James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS)
CNS News & Views:
August 2018
 
Governor Brown makes an intervention; Inga Yumasheva looks on.
High-Level US-Russia Workshop on Nonproliferation and Disarmament
In collaboration with Moscow's Center for Energy and Security Studies (CENESS), CNS hosted a high-level gathering of US and Russian experts, current and former officials, and young researchers to discuss a range of topics relating to nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. 

Participants included former US Secretary of State William Perry, former Soviet and Russian Ambassador Sergey Batsanov, Congressman Jimmy Panetta, and Russian parliamentarian Inga Yumasheva. Governor Jerry Brown also was an active participant throughout the workshop and delivered the evening keynote address on July 31. 

The exchanges of view held over the two-day workshop were lively, wide-ranging, and thoughtful. They also reflected the diverse professional expertise of the participants. 

Photo credit: Eduardo M. Fuji/CNS
Former Defense Secretary William Perry Sounds Warning at CNS Workshop
The risk of a nuclear exchange between the United States and Russia is possibly higher today than at any time during the Cold War, warned former Defense Secretary William Perry.

Speaking at the end of a two-day workshop hosted at CNS earlier in the month, Perry warned of the dangers resulting from the current absence of a two-way arms control dialogue.

Tom and Sarah Pattison are major supporters of the Summer Undergraduate Nonproliferation Program
Summer Undergrad Researchers Present Findings
Thirteen top-level undergraduate interns presented the key findings of their research projects at a luncheon with Tom and Sarah Pattison, dedicated friends and supporters of the CNS mission of nonproliferation education. 

The researchers demonstrated their use of sophisticated methodologies to explore emergent topics in the field: media narratives in nonproliferation; analyzing WMD capabilities using open-source data; geospatial and countermeasure intelligence; and national strategies, policies, and behavior of nuclear governments.  

Photo credit: Elena Zhukova
This is How a Nuclear War Will Start

"The skies over the Korean Peninsula on March 21, 2020, were clear and blue." 

Thus begins the "speculative novel" by East Asia Program Director Jeffrey Lewis, The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks against the United States. Lewis draws on his encyclopedic understanding of nuclear launch procedures, crisis decision making, and nuclear war planning to weave a "chillingly plausible" tale, replete with his trademark "absurdist and scornful humour" (the Economist ). The result is "the opposite of a warm glass of milk" (the  Globe and Mail ) and "an attempt to give us hindsight before it's too late" (the Times of London ).

Read more (but maybe not before bed).
Fifth Summer School on Nuclear Disarmament and Nonproliferation for Latin America and the Caribbean

For the fifth consecutive year, CNS partnered with the Mexican Foreign Ministry, the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Diplomatic Academy to conduct a Summer School on Nuclear Disarmament and Nonproliferation. This year's course took place in Mexico City from July 23-27, 2018. 

The Summer School provides a unique opportunity for junior diplomats from the region to study and discuss the history, challenges, and new opportunities facing the nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament regimes. The school brought together 30 participants from 26 countries. 

Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress
"Ghostly neutrinos" the newest nuclear-test hunting tool
Scientist-in-residence Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress coauthored a new study published in Physical Review Applied that demonstrates how detecting "ghostly" antineutrinos can help detect a nuclear-test explosion. 

The paper was selected as an "Editor's Suggestion" and discussed in the magazine Science News.