Blog Entries by Joe Cirincione

Scientists: The Nukes Are Alright

29 Comments | Posted November 20, 2009 | 03:33 PM (EST)


In a blow to the far-right, scientists have concluded that U.S. nuclear weapons don't need new tests or new designs.

The premier scientific panel advising the Defense Department just concluded that US nuclear weapons will last indefinitely under current maintenance programs. We don't need new nuclear weapons. We don't...

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Berlin '89: When the Impossible Became Real

13 Comments | Posted November 8, 2009 | 02:29 PM (EST)


I was in Berlin 20 years ago this week. I saw the impossible first-hand: the people of Germany taking down the Wall.

I was then working on the professional staff of the House Armed Services Committee. We were on a staff tour of NATO military bases and arrived in Berlin...

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Will Japan Go Nuclear?

31 Comments | Posted October 13, 2009 | 10:50 AM (EST)


Japan has a surprisingly large influence on U.S. nuclear policy. But it is not the influence that most Japanese citizens think it is -- or want it to be.

U.S. officials are presently working hard to finish a new Nuclear Posture Review that will shape the direction...

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It's About the Bomb, Not Obama

136 Comments | Posted October 9, 2009 | 12:36 PM (EST)


Twice in the past four years, the Nobel Peace Prize has gone to leaders trying to prevent nuclear catastrophe. It's time we listened to their warnings.

In 2005, the Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to the International Atomic Energy Agency and its leader, Mohammed ElBaradei, for their work to...

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Outmaneuvering Iran

164 Comments | Posted September 25, 2009 | 03:16 PM (EST)


Obama knew all along that Iran had a secret uranium factory. He may be more of a master strategist than his foes--and even his friends--have realized.

The key to understanding today's announcement on Iran is this: President Obama knew about the secret Iranian facility nine months ago. Before he began...

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Presidential Leadership: "The Future Does Not Belong to Fear"

2 Comments | Posted September 23, 2009 | 12:09 PM (EST)


Obama gave a tough presidential speech at the United Nations today - strong on American commitments but also strong on the responsibility of other nations to act for "our common future." He told the world that America wanted a world without nuclear weapons. He told America that this path would...

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Rachel Maddow: Her Intelligence is Right

173 Comments | Posted September 4, 2009 | 10:59 AM (EST)


Rachel Maddow will not let former officials dodge responsibility for launching an unnecessary war in Iraq. Why do other journalists?

In her interview with former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on August 31, Maddow demonstrated why she is one of the top journalists in the country. Ridge gave...

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Ted Kennedy: A Lion for Nuclear Disarmament

1 Comments | Posted August 26, 2009 | 04:24 PM (EST)


Senator Ted Kennedy worked tirelessly to protect America from the threats of nuclear terrorism and proliferation and to reduce and eliminate all nuclear arsenals.

In June 2004, I had the honor of introducing Senator Kennedy as a keynote speaker at the Carnegie International Non-Proliferation Conference. He was warm, gracious...

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Rice Advances the Obama Doctrine

14 Comments | Posted August 14, 2009 | 12:16 PM (EST)


This week, US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice further developed the core principles of the emerging Obama doctrine, strands of which the president presented over the last several months in Prague, Cairo and Moscow.

The president himself is likely to elaborate his guiding principles further during his...

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The Pentagon's Nuclear Posture Landmine

36 Comments | Posted August 10, 2009 | 11:06 AM (EST)


Defense officials are writing a new U.S. nuclear policy that could blow up President Obama's declared agenda. The White House must reassert its control.

The Nuclear Posture Review, or NPR, will be issued at the end of the year, but Obama's defense officials are briefing others in the administration this...

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Cash for Nuclear Clunkers

16 Comments | Posted August 3, 2009 | 06:01 PM (EST)


Co-authored by Benjamin Loehrke, Ploughshares Fund Research Assistant.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has ordered a $60 billion cut in spending over the next five years. The Joint Chiefs of Staff should trade in their old, high-cost nuclear bombs for cash required to buy the effective conventional equipment they...

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John Bolton's Nuclear Fantasy

164 Comments | Posted July 30, 2009 | 02:11 PM (EST)


John Bolton told Jon Stewart he wanted America to be the only nation with nuclear weapons. Stewart is the comedian, but this policy is the joke.

On The Daily Show July 29, former Bush official John Bolton -- one of the few people in history not to win Senate...

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Gates Grounds the Airborne White Elephant Laser

207 Comments | Posted July 17, 2009 | 05:13 PM (EST)


What a difference a president makes. Under President George Bush, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates resolutely defended every dime of last year's $11 billion budget for anti-missile weapons programs. Now reporting to President Obama, who favors weapons programs that are operationally effective and affordable, he is free to say what...

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Post's Krauthammer Pushes Dangerous Fantasy

127 Comments | Posted July 10, 2009 | 10:50 AM (EST)


Washington Post senior columnist Charles Krauthammer wants Russia to build more nuclear weapons. Why? Because he thinks we can shoot them out of the sky like clay pigeons. This is simply not true. The Post's promotion of this fantasy could lead to global disaster.

Krauthammer supported the arms control...

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An Obama Doctrine Emerges in Moscow

393 Comments | Posted July 8, 2009 | 12:55 PM (EST)


ABC News called President Barack Obama's trip to Russia a "breakthrough" and the new agreement to cut nuclear arms "extraordinary." Henry Kissinger compared Obama to a chess master playing simultaneous games.

But just as significant as the nuclear accords and the reset of US-Russian relations may...

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Iran Uprising Changes Nuclear Calculus

34 Comments | Posted June 17, 2009 | 12:26 AM (EST)


The Iran Uprising is a game changer. The regime has been delegitimized for large portions of the Iranian population. If Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prevails--and that is by no means certain--he will be greatly weakened, handcuffed in his ability to play the nuclear card as a nationalist rallying cry. Pressed at home,...

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North Korea Will Not Be Ignored

51 Comments | Posted May 25, 2009 | 09:50 AM (EST)


Like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, North Korea is a little unbalanced and relentless. Obama's strategy of ignoring the country has failed.

The first thing to know about the apparently successful nuclear test is this: Don't Panic. Though the country seems to have corrected the mistakes that led to the...

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Jughead is Real: The Truth About Lost's H-Bomb

36 Comments | Posted May 15, 2009 | 04:10 PM (EST)


This article was co-authored by Alexandra Bell, Research Associate at Ploughshares Fund.

The giant hydrogen bomb detonated on the ABC hit show, Lost, in its season finale this week really existed. It really was called "Jughead." Constructed in 1954, it was never actually exploded, leaving space for Lost's writers...

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The New Realism of Arms Control

5 Comments | Posted May 13, 2009 | 12:09 PM (EST)


This article was co-authored with Ploughshares Fund research assistant Benjamin Loehrke.

This week, UK Foreign Minister David Miliband told a small gathering at the New America Foundation that Britain was serious about nuclear disarmament. So are a lot of people. Arms control is back, big time.

It is...

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Lisa Kudrow Wants a Nuclear-Free Mother's Day

4 Comments | Posted May 4, 2009 | 12:59 PM (EST)


Actress Lisa Kudrow has posted a special plea for this Mother's Day, May 10. "Did you know that Mother's Day in America originated as a day to celebrate peace?" she asks in the video message, "The holiday traces its roots to a mother's plea for peace after the Civil...

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