Columns | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Building a culture of responsible science

Malcolm Dando — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:54:45 -0800

Earlier this year, I wrote about preparations for the December 5th meeting between States Parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC). I warned that in addition to agreeing to a broad agenda, the States Parties needed to begin acting to make this agenda a reality.

The legacy of Ed Grothus and the Black Hole

Hugh Gusterson — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:52:15 -0800

--"Jesters do oft prove prophets," William Shakespeare, King Lear
--"When one is legendary, one must do legendary things," Ed Grothus

Formulating the next U.S.-Russian arms control agreement

Pavel Podvig — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 07:56:25 -0800

As the United States waits for a new administration to take office in January, expectations are high that arms control talks with Russia will be revitalized shortly thereafter. Parties in both countries--no matter political persuasion--think Washington and Moscow should move quickly to devise a new disarmament agreement that would replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expires in December 2009.

OPEC and the Prisoner's Dilemma

Kurt Zenz House — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 07:11:17 -0800

Imagine that you and your accomplice have been arrested for a crime that you did commit. The cops lock you in separate interrogation rooms for hours. While nervously awaiting the interrogator, you fixate on your accomplice in the other room, realizing that he might try to strike a deal to save his own skin. You think to yourself, "What is he saying? Is he sticking to the prearranged story? What should I do?"

Unifying the U.S. government response to bioterrorism

Laura H. Kahn — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 07:18:33 -0800

Of the many ways in which the United States is unprepared to deal with an infectious disease outbreak or bioterrorist attack, here's one of the most problematic: The responsibility for public health is a state concern.

Biological codes of conduct versus government oversight

Malcolm Dando — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 07:51:28 -0800

A recent conference, "Sustaining Progress in the Life Sciences: Strategies for Managing Dual Use Research of Concern," hosted by the World Health Organization and the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) in Washington, addressed a range of issues, many of which map well on to the agenda of the States Parties meeting of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) which will be held next week.

Barack Obama's missile defense challenge

Pavel Podvig — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:04:12 -0800

What a difference eight years makes. Following the 2000 U.S. presidential election, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered a new disarmament initiative that called for reducing U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals to 1,500 warheads apiece. Although that statement was basically ignored--at the time, Washington was embroiled in the recount saga--Putin's proposal remained the official Russian position on disarmament in subsequent years.

The role of bats in disease transmission

Laura H. Kahn — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:03:01 -0800

Bats are considered mysterious creatures and often generate fear. Specifically, South American vampire bats feed on animal blood and possess a legendary lore. But more importantly, bats are the host species for deadly diseases such as rabies, Nipah and Hendra viruses, and SARS. There's also evidence that they continue to serve as sources of novel emerging viruses.

Acting to educate life scientists

Malcolm Dando — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:12:53 -0700

Anyone familiar with the history of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) will know that for years participants in BWC meetings have spoken about the importance of education in preventing the malevolent dual-use of biological technologies. Yet for all the bluster, the practical results regarding, for example, scientists' understanding of the convention and their obligations under it, have been limited.

Stabilizing U.S. stabilization and reconstruction efforts abroad

Gordon Adams — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:21:06 -0700

There seems to be consensus across the American political spectrum that the United States needs to create a sizable corps of civilian specialists who can stabilize and reconstruct another country--in other words, conduct "nation-building." It's said that we need such a capability because of our nation-building failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Where the presidential candidates stand on energy policy

Kurt Zenz House — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:23:55 -0700

Energy policy has played a schizophrenic, yet central, role in this year's presidential campaign. All of the candidates--from the primaries through the general election--have made the requisite pledge to free the United States from imported oil; yet simultaneously, they have bemoaned high gasoline prices. Those two positions are difficult to reconcile because the cheapest oil is produced abroad and its price is essentially controlled by a cartel. Therefore, at a given level of demand, oil prices will decline if foreign nations increased production.

A silver lining to the U.S.-India nuclear deal

Pavel Podvig — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:31:15 -0700

The civilian nuclear cooperation deal between the United States and India, which President George W. Bush signed into law last week, has been controversial from the moment it was first outlined in New Delhi about three years ago. It would allow Washington to trade nuclear technology with New Delhi despite the fact that India is a de facto nuclear weapons state outside of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Strong health care equals strong emergency response

Laura H. Kahn — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:28:17 -0700

In previous columns, I've discussed the consequences that will result during a pandemic or bioterrorist attack from not insuring all Americans and providing adequate primary care--see "The Security Impact of the Uninsured" and "The Exodus of General Medical Physicians." What I haven't discussed is that the U.S.

The merits of a biochemical framework convention

Malcolm Dando — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:10:43 -0700

The Bulletin has been hosting an engaging roundtable discussion on the "The Military Application of Neuroscience Research," during which neuroscientist Christopher Green challenged the notion that "traditional arms control approaches could be relevant to this domain." Referring to the recent National Academies study that he chaired, Military and Intelligence Methodology for Emergent Neurophysiological and Cognitive/Neural Science Research in the Next Two Decades, he wrote: "The

The bursting global security bubble

Hugh Gusterson — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:49:56 -0700

In the 1930s and 1940s, the West's financial and security structures collapsed. In the grip of a speculative bubble, and in the absence of proper oversight, banks had been allowed to lend more money than they responsibly could. (Sound familiar?) When queasy depositors sought to withdraw their money en masse, the result was a massive collapse of banks and the stock market, followed by the Great Depression.

Health-care realities during a pandemic

Laura H. Kahn — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:54:02 -0700

Despite the availability of antiviral medications and intensive care units, mortality rates for the 385 humans infected with avian influenza remain high. Virtually all of the victims have been from developing countries, with the case fatality rate in children younger than 15 years of age reaching almost 90 percent.

Establishing the next president's national security agenda: Strengthening the civilian instrument

Gordon Adams — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:41:46 -0700

The next president will inherit a severe and growing imbalance in the tool kit he has available for dealing with the national security challenges of the early twenty-first century. In the first three parts of this series, I described these challenges and recommended steps to strengthen the White House's capability to define policy and provide guidance to agencies. I have also underlined the importance of getting defense planning and budgeting under control.

How to update the biological weapons treaty

Malcolm Dando — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:28:40 -0700

In late August, I travelled to Geneva for an intersessional meeting of the States Parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC). The meeting, which included representatives from the expert level, considered biosafety, biosecurity, and issues such as awareness raising, education, oversight of scientific activities, and codes of conduct for life scientists. (Concise daily accounts of these proceedings are available through the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy).

U.S.-Russian relations after the conflict in Georgia

Pavel Podvig — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:30:51 -0700

If there's a consensus about the confrontation between Russia and Georgia, it's that the conflict has seriously strained the relationship between Moscow and its Western counterparts--namely, the United States and NATO. Now that the worst of the conflict seems over, it appears that the harshest measures suggested in the first days of the conflict, i.e., expelling Russia from the G-8, won't materialize. Despite all of the disagreements and mistrust, each party seems to understand that severing ties between Russia and the West isn't realistic.

Oil: To drill or not to drill

Kurt Zenz House — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:47:12 -0700

We've all had the experience of talking with someone who has discovered "The Solution"--nearly always an overly simplistic idea that can only be advocated in the absence of accurate information. Regardless of subject matter, these acolytes insist that if the rest of us understood what they understand, then together, we could implement the obvious panacea. When implementation requires public policy, the believers become furious at policy makers whose intransigence --they believe--is dooming the country or even the world.