Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Volume 74 Issue 4 - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

A Missile Defense Agency flight test of a ground-based interceptor, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. in June 2014.

Introduction: The great missile defense dilemma

By John Mecklin | Analysis, Nuclear Risk

Driven by varying (mis)perceptions of the motives and technological capabilities of their ...

Decoys as simple as balloons can often fool current missile defense systems.

Limitations on ballistic missile defense—past and possibly future

By George Lewis, Frank von Hippel | Analysis, Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

The ABM Treaty is unlikely to be revived any time soon. But ...

A diagram of an interceptor that might be used in a proposed boost-phase missile defense system for use against North Korea.

A new boost-phase missile defense system—and its diplomatic uses in the North Korea dispute

By James E. Goodby, Theodore A. Postol | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

The defense system the authors sketch in this article – the Airborne ...

Launch of a missile defense interceptor from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California.

US Ground-based midcourse missile defense: Expensive and unreliable

By Laura Grego | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

The Trump administration is seeking a significant expansion in the Ground-based Midcourse ...

The Russian S-400 anti-aircraft system, pictured in 2017.. Source: Соколрус, via Wikimedia

The vicissitudes of Russian missile defense

By Alexey Arbatov | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

The Russian vision of ballistic missile defense has reflected the specifics of ...

A map that shows the relative missile defense interceptor coverage of a certain array of space-based platforms.

Why a space-based missile interceptor system is not viable

By Thomas G. Roberts | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

The United States has plans to develop two new missile defense programs ...

A Chinese HQ-9 air defense missile launcher, pictured in 2009.

China’s attitudes toward missile defense and its limitation

By Li Bin | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

If there were to be a new international agreement to limit certain ...

Deterrence and its discontents

By Ulrich Kühn | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

What might Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, have found, had he ...

How emerging technology is shaping the future of intelligence.

Myths of automation and their implications for military procurement

By Robert R. Hoffman, Nadine Sarter, Matthew Johnson, John K. Hawley | Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Disruptive Technologies

Several mythical beliefs surround military automation, including the belief that automation reduces ...

Waste makes haste: How a campaign to speed up nuclear waste shipments shut down the WIPP long-term repository

By Vincent Ialenti | Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Risk

What happened, in the years leading up to Valentine’s Day 2014, that ...

The making of a non-proliferation law: A memoir

By Leonard Weiss | Uncategorized

In this article, the author describes the legislative process by which the ...

Garlin Gilchrist, executive director of the University of Michigan’s new Center for Social Media Responsibility

Garlin Gilchrist: Fighting fake news and the information apocalypse

By Dawn Stover | Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Disruptive Technologies, Interviews

In this interview, Garlin Gilchrist II, executive director of the University of ...

Chinese nuclear forces, 2018

By Hans M. Kristensen, Robert S. Norris | Nuclear Notebook, Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear Notebook: How many nuclear weapons does China have? China is continuing ...

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July 2018

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