Graham Allison

May 25, 2005

Der Atomterror Trifft auch die Deutschen (A German Role in Preventing Nuclear Terrorism)

Op-Ed, S?ddeutsche Zeitung

By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School

>The unspoken hope of many Germans is that their country can keep its head down and thereby escape the attention of Al Qaeda and its associates. Recent attacks by Islamic jihadi terrorists within Europe show why this strategy is destined to fail.

Spring 2005

Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe

Magazine or Newspaper Article, John F. Kennedy School of Government Bulletin, Harvard University

By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School

In NUCLEAR TERRORISM: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe (Times Books / an imprint of Henry Holt August 9, 2004), Graham Allison, founding dean of Harvard’s modern John F. Kennedy School of Government, a former top Pentagon official, and one of America’s leading scholars of nuclear strategy and national security, gives us an urgent call to action. He makes the case that nuclear terrorism is inevitable—if we continue on our present course—and he sets out an ambitious but achievable plan for preventing a catastrophic attack before it’s too late.

March 2, 2005

Tackling a Common Threat

Op-Ed, Baltimore Sun

By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School

PRESIDENT BUSH and his new national security team must be applauded for the progress made at the summit with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.

February 21, 2005

The Gravest Danger

Magazine or Newspaper Article, The American Prospect, issue 3, volume 16

By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School

The president who invaded Iraq citing fear of nuclear blackmail has been cavalier about preventing it elsewhere.

When asked in the first presidential debate of 2004 what constitutes the “single most serious threat to American national security,” there was a brief instant of agreement between President Bush and Senator Kerry. Both answered, “Nuclear terrorism.” The president repeated that he agreed with his opponent that the biggest threat facing the country is nuclear weapons “in the hands of a terrorist enemy.”

December 17, 2004

A Cascade of Nuclear Proliferation

Op-Ed, International Herald Tribune

By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School

The recent report on global security released by a high-level UN panel identified seven principal threats, from terrorism and poverty to environmental degradation. Among these, though, the panel gives primacy of place to nuclear Armageddon.

December 7, 2004

America Still Vulnerable

Op-Ed, Baltimore Sun

By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School

The new secretary of DHS would do well to address our vulnerabilities before the terrorrists do.

October 2004

Tick, Tick, Tick...

Magazine or Newspaper Article, The Atlantic

By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School

Not since the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 have I been as frightened by a single news story as I was by the revelation late last year that Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan's nuclear-weapons program, had been selling nuclear technology and services on the black market.

September 21, 2004

Seattle Vulnerable to Nuclear Terrorism

Op-Ed, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School

Seattle was baptized into the era of terrorism in December 1999 when a customs agent became suspicious of a driver disembarking from a ferry at Port Angeles.

September 10, 2004

Nuclear Nightmare Closer to Reality

Op-Ed, Balitmore Sun

By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School

Some in the intelligence community now refer to the leader of the al-Qaida movement as "Osama bin Missing." While he lost his sanctuary and terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, bin Laden, his No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and 86 percent of the individuals identified by the U.S. government as al-Qaida leaders remain at large.

September/October 2004

Nuclear Terrorism: How Serious a Threat to Russia?

Journal Article, Russia in Global Affairs, http://www.globalaffairs.ru/articles/0/3069.html. Originally published in Russian language only.

By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School

A careful reader of the discussion in the Russian and American national security community could conclude that Americans are more concerned about the threat of a nuclear terrorist attack than are Russians. Specifically, American experts have described more vividly potential nuclear terrorist attacks on U.S. soil than have Russians, at least in the writings and conversations that are publicly accessible. Why this is the case is a puzzle. No one doubts that in Chechen fighters Russia faces serious, capable, determined adversaries. Moreover, if Chechnya succeeded in capturing, stealing, or buying a nuclear weapon (or material from which they could make a nuclear weapon), their first target would surely be Moscow, not New York or Washington DC.