Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs - Dirty bombs

North Korea's Lesson: Nukes for Sale

Graham Allison — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:52:04 -0600

THE most dangerous message North Korea sent Tuesday with its third nuclear weapon test is: nukes are for sale. Graham Allison writes in the New York Times that the real significance of North Korea's overnight nuclear test is that this particular test was, in the estimation of American officials, most likely fueled by highly enriched uranium, not the plutonium that served as the core of North Korea’s earlier tests. "Testing a uranium-based bomb would announce to the world — including potential buyers — that North Korea is now operating a new, undiscovered production line for weapons-usable material."

President Obama's WMD "Czar" Appointed Executive Director of Belfer Center

James F. Smith — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:19:27 -0600

Gary Samore, President Obama’s Coordinator for Weapons of Mass Destruction Counter-Terrorism and Arms Control, has been appointed Executive Director (Research) for Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. A former fellow with the Belfer Center's International Security Program, Samore has served for the past four years as the principal advisor to the President on all matters relating to arms control and the prevention of weapons of mass destruction proliferation and WMD terrorism.

IAEA’s Integral Role in Ending the Iranian Nuclear Crisis

Olli Heinonen and Mark Hibbs — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 13:08:01 -0600

There is a small opening to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis after the conclusion of the U.S. presidential election, write Mark Hibbs and Olli Heinonen. "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called this a 'window of opportunity,' and it is beginning to focus minds on identifying the necessary components of a package deal that will put Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and UN Security Council powers squarely on a path toward conflict resolution."

The Special Senate Committee on Anti-terrorism

William H. Tobey, Matthew Bunn and Simon Saradzhyan — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 09:33:12 -0500

On June 11, 2012, the Belfer Center's William Tobey, Matthew Bunn and Simon Saradzhyan testified before Canada's upper house of parliament, the Senate, on the threat of nuclear terrorism and strategies to combat it.

Belfer Center Newsletter Summer 2012

Sharon Wilke — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:21:53 -0500

The Summer 2012 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This edition highlights Belfer Center involvement with the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit and other activities to help shape debate on national and global security. We also spotlight Henry Kissinger’s return to Harvard and his remarks about power and politics, James Baker’s acceptance of the 2012 Great Negotiator Award, and Graham Allison’s cover story in TIME magazine describing decisions behind the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. And more....

Matthew Bunn Interview on Successes, Challenges of 2012 Nuclear Summit

Matthew Bunn and Eben Harrell — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:42:04 -0500

Following the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea, Associate Professor Matthew Bunn answered questions from Research Associate Eben Harrell about the successes of the summit and the remaining challenges.

Center Prepares Dossier for Seoul Nuclear Summit

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:11:12 -0500

When President Barack Obama hosted nearly 50 heads of state in Washington, D.C. for the first global Nuclear Security Summit in 2010, the Belfer Center made available to the leaders and their sherpas a range of relevant background materials and information. With the arrival of the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit, the Center created www.nuclearsummit.org – an online Nuclear Security Summit dossier.

New Study Finds Four-Year Nuclear Security Effort Making Major Progress But Won't Complete the Nuclear Security Job

James F. Smith — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:48:35 -0500

On the eve of the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea, a new study finds that an international initiative to secure all vulnerable nuclear stockpiles within four years has reduced the dangers posed by many of the world’s highest-risk nuclear stockpiles. But the new analysis, by researchers with the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center, also concludes that much will remain to be done to ensure that all nuclear weapons and material are secure when the current four-year effort comes to an end.

Progress on Securing Nuclear Weapons and Materials: The Four-Year Effort and Beyond

Matthew Bunn, Eben Harrell and Martin B. Malin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:10:06 -0500

Nuclear Security Summit Dossier

Matthew Bunn — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:24:02 -0500

March 12, 2012

Matthew Bunn's introduction to the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit.

Consolidation: Thwarting Nuclear Theft

Matthew Bunn and Eben Harrell — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:04:30 -0500

A detailed assessment of the campaign to consolidate dangerous nuclear materials worldwide in fewer, more secure sites, with analysis of success stories, ongoing risks, near-term opportunities, and numerous recommendations for next steps.

Comrades, we're in a defensive arms race with Russia-- but it isn't a bad thing.

Kevin Ryan — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:39:45 -0600

Russian leaders have previously promised to improve the survivability of their offensive nuclear missile force as a means of ensuring that they would retain an effective nuclear deterrent, and that will likely happen. But recent events and announcements indicate that Russia is also investing money in its own increased missile defenses.

Russia in Review

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:59:42 -0600

A digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for December 2-9, 2011

Terrorist Threat Demands Creative Intelligence

Dominic Contreras — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:07:14 -0600

Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a former director of intelligence and counterintelligence at the Department of Energy, argues that despite not falling victim to a major terrorist event in the last 10 years, the United States must not be complacent in its counter-terrorism efforts. Mowatt-Larssen said in a Belfer Center seminar in September that he believes the possibility of a major attack is higher in the next 10 years than in the preceding decade.

MacArthur Grant Enriches Managing the Atom Fellowships

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:03:41 -0600

The Belfer Center’s Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) has received a major grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to support a fellowship and training program aimed at helping prepare the next generation of nuclear policy leaders.

An Even Bigger Threat

Graham Allison — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:02:29 -0500

On 9/11, 19 terrorists killed more Americans than the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. If the terrorists had been in possession of a nuclear weapon, the attack might have killed 300,000.

America's Choices - and Their Costs

Graham Allison — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:46:45 -0500

"AMERICA’S LAST 10 years might be called 'The Decade the Locusts Ate,'" writes Graham Allison. "A nation that started with a credible claim to lead a second American century lost its way after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Whether the nation will continue on a path of decline, or, alternatively, find our way to recovery and renewal, is uncertain."

Ensuring Strategic Stability in the Past and Present: Theoretical and Applied Questions

Andrei A. Kokoshin — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:21:34 -0500

In the Foreword to this paper by Andrei Kokoshin, Belfer Center Director Graham Allison writes: "The global nuclear order is reaching a tipping point. Several trends are advancing along crooked paths, each undermining this order. These trends include North Korea’s expanding nuclear weapons program, Iran’s continuing nuclear ambitions, Pakistan’s increasing instability, growing doubts about the sustainability of the nonproliferation regime in general, and terrorist groups’ enduring aspirations to acquire nuclear weapons. Andrei Kokoshin, deputy of the State Duma and former secretary of Russia’s Security Council, analyzes these challenges that threaten to cause the nuclear order to collapse in the following paper."

First Joint U.S.-Russia Assessment of Nuclear Terror Threat

James F. Smith — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 07:53:23 -0500

Researchers from the United States and Russia today issued a joint assessment of the global threat of nuclear terrorism, warning of a persistent danger that terrorists could obtain or make a nuclear device and use it with catastrophic consequences. The first joint threat assessment by experts from the world’s two major nuclear powers concludes: “If current approaches toward eliminating the threat are not replaced with a sense of urgency and resolve, the question will become not if but when, and on what scale, the first act of nuclear terrorism occurs.”

Russia in Review

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:34:11 -0500

June 3, 2011

An update from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of May 27 – June 3, 2011.

The U.S.-Russia Joint Threat Assessment of Nuclear Terrorism

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:46:22 -0500

Researchers from the United States and Russia have issued a joint assessment of the global threat of nuclear terrorism, warning of a persistent danger that terrorists could obtain or make a nuclear device and use it with catastrophic consequences. The first joint threat assessment by experts from the world’s two major nuclear powers concludes: “If current approaches toward eliminating the threat are not replaced with a sense of urgency and resolve, the question will become not if but when, and on what scale, the first act of nuclear terrorism occurs.”

Preventing the Next Fukushima

Matthew Bunn and Olli Heinonen — Wed, 25 May 2011 13:16:22 -0500

This week, when the leaders of the G8 industrial democracies gather in France, their meeting will include discussions of what steps must be taken to strengthen global nuclear safety and global nuclear security in the aftermath of the tragedy at Fukushima. The Belfer Center's Matthew Bunn and Olli Heinonen suggest new actions the world community should take in five key areas in order to prevent another Fukushima.

Nuclear Threats, Then and Now

James F. Smith — Thu, 19 May 2011 08:57:18 -0500

In 1985, researchers at the Harvard Kennedy School published a book called “Hawks, Doves, and Owls,” and gave it an ambitious subtitle: “An Agenda for Avoiding Nuclear War.” Those scholars gathered again at the School on Monday (May 16) for a seminar on the current challenges in avoiding nuclear war — and to marvel at just how drastically the nuclear threat has morphed in the two decades since the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union collapsed.

Russia in Review

Fri, 13 May 2011 16:13:50 -0500

An update from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of May 6-13, 2011

Russia in Review

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 15:09:38 -0500

An update from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of April 22-29, 2011.

Next Steps to Strengthen Nuclear Security and Prevent Nuclear Terrorism

Matthew Bunn — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:44:09 -0500

Matthew Bunn presented "Next Steps to Strengthen Nuclear Security and Prevent Nuclear Terrorism" at the Fissile Materials Working Group event in Vienna, Austria on the occasion of the 1-year anniversary of the Nuclear Security Summit.

The Non-State Actor Nuclear Supply Chain

William H. Tobey and Matthew Bunn — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 14:54:17 -0500

William H. Tobey, and Matthew Bunn presented "The Non-State Actor Nuclear Supply Chain" at the Workshop on “Cooperation to Control Non-State Nuclear Proliferation: Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction and UN Resolutions 1540 and 1373” sponsored by the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability on April 4 and 5, 2011.

Russia in Review

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:46:47 -0500

An update from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of March 11 - 18, 2011.

All Stocks of Weapons-Usable Nuclear Materials Worldwide Must be Protected Against Global Terrorist Threats

Matthew Bunn and Evgeniy P. Maslin — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:04:51 -0600

The danger of nuclear terrorism is real enough to justify urgent action to reduce the risk. Some terrorist groups are actively seeking nuclear weapons and the materials to make them; it is plausible that a technically sophisticated terrorist group could make a crude nuclear bomb if it acquired enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) or plutonium; important weaknesses in nuclear security still exist in many countries and thefts of HEU and plutonium have already occurred; nuclear smuggling is very difficult to interdict; and the consequences of a terrorist nuclear detonation would be immense and far-reaching. Nuclear thieves could strike in any country. In this article, we outline a baseline set of adversary capabilities that all stocks of nuclear weapons, plutonium, or HEU should be protected against, no matter what country they are in, including both insiders and outsiders and a range of potential tactics. Bunn and Maslin recommend that countries facing more substantial adversary threats put even more capable security systems in place. The article calls for international cooperation, including technical and financial assistance where needed, to ensure that at least this baseline level of protection is in place for all nuclear weapons, plutonium, and HEU worldwide.

Russia in Review

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:27:00 -0600

An update from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of January 14-21, 2011.