Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs - India -- Nuclear program

Why Nuclear Powers Should Start Walking Toward Global Zero

Simon Saradzhyan — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:09:45 -0500

"On April 5, 2009 President Barack Obama gave a speech that was supposed to set the agenda for his presidency in international security. “I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons,” he proclaimed in front of an enthusiastic crowd in Prague. Four years later, however, this drive to achieve “Global Zero” seems to have waned to a point when even another round of modest reductions in US and Russian arsenals appears difficult to achieve."

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.

Strategy in the Second Nuclear Age: Power, Ambition, and the Ultimate Weapon

Toshi Yoshihara and John R. Holmes — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 19:54:08 -0500

Strategy in the Second Nuclear Age assembles a group of distinguished scholars to grapple with the matter of how the United States, its allies, and its friends must size up the strategies, doctrines, and force structures currently taking shape if they are to design responses that reinforce deterrence amid vastly more complex strategic circumstances.

Correspondence: Debating India’s Pathway to Nuclearization

Andrew B. Kennedy, Jason Stone, Gaurav Kampani and Karthika Sasikumar — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 10:00:27 -0500

Gaurav Kampani, Karthika Sasikumar, and Jason Stone each respond to Andrew B. Kennedy's fall 2011 International Security article, "India's Nuclear Odyssey: Implicit Umbrellas, Diplomatic Disappointments, and the Bomb."

Nuclear Collisions: Discord, Reform & the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:18:51 -0500

Nearly all of the 190 signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) agree that the forty-two-year-old treaty is fragile and in need of fundamental reform. But gaining consensus on how to fix the NPT will require reconciling the sharply differing views of nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states. Strengthening the international rules is increasingly important as dozens of countries, including some with unstable political environments, explore nuclear energy. The result is an ever-increasing distribution of this technology. In this paper, Steven E. Miller outlines the main points of contention within the NPT regime and identifies the issues that have made reform so difficult.

Future of Diplomacy Project Names Fisher Family Fellows

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:13:53 -0500

Leaders in government, diplomacy, and the non-profit world have been selected by the Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project for the prestigious 2012 Fisher Family Fellowships.

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.

Conversations in Diplomacy: Shyam Saran

Charles Hobbs — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:02:06 -0600

February 24, 2012

Shyam Saran, the former Indian Foreign Secretary, discusses developments in Indo-American relations with Future of Diplomacy Project Director R. Nicholas Burns in this February 2012 interview.

Reducing Nuclear Dangers

Matthew Bunn — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:16:03 -0600

Matthew Bunn reviewed Ron Rosenbaum's How the End Begins: The Road to a Nuclear World War III for Issues in Science and Technology, arguing that Rosenbaum is right to be alarmed, but misses both some of the most important threats and some of the most compelling solutions that would help make the world safer.

"International Security" Journal Highlights

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:02:21 -0600

This section of the Belfer Center newsletter includes highlights from the Fall 2011 edition of the International Security journal.

India's Nuclear Odyssey: Implicit Umbrellas, Diplomatic Disappointments, and the Bomb

Andrew B. Kennedy — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:20:10 -0500

After decades of flirting with nuclear weapons, India finally emerged as a nuclear power in the 1990s. New evidence suggests that India was able to hold off in part because it was able to secure protection through an alternate method: implicit “umbrellas” from superpowers. In the late 1970s, however, U.S. support for India waned as it began to improve its relations with Pakistan, and India lost its other major backer with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. By the late 1980s, India could no longer protect itself through diplomatic means, and acquisition of the bomb became an inevitable response to its security needs.

Global Village: Finding a Way to Live Between Two Giants

Anindya Bakrie — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 09:50:55 -0500

China and India's simultaneous rise weighs closely on the destiny of Southeast Asia, writes Belfer Center International Council member Anindya Barkie. Their cooperation would benefit all surrounding neighbors; their contensions could tear the region apart.

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.

What Role Should the U.S. Play in Middle East?

Graham Allison, Nicholas Burns, Ashraf Hegazy, Joseph S. Nye and Stephen M. Walt — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:21:35 -0500

The Belfer Center's Graham Allison, Nicholas Burns, Ashraf Hegazy, Joseph S. Nye, and Stephen Walt consider the U.S.'s shifting foreign policy in the Middle East.

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.

Countdown to Zero Draws Heavily from Center Experts and Research

Sasha Talcott — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 09:22:33 -0600

When the Academy Award-winning producer of An Inconvenient Truth, Lawrence Bender, wanted to create a new nuclear proliferation film, he turned to leading experts at the Belfer Center.

Next Steps to Strengthen Nuclear Security and Prevent Nuclear Terrorism

Matthew Bunn — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:46:38 -0600

Matthew Bunn presented "Next Steps to Strengthen Nuclear Security and Prevent Nuclear Terrorism" at the XVIII Edoardo Amaldi Conference on “International Security and the Role of Scientific Academies” Rome, Italy in November 2010.

Future of Diplomacy Project announces new resident and non-resident fellows

Cathryn Clüver — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:03:18 -0600

The Future of Diplomacy Project, the newest research initiative to be launched by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, announces its resident and non-resident research fellows for Fall 2010. "Our research fellows bring a blend of practical and academic expertise in diplomacy to the Harvard community, which is instrumental to the critical examination of international conflict resolution mechanisms today," said Future of Diplomacy Project Director Nicholas Burns.

The Uncertain Future of Nuclear Energy

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 22:56:31 -0500

In the 1970s, nuclear-power boosters expected that by now nuclear power would produce perhaps 80 to 90 percent of all electrical energy globally. Today, the official high-growth projection of the Organization for Economic Co‑operation and Developments (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) estimates that nuclear power plants will generate about 20 percent of all electrical energy in 2050. Thus, nuclear power could make a significant contribution to the global electricity supply. Or it could be phased out — especially if there is another accidental or a terrorist-caused Chernobyl-scale release of radioactivity. If the spread of nuclear energy cannot be decoupled from the spread of nuclear weapons, it should be phased out.

Graham Allison Calls for Citizen Follow-up to "Countdown to Zero"

Graham Allison — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:11:52 -0500

The Belfer Center is honored to have a number of our scholars and alumni prominently featured in the film Countdown to Zero. It is a testament to our long-standing commitment to providing leadership in advancing policy-relevant knowledge about the threat of nuclear terrorism and proliferation. Translating words into deeds, however, will require private citizens to take action. For her work in pushing nations around the world to sign a treaty banning land mines, Jody Williams won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997....Someone asked one of my colleagues here at the Center, what would a nuclear Jody Williams do? Colleagues here have developed a list.

Fellowships Encourage Scholars in Nuclear Security, History and Policy

Beth Maclin — Tue, 18 May 2010 09:39:19 -0500

The Belfer Center has grown this year with the addition of two new fellowships: the Nuclear Security Fellowships and the Ernest May Fellowships.

Assessing Obama’s Nuclear Summit

Graham Allison — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 15:45:07 -0500

"This summit was Act One. Other governments are most likely to take the actions required when their leaders feel in their guts that a loose nuclear weapon in their country could be used to blow up the city in which they live."

Securing the Bomb 2010

Matthew Bunn — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:40:16 -0500

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Project on Managing the Atom Co-Principal Investigator Matthew Bunn provides a comprehensive assessment of global efforts to secure and consolidate nuclear stockpiles, and a detailed action plan for securing all nuclear materials in four years. Securing the Bomb 2010 was commissioned by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). The full report, with additional information on the threat of nuclear terrorism, is available for download on the NTI website.

Exporting the Bomb: Technology Transfer and the Spread of Nuclear Weapons

Matthew Kroenig — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 09:10:13 -0500

Matthew Kroenig's book, Exporting the Bomb: Technology Transfer and the Spread of Nuclear Weapons, was published by Cornell University Press. Kroenig argues that nearly every country with a nuclear weapons arsenal received substantial help at some point from a more advanced nuclear state. Understanding why states provide sensitive nuclear assistance not only adds to our knowledge of international politics but also aids in international efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons.

Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center Announces 2010–2011 Nuclear Security Fellows

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:36:32 -0500

The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School has announced the 2010–2011 Nuclear Security Fellows. Karthika Sasikumar, Yun Zhou, and Mahsa Rouhi have been selected to spend a year in residence at the Belfer Center where they will conduct research under the auspices of the Center's International Security Program and Project on Managing the Atom. Supported by a generous gift from the Stanton Foundation, the fellowships begin in September 2010.

Preface to Going Nuclear

Sean M. Lynn-Jones — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:21:47 -0600

"Concern over nuclear proliferation is likely to increase in the coming years. Many observers believe that the spread of nuclear weapons to one or two more states will trigger a wave of new nuclear states. More states may turn to nuclear power to meet their energy needs as other sources of energy become more costly or undesirable because they emit carbon that contributes to global climate change. As more nuclear reactors are built, the world's stock of nuclear expertise and fissionable materials is likely to grow."

Going Nuclear: Nuclear Proliferation and International Security in the 21st Century

Michael E. Brown, Owen R. Coté, Sean M. Lynn-Jones and Steven E. Miller — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:25:37 -0600

The spread of nuclear weapons is one of the most significant challenges to global security in the twenty-first century. Limiting the proliferation of nuclear weapons and materials may be the key to preventing a nuclear war or a catastrophic act of nuclear terrorism. Going Nuclear offers conceptual, historical, and analytical perspectives on current problems in controlling nuclear proliferation. It includes essays that examine why countries seek nuclear weapons as well as studies of the nuclear programs of India, Pakistan, and South Africa.

Posturing for Peace? Pakistan's Nuclear Postures and South Asian Stability

Vipin Narang — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:54:59 -0600

India and Pakistan are both nuclear-armed states, but their divergent nuclear postures have led to a stark difference in their deterrence capabilities. India has maintained an assured retaliation posture, but Pakistan has shifted from a catalytic to an asymmetric escalation posture, allowing it to pursue aggressive policies without significant fear of retaliation. Furthermore, to make its posture credible, Pakistan has had to relinquish some central control over the security of its nuclear arsenal. The implications for South Asian and international stability, therefore, are grim unless India and Pakistan can minimize the dangers of their current postures, and the United States can help Pakistan to better secure its nuclear arsenal.