• NORTH KOREANorth Korea Explained: What Americans Need to Know

    The Korean Peninsula, with its intricate web of historical tensions, nuclear threats, and geopolitical dynamics, will demand a nuanced and strategic approach from the incoming administration.

  • NUCLEAR ESCALATIONHow to Manage Escalation with Nuclear Adversaries Like China

    By Doug Irving

    Chinese leaders fled Beijing in October 1969, as a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union seemed imminent. They were on the precipice of nuclear war owing to a remarkable series of missteps and miscommunications. The crisis of 1969 holds some important lessons for U.S. military planners as they think through how a future war with China could unfold. It needs a theory of victory that explains not just how it plans to win, but how it plans to win without triggering a nuclear war.

  • ASIAN SECURITYSouth Korea and Nuclear Weapons

    By Ranjit Kumar Dhawan

    The constant threat of North Korean aggression and fears of abandonment by the United States of its security commitment to South Korea have been the primary reasons for Seoul’s nuclear ambitions. More recently, the deepening military alliance between North Korea and Russia has raised serious concerns in South Korea.

  • IRAN’S NUKESWe Need a New Discussion About Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Work

    By David Albright and Sarah Burkhard

    U.S. intelligence is shielding the Biden-Harris administration from having to take serious action on Iran’s nuclear program. While hinting at nuclear weapon activities taking place, the U.S. intelligence community is focusing on public Iranian statements and old news on Iran’s capabilities to produce weapon-grade uranium — but it avoids any type of public discussion on what nuclear weaponization activities Iran may be undertaking, and how soon it can build a nuclear weapon. Likely, because some uncomfortable truths would come out: Iran can do it way too quickly, and initial activities to build the bomb could be difficult to detect.

  • IRAN’S NUKESU.S. Says Iran Nuclear Deal Remains 'Off the Table' as Tehran Calls for 'New Negotiations'

    By Kian Sharifi

    Reviving the Iran nuclear deal remains off the agenda for the Biden administration, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said, but the deal “is not on the table right now.”

  • IRAN POLICYAmerica’s Iran Policy Is a Failure − Piecemeal Deterrence and Sanctions Can Go Only So Far

    By Arie Perliger

    A decade of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East has failed to contain Iran’s ambitions and has instead substantially contributed to the current escalation of hostilities in the region. Washington’s ability to project power and manage American interests in the Mideast has eroded dramatically since 2010, and, as a result of Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran’s military nuclear program has reached its most advanced stage. The failed policies have culminated in the collapse of American deterrence in the Middle East. Simply put, the U.S. no longer projects enough power there to stop Iranian hostilities.

  • CHINA WATCHWashington-Seoul Alliance Is a “Nuclear Alliance,”: U.S.

    By Eunjung Cho Young Gyo Kim

    A high-ranking U.S. official stressed Tuesday that the U.S.-South Korea alliance is a “nuclear alliance,” reinforcing the South Korean government’s description of the two allies, after the United States and South Korea signed new deterrence guidelines last week.

  • NUCLEAR PROLIFERATIONNonproliferation Researcher Is Retracing Reactor Steps

    Nuclear materials can produce vast amounts of energy. This unique attribute can be harnessed through reactors to provide a reliable, low-carbon electricity source. It can also be used to make weapons.

  • NUCLEAR WEAPONS‘Risks of Nuclear Terrorism Are High and Growing.’ New Tools, Alliances, Renewed Focus Needed, experts recommend

    By Cyrus Moulton

    For roughly 80 years, the United States has managed the threat of nuclear terrorism through nonproliferation treaties, agency programs, intelligence activities, international monitoring support and more, withstanding the Cold War, the fall of the Soviet Union, and 9/11. A National Academies committee wants to ensure the U.S. remains prepared.

  • NUCLEAR WEAPONSIran Can Now Produce Enough Fissile Material for 5 Nuclear Bombs within 30 Days of Decision to Do So

    By David Albright

    Iran notified the IAEA recently that over the next 3-4 weeks it would install eight cascades each containing 174 IR-6 centrifuges, about 1,400 in total, at the underground Fordow Enrichment Plant. The installation of eight more IR-6 cascades represents a dramatic increase in Fordow’s total enrichment capacity, meaning that by the end of the first month from a decision to “go nuclear,” Iran could produce a total of 145 kg of WGU, enough for five nuclear weapons.

  • NUCLEAR WEAPONSRussian Wargame Practicing Tactical Nukes Use Is Warning to West

    By Simon Saradzhyan

    Last month, the Russian defense ministry launched a multi-phase exercise near Ukraine meant to prepare its forces for using non-strategic nuclear weapons (NSNWs). In addition to the obvious purpose of preparing Russian troops to use tactical nuclear weapons in battle, the multi-stage exercise was also meant to signal to the West that it should refrain from escalating assistance to Ukraine, as well as to warn the U.S. and its allies that Russia may liberalize its conditions for using nuclear weapons.

  • NUCLEAR WEAPONSRole of Nuclear Weapons Grows as Geopolitical Relations Deteriorate: SIPRI

    The nine nuclear-armed states—the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Israel—continued to modernize their nuclear arsenals and several deployed new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapon systems in 2023.

  • NUCLEAR WEAPONSGlobal Annual Nuclear Weapons Spending in 2023: $91.4 Billion

    In 2023, the nine nuclear-armed states spent a combined total of $91,393,404,739 on their arsenals – equivalent to $2,898 a second. A new report shows that $10.7 billion more was spent on nuclear weapons in 2023 than in 2022.

  • IRAN’S NUKESAnalysis of the IAEA’s Iran NPT Safeguards Report - May 2024

    By David Albright, Sarah Burkhard, and Andrea Stricker

    For the second time in its quarterly safeguards reports on Iran’s compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has drawn attention Iran’s current ability to make nuclear weapons. Without strong and decisive action y the IAEA, Iranwill succeed in steadily augmenting its nuclear program penalty-free, enabling it to build a nuclear weapon more quickly than Western powers could detect and stop.

  • NUCLEAR WARCould a U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Deal Spark Middle East Arms Race?

    By Cathrin Schaer

    One part of a predicted, closer US-Saudi relationship is particularly controversial. Experts fear Saudi Arabia may use a civilian nuclear energy program, supported by the US, to develop their own atomic bombs.