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 recently patented electrochemical weathering, a novel process that expedites the ocean’s natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide, and cofounded a venture-capital-backed alternative-energy company. Additionally, he cofounded the Harvard Energy Journal Club to facilitate cross-disciplinary discussions about energy technology; in 2007, Esquire magazine 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
Building a culture of responsible science
Scientists need to keep the pressure on governments to ensure the development of national norms to protect the public from the misuse of life science research.
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Profile
The legacy of Ed Grothus and the Black Hole
Although dying of cancer, activist Ed Grothus continues his crusade against nuclear weapons from his fabled atomic yard sale/anti-nuclear art installation located near Los Alamos National Laboratory.
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Profile
Formulating the next U.S.-Russian arms control agreement
To achieve the next step in the disarmament process, Washington and Moscow will need to overcome three major points of disagreement. Here's how they can do it.
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Profile
OPEC and the Prisoner's Dilemma
OPEC will find it difficult to increase oil prices in the near-term as each member is better off cheating on its oil production quotas regardless of what the rest of the cartel does.
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Profile
Unifying the U.S. government response to bioterrorism
For Washington to respond effectively to a bioterrorist attack, the CDC must be allowed to help lead the investigation--no matter where the attack occurs.
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Profile
Biological codes of conduct versus government oversight
Multiple approaches are needed to ensure that life science research is not used for malicious purposes.
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Profile
Barack Obama's missile defense challenge
A new administration means a new opportunity to forge a U.S.-Russian missile defense cooperative in Europe. Getting there won't be easy, but it's not impossible.
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Profile
The role of bats in disease transmission
Bats are a Halloween fixture given their vampiric lore, but a better understanding of their ecology, biology, and immunology could aid public health.
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Profile
Acting to educate life scientists
Talking about the need for scientists to be aware of dual-use potentials is one thing; ensuring that they are is the more important step.
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Profile
Stabilizing U.S. stabilization and reconstruction efforts abroad
The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have caused a bipartisan clamor for a civilian corps of U.S. nation builders--a good idea only if implemented properly.