The authoritative guide to ensuring science and technology make life on Earth better, not worse.
By Bulletin Staff | September 7, 2016
The 2016 presidential race is unusual in many ways, but a silver lining of sorts has emerged: For the first time since Lyndon Johnson’s famous “Daisy” political ad during the 1964 presidential campaign, the control that the president of the United States wields over the US nuclear arsenal is under serious discussion.
In his introduction to the Bulletin’s September/October issue, editor John Mecklin writes: “The Bulletin is nonpartisan, but it does have an unapologetic bias toward science, expertise, and the long-term preservation of humanity.” To this end, Mecklin has assembled top nuclear experts to provide questions that both journalists and citizens can ask to better understand the US nuclear arsenal, the role of the president in its deployment and use, and how to determine the differences on nuclear policy between the two major presidential candidates.
Given the debates over whether the US should change its nuclear posture to “no first use” and the questions over whether US nuclear weapons in Turkey are secure, knowing the nuclear policy positions of potential commanders-in-chief has never been more important.
Practical nuclear questions for the presidential candidates
Introduction: Practical nuclear questions for the candidates in an unusual presidential election
John Mecklin
How many nuclear warheads does the United States need?
Frank von Hippel
Questions for the presidential candidates on nuclear terrorism, proliferation, weapons policy, and energy
Siegfried S. Hecker
Six nuclear questions for the next president
Henry Sokolski
Should the United States begin talks to ban nuclear weapons?
Zia Mian
The nuclear Google
Sharon Squassoni
All six of the US presidential articles are free-access in this issue.
The psychology of doom
The psychological effects of cyber terrorism
Michael L. Gross, Daphna Canetti, Dana R. Vashdi
The largely unacknowledged impact of climate change on mental health
Eva Gifford and Robert Gifford
The psychological power of nuclear weapons
Alex Wellerstein
Fear factor: The unseen perils of the Ebola outbreak
James M. Shultz, Benjamin M. Althouse, Florence Baingana, et al.
The dangers of radiophobia
David Ropeik
Interview
Adam Segal: Life in the hacked world order
Interviewed by Andrew Ivers.
Other Features
It is already too late to stop the AI arms race—we must manage it instead
Edward Moore Geist
Why cooperative threat reduction still matters—especially for biological dangers
Amy E. Smithson
Financial incentives for reducing proliferation risks
Rachel A. Weise and Gretchen E. Hund
Global Forum: North Korea, nuclear weapons, and the search for a new path forward.
Hopes that Pyongyang might curtail its weapons programs due to direct pressure from Beijing have been disappointed so far—already in 2016, the North has conducted its fourth nuclear weapon test and launched a long-range ballistic missile. Against this backdrop, how can nations in the region reinvigorate a diplomatic process toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula—or, failing that, how can they best handle the security challenges posed by a nuclear North?
Editor's note
Lucien Crowder
North Korea, nuclear weapons, and the search for a new path forward
A Russian response
Andrei Lankov
North Korea, nuclear weapons, and the search for a new path forward
A South Korean response
Chung-in Moon
North Korea, nuclear weapons, and the search for a new path forward
A Chinese response
Dingli Shen
Book Review
The quest for cyber norms
Elaine Korzak
Review of Binary Bullets: The Ethics of Cyber Warfare, edited by Fritz Allhoff, Adam Henschke, and Bradley Jay Strawser
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