Columnists
Columnists
Gordon Adams
A professor of international relations at American University’s School of International Service, Adams also serves as a distinguished fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center. His expertise is in U.S. national security policy and budget planning across the country’s security institutions--the Defense Department, State Department, and intelligence agencies among them. In 1983, he founded the Defense Budget Project (now the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments), a nonpartisan research center that analyzes defense economics and defense policy. From 1993 to 1997, he worked as the White House’s senior national security budget official at the Office of Management and Budget, where he oversaw all U.S. foreign affairs and national security budgeting.
Hugh Gusterson
An anthropologist, Gusterson is a professor of anthropology and sociology at George Mason University. His expertise is in nuclear culture, international security, and the anthropology of science. He has conducted considerable fieldwork in the United States and Russia, where he studied the culture of nuclear weapon scientists and antinuclear activists. Two of his books encapsulate this work--Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War (University of California Press, 1996) and People of the Bomb: Portraits of America's Nuclear Complex (University of Minnesota Press, 2004). He also coedited Why America's Top Pundits Are Wrong (University of California Press, 2005); a sequel, The Insecure American, is in preparation. Previously, he taught in MIT's Program on Science, Technology, and Society.
Kurt Zenz House
House studies and develops methods for large-scale capture and storage of human-made carbon dioxide. He is currently a fellow at MIT, where his work is partially supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. In addition, he is the cofounder, president, and chief scientist of a venture-capital-backed alternative-energy company. He recently patented electrochemical weathering, a novel process that expedites the ocean’s natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide and can be used to produce carbon negative commodities--such as hydrogen, chlorine, and cement. In 2007, Esquire featured him among its "Best and Brightest." He holds a bachelor's degree in physics from the Claremont Colleges and a PhD in geoscience from Harvard University.
Laura H. Kahn
A general internist who began her career in health care as a registered nurse, Kahn works on the research staff of Princeton University's Program on Science and Global Security. Her expertise is in public health, biodefense, and pandemics. From 2003-2005, she led a study that assessed the public health infrastructures of New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. She has also co-organized the Carnegie Corporation’s "Biodefense Challenge" seminar series, which introduces biosecurity, codes of conduct, and dual-use biotech threats to the life sciences community. Prior to joining Princeton, she was a managing physician for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services and a medical officer for the Food and Drug Administration.
Malcolm Dando
A biologist, Dando researches international security at the University of Bradford's Department of Peace Studies. His expertise is in chemical and biological weapons, arms control, and biosecurity. An author and contributor to countless books on bioweapons and biotechnology, including The New Biological Weapons: Threat, Proliferation, and Control (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001), Dando’s recent interests include how the ongoing revolution in the life sciences might open up possibilities for new forms of biological weapons. Prior to working at the University of Bradford, Dando held a Ministry of Defence funded fellowship in operational research at the University of Sussex. Since 2002, he has travelled extensively, focusing on the in-depth national implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.
Pavel Podvig
A physicist trained at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Podvig works as a research associate at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation. His expertise is in the Russian nuclear arsenal, U.S.-Russian relations, and nonproliferation. In 1995, he headed the Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces Research Project, editing the project’s eponymous book, which provides an overview of the Soviet and Russian strategic forces and the technical capabilities of Russia's strategic weapon systems. His blog, "Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces," updates this information in real time.
Recent Columns
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Profile
Iran: Looking forward
As Tehran's hard-liners reassert their authority after the country's disputed election, it will be harder than ever to convince them to abandon their nuclear program.
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Profile
Budgeting for national security
It may seem as though President Obama is restraining defense spending, but he continues to let the Pentagon do his strategic security planning for him.
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Profile
Can the U.S. lead the way on dual-use education?
A new report by a prominent U.S. biosecurity group presents a strategy for getting the word out on dual-use life science research. Will the world follow?
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Profile
The problems with the Department of Homeland Security
Since its inception, DHS has been plagued with bureaucratic infighting and a bloated mandate, leaving the United States unprepared for a future terrorist attack or natural disaster.
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Profile
The CTBT debate begins again
With President Obama vowing "aggressive" and "immediate" ratification of the CTBT, the treaty's opponents already have started practicing their arguments against it.
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Profile
What if North Korea were the only nuclear weapon state?
Inevitably, some analysts will use Pyongyang's nuclear test to question the feasibility of a nuclear-weapon-free world. But they're missing the point--a world full of nuclear weapons hasn't deterred North Korea either.
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Profile
Do U.S. biodefense efforts need systems analysis?
Two recent papers suggest that U.S. security and U.S. biomedical science could benefit from the complex assessment that the systems analysis approach provides.
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Profile
Stirring up "swine flu" hysteria
World health officials are working to contain the spread of the current H1N1 flu epidemic. But they also need to figure out how to contain the hysteria that came with it.
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Profile
Saudi Arabia's big bet on innovation and education
One of the world's most conservative countries is spending billions to create a world-class university, which it hopes will be an oasis of free enquiry.
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Profile
Who's in charge during the swine flu crisis?
Whether elected officials are properly prepared will be critical during the worsening swine flu crisis. The absence of key federal-level health officials doesn't help the situation.