NUCLEAR WEAPONS
May 23, 2013
Belfer Center Perspectives On Iran
In the News
As debate over Iran's nuclear program intensifies, Belfer Center experts on Iran have been interviewed and quoted in numerous media reports and have written opinion pieces on the issues involved. Here are recent published perspectives.
May 22, 2013
"China's No-First-Use Policy Promotes Nuclear Disarmament"
Op-Ed, Diplomat
By Hui Zhang, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
"If China abandons its no-first-use nuclear pledge, which has guided China’s nuclear strategy since its first nuclear test in 1964, it would severely undermine the global disarmament process, potentially preventing the U.S. and Russian from further reducing their nuclear arsenals and even encouraging the U.S. to expand its nuclear forces. Is China really changing its nuclear policy?"
May 15, 2013
"U.S. Action in Syria Could Sway Iran on Nukes"
Op-Ed, Bloomberg View
By Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad must be pleased at how, within a week, the conversation has shifted from his regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons to an international peace conference on Syria’s civil war.
May 14, 2013
"Cuts to Nuclear Security Will Make Us Less Safe"
Op-Ed, Politico
By William H. Tobey, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
At the 2010 Washington Nuclear Security Summit, President Barack Obama hosted the largest gathering of foreign leaders on U.S. soil since the Truman administration. He sought to bolster international efforts to protect nuclear material and to prevent terrorists from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The president cites these initiatives among his highest national security priorities. Why then would his latest budget slash the most important programs to secure and to dispose of highly enriched uranium and plutonium — precisely the work he rallied foreign leaders to support?
Summer 2013
"North Korea: What’s Next for the Region?"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
As threats from North Korea intensified this spring, Korean Peninsula experts from the Belfer Center provided insight and analysis.
Summer 2013
"Neustadt Award Honors Senators Nunn and Lugar for Nuclear Safety"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
"Former Senator Sam Nunn, founder and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative... and former Senator Richard Lugar were awarded the prestigious 2013 Richard E. Neustadt Award at Harvard Kennedy School on May 2... Dean David Ellwood noted that the award is bestowed annually to honor one or more individuals “for creating powerful solutions to public problems, drawing on research and intellectual ideas as appropriate.”
May 2013
"North Korea's Nuclear Weapons: Future Strategy and Doctrine"
Policy Brief
By Terence Roehrig, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
A nuclear North Korea makes it crucial that all countries in Northeast Asia work hard at maintaining a stable security environment that avoids the dangers of a crisis while encouraging North Korea to adopt a nuclear strategy that retains its "no first use" pledge, a strong command and control system, and a stable nuclear weapons posture. Given its relationship with North Korea, China is best positioned to encourage DPRK leaders in these directions.
April 18, 2013
Reza Aslan: "The Next War? Iran, Israel and the U.S. at the Crossroads" Podcast
News
An audio recording of a conversation with Reza Aslan, internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions and founder of AslanMedia.com, on April 4, 2013. This event will be moderated by Tarek Masoud, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.
April 6, 2013
"Painfully Following Iran in the U.S. Media"
Op-Ed
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
One of the most annoying aspects of spending time in the United States, as I have just done with a month’s working visit there, is to follow the news coverage of Iran in the mainstream American media. Well, calling it “news” coverage is a bit of a stretch, because the mainstream American media is not really reporting news about Iran, but rather repackaged ideological attacks and threats that emanate primarily from the American and Israeli governments.
April-May 2013
"China, North Korea and the Spread of Nuclear Weapons"
Journal Article, Survival
By Ben Rhode, Senior Research Associate, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Thomas Plant
Once described as ‘as close as lips and teeth’, in recent years the relationship between China and North Korea has become more strained. Beijing has conflicted motivations in its policy towards Pyongyang. The threat to Beijing’s interests if North Korean nuclear weapons or materials find their way into the hands of others outweighs the danger of a regime collapse in Pyongyang.
