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James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS)
CNS News & Views:
January 2018
 
It's a Nuclear War. Do You Know Where Your Leaders Are?
In partnership with the Nuclear Threat Initiative, CNS researchers have digitally constructed the vast network of underground bunkers in the United States and Russia where leaders of the two countries can seek safety in the event of nuclear war. 

Using all open-source information and the platform Minecraft, the team reconstructed these two massive bunkers in an effort to illustrate the continuing absurdity of plans to fight a nuclear war even have both societies have collapsed. 

Watch the trailer, which  TechCrunch lauded as " Fallout-esque." The Daily Beast also reported that it "highlight(s) the gap between public rhetoric and private hedging."
Ukraine S-300 SAM during the Independence Day parade in Kiev, 2008
The Denuclearization of Ukraine
On January 8 and 9, CNS hosted a workshop organized by the National Security Archive entitled "Nunn-Lugar, US-Russian-Ukrainian Relations, and the Withdrawal of Nuclear Weapons from Ukraine," with participants from both the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. 

While Ukraine's denuclearization is often treated as a foregone conclusion today, this outcome at the time was far from guaranteed. Close cooperation between the United States and Russia was fundamental to persuading Ukraine to give up its vast nuclear inheritance.

Sarah Bidgood
Sarah Bidgood on the CTBT in Teen Vogue
Writing for the widely popular online magazine Teen Vogue, CNS Research Associate Sarah Bidgood co-authored an article titled, "How Young People Are Trying to Stop Nuclear Weapons Testing." Along with co-author Susan le Jeune d'Allegeerschecque--British High Commissioner to Canada-- Bidgood discusses the legacy of nuclear testing, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and its verification organization, and the group of young people dedicated to supporting it. 

Teen Vogue has nearly 8 million visitors to its website, and has been heralded for "doing a better job of covering important stories ... than legacy news publications."  


An F-16C Fighting Falcon releases an AGM-154 Joint Stand-off Weapon over the Utah Test and Training Range. Wikicommons.
The Russification of US Deterrence Policy
In a new story published by the National Interest, Senior Fellow Nikolai Sokov discusses how Russia's acquisition of precision-guided long-range conventional strike weapons--with India's and China's to likely follow--is changing the strategic landscape in a fundamental way.
Joshua H. Pollack is also the Editor of the Nonproliferation Review
From LeMay to McMaster: The Pentagon's Difficult Relationship with Deterrence
Who actually subscribes to the strategy of deterrence, as it is understood by academic theorists? Does deterrence theory "apply to a regime like North Korea?" as National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster once asked. 

In a new article published on War on the Rocks, Senior Research Associate Joshua H. Pollack looks at how McMaster's skepticism of deterrence's efficacy is part of "America's historic pattern" of "embrac[ing] deterrence only grudgingly and belatedly." 
What the Failed North Korean Missile Test Reveals
Close analysis of Pyongyang's failed April 28 missile test that exploded in a populated area of North Korea reveals clues about the country's capabilities and plans, as well as ways that future such tests could inadvertently spark a serious crisis in Northeast Asia. 

CNS Research Associate Dave Schmerler co-wrote an article for The Diplomat explaining how. 

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James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies
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