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JUST RELEASED
The Ethics of Nuclear Weapons Dissemination:
Moral Dilemmas of Aspiration, Avoidance and Prevention
Thomas E. Doyle II
Taylor & Francis Group
This book examines the moral dilemmas of nuclear dissemination, and the justifications of both nuclear pursuit and avoidance by contemporary states.
Applying Constructivist methodologies and moral theory, the author analyses a core set of moral dilemmas that ensnare decision-makers amongst state and non-state nuclear aspirants, as well as amongst states committed to preventing horizontal proliferation. The book shows that the character, structure and implications of these dilemmas have not yet been adequately understood or appreciated, and that such an understanding is necessary for an effective set of nonproliferation policies. Furthermore, it shows that the dilemmas' force and political policy import are evident in the 'discourses' that diverse actors undertake to defend their nuclear choices, and how the dilemmas of nuclear aspirants are implicated in those of nuclear preventers. The author advocates a number of policy recommendations that reinforce some already made by scholars and experts but, more importantly, others that advise significantly different courses of action. The book reveals how the moral dilemmas of nuclear aspiration, avoidance, and prevention constitute the security dilemmas and paradoxes that comprise much of the 21st century security environment.
This book will be of much interest to students of nuclear proliferation, international relations, ethics, and international security studies.
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Nuclear Strategy in the Modern Era:
Regional Powers and International Conflict
Vipin Narang, Princeton University Press
2015
The world is in a second nuclear age in which regional powers play an increasingly prominent role. These states have small nuclear arsenals, often face multiple active conflicts, and sometimes have weak institutions. How do these nuclear states-and potential future ones-manage their nuclear forces and influence international conflict? Examining the reasoning and deterrence consequences of regional power nuclear strategies, this book demonstrates that these strategies matter greatly to international stability and it provides new insights into conflict dynamics across important areas of the world such as the Middle East, East Asia, and South Asia.
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The Foreign Policy Essay:
Moral Values and the Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons
Thomas E. Doyle II, Lawfare Institute
Forty-five years after the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) came into force, and 20 years after it was renewed indefinitely by its states-parties, the United States and many of its allies remain intensely concerned about the spread of nuclear weapons to states like Iran. Conventional academic wisdom holds that the drivers of nuclear weapons pursuit are almost entirely based in the amoral search for security as defined by power. And even if international norms play a role in nuclear ambitions, those norms are anchored in politics rather than morality.
These views seem to me to be mistaken.
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Summary of Nonproliferation funding in Obama Administration's fiscal year 2016 Budget Request
Nickolas Roth, Nuclear Security Matters
February 24, 2015
The Obama administration is proposing to boost Department of Energy nonproliferation funding to $1.94 billion-more than a $300 million increase from what Congress appropriated last year-in fiscal year 2016. But this is an increase over the very low fiscal year 2015 budget proposed by the administration and then further cut by Congress. Both Congress and the Russian government have cut back on further U.S.-funded nuclear security work in Russia, and the Obama administration has yet to develop major new initiatives that could absorb those resources.
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The Economist
March 7, 2015
Within the next few weeks, after years of stalling and evasion, Iran may at last agree to curb its nuclear programme. In exchange for relief from sanctions it will accept, in principle, that it should allow intrusive inspections and limit how much uranium will cascade through its centrifuges. After 2025 Iran will gradually be allowed to expand its efforts. It insists these are peaceful, but the world is convinced they are designed to produce a nuclear weapon.
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US Institute: NKorea Nuke Arsenal Set to Multiply
Associated Press
February 24, 2015
North Korea could increase its nuclear arsenal from at least 10 weapons today to between 20 and 100 weapons in five years, U.S. researchers said Tuesday, as the Obama administration vowed to work with U.S. allies to pressure Pyongyang to denuclearize.
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Future Directions in the DPRK'S Nuclear Weapons Program: Three Scenarios for 2020
David Albright, ISIS
February 26, 2015
Like many secret nuclear weapons programs, the DPRK goes to great lengths to hide its capabilities to produce nuclear explosive materials and nuclear weapons. Despite these actions, a picture can be drawn of North Korea's current and projected plutonium and weapons-grade uranium (WGU) stocks. Knowing these plutonium and WGU stocks can, in turn, allow an estimate of the DPRK's current number of nuclear weapons and a range of projections of the number North Korea could build in the next several years. Although great uncertainty surrounds these projections, as well as the quality of North Korea's nuclear weapons, these projections form a reasonable picture of the DPRK's possible nuclear weapons futures, absent actions to significantly limit its nuclear programs.
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Bolstering Nuclear Forensics to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism -The Fifth Anniversary of the Nuclear Forensics
and Attribution Act
Huban Gowadia, US Department of Homeland Security
February 24, 2015
Five years ago, President Obama signed into law an important piece of homeland security legislation designed to help protect our Nation against the threat of nuclear terrorism. The Nuclear Forensics and Attribution Act (NFAA) assigned to the Department of Homeland Security key nuclear forensics responsibilities and authorized the National Technical Nuclear Forensics Center within DHS's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO).
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Japan's Reports on Conditions at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station
Radioactivity in seawater near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has remained low and stable from 15 to 22 February 2015, according to the regular update and sea area monitoring results provided by Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) to the IAEA. An analysis of the seawater from the area around the outside of the port of Fukushima Daiichi was also received.
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Ash Carter Warns Russia on Nukes
Philip Ewing, Politico
February 23, 2015
Ash Carter has quietly thrown down the gauntlet in a lingering dispute with Russia: If President Vladimir Putin continues to violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the U.S. could respond in kind.
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Steven Starr, Lynn Eden and Theodore A. Postol
2015 (Adapted from a 2004 piece)
Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles are believed to carry a total of approximately 1,000 strategic nuclear warheads that can hit the US less than 30 minutes after being launched. Of this total, about 700 warheads are rated at 800 kilotons; that is, each has the explosive power of 800,000 tons of TNT. What follows is a description of the consequences of the detonation of a single such warhead over midtown Manhattan, in the heart of New York City.
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