53 (EST)

Kansas City wants to build nuclear weapons. Some of its citizens don't think that's such a good idea.

Kansas City is about to become the first city in the nation to own a nuclear bomb factory. For over 60 years, the U.S. has produced non-nuclear parts for nuclear weapons...

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Five Next Steps To Increase American Security

Posted May 4, 2011 | 15:23:16 (EST)

There's one less threat to America this week, but there are 21,000 others waiting to explode. That's the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. and Russia. In a new report, experts from both nations warn of the dangers and offer five easy steps towards a solution.

In...

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Hiroshima to Fukushima: The Illusion of Control

Posted March 25, 2011 | 16:02:28 (EST)

This article was co-authored by Paul Carroll, Program Director at Ploughshares Fund.

On March 11, there were 443 nuclear reactors operating around the world. On March 12, that number shrunk by four.

An earthquake, a tsunami and a record of poor safety management converged to create one...

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The Most Successful Security Pact in History

Posted March 5, 2011 | 10:51:38 (EST)

Despite the power and allure of nuclear weapons, only nine nations in the world today have nuclear arsenals. Why aren't there more?

The main reason: the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The NPT, which went into force 41 years ago today, has provided strong incentives for nations to give...

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How We Dodged Libya's Nuclear Bullet

Posted March 1, 2011 | 11:36:09 (EST)

In a stunning trans-Atlantic announcement on December 19, 2003, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush said Libya had agreed, after nine months of secret talks, to publicly disclose and dismantle all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs; to limit its missiles to a range of less...

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Egypt's Nuclear Dimension

Posted February 13, 2011 | 14:59:09 (EST)

This article was co-authored with Ploughshares Fund Research Assistant Reid Pauly

As a free Egypt transforms itself, analysts are nervously watching for signs of new nuclear ambitions. Concern revolves around three issues:

  • There are unanswered questions about Egypt's past nuclear activities.

  • Egypt has the know-how...

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Reagan the Abolitionist

Posted February 3, 2011 | 14:08:53 (EST)

One of Ronald Reagan's most powerful and living legacies was his dream of a world free of nuclear weapons. It is worth remembering this sixth of February, the centennial of his birth.

Reagan never hid his views, though many discounted them. On a bitter cold Monday in 1985, for example,...

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Fresh Security Consensus Trounces Cold War Politics in New START Victory

Posted December 23, 2010 | 13:41:11 (EST)

The New START treaty has obvious benefits for national security. But the overwhelming vote in favor of the treaty (71-26) has much broader significance. And the still sizable vote against it, a troubling dark side.

The case for the treaty is fairly simple. It reduces the number of Russian long-range...

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GOP Senators Swing Back to Military, Boost New START Prospects

Posted December 19, 2010 | 10:56:46 (EST)

Forced to choose between the recommendations of the U.S. military and the extreme views of Sens. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Jim DeMint (R-SC), enough Republican senators are going military to win Senate approval of the New START treaty this week.

The treaty makes modest reductions in the deployed long-range nuclear...

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National Security Experts vs. Forces of Delay

Posted November 30, 2010 | 09:52:32 (EST)

A Washington showdown looms on the critical New Start treaty this year. Confronted with GOP calls for delay, more than three-dozen former senior military and national security leaders are weighing in with their strong support for approving the treaty this year. The message is clear: "National Security Can't...

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When Is the Far Right Going to Start Listening to the Military?

Posted November 16, 2010 | 09:40:31 (EST)

The New START treaty has the unanimous support of America's military leaders. But you wouldn't know it from the wails of far-right pundits. For a group that traditionally poses as defenders of America against appeasing, anti-military liberals, they are amazingly dismissive of the strong, urgent calls from the...

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The Terminator Targets Nukes, 'Idiots' Who Want Them

Posted October 28, 2010 | 13:16:55 (EST)

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) delivered a powerful endorsement of the New START treaty while mocking those who try to pump up their manhood with nuclear weapons.

He said:

There are those in America that are trying to flex their muscles and pretend they're ballsy by...
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British Budget Collapse Foreshadows Cuts to Come in U.S. Defense Budget

Posted October 20, 2010 | 15:13:17 (EST)

Great Britain's cuts, particularly to its nuclear forces, are the canary in the defense budget mine. Just as massive deficits forced the conservative UK government to cut deep into its military programs, the United States will soon have to choose: update its force structure or cling to obsolete Cold War...

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