The nuclear modernization craze has been on the minds and in the conversations of nuclear policy experts all over the world in recent weeks. As nonproliferation agreements like the INF Treaty are set aside, nuclear weapons states are not only modernizing existing systems, but building new ones that threaten to destabilize an already precarious nuclear balance. The January issue of the Bulletin‘s subscription magazine is all about nuclear modernization: the astonishing complexities of the US program, its influence on Russia and China, and what the US could do to ensure reliability of its arsenal while reducing the cost of its nuclear systems and also, perhaps, halt the downward spiral of a new arms race. Here’s what you need to know:
SPECIAL ISSUE: Nuclear modernization
Free-access ends March 1, 2019
Introduction: The wasteful and dangerous worldwide nuclear modernization craze
John Mecklin
Rebuilding an aging nuclear weapons complex: What should the United States do, and not do? An overview.
Robert Rosner and Lynn Eden
Russian views of US nuclear modernization
Dmitri Trenin
What the United States can do to stabilize its nuclear relationship with China
Tong Zhao
Smarter US modernization, without new nuclear weapons
Andrew Weber and Christine Parthemore
Invisible nuclear-armed submarines, or transparent oceans? Are ballistic missile submarines still the best deterrent for the United States?
Owen R. Cote Jr.
How the next nuclear arms race will be different from the last one
Benjamin Zala
Other features
Cyberattacks on Russia—the nation with most nukes—pose a global threat
M.V. Ramana and Mariia Kurando
Interview
Jon Wolfsthal on the link between nuclear strategy and the nuclear modernization budget
John Mecklin
Nuclear Notebook
French nuclear forces, 2019
Hans M. Kristensen and Matt Korda
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