A North Korean soldier stands guard in front of an Unha-3 rocket on April 8, 2012. The launch failed on April 12.

The North Korean launch

David Wright

What the rest of the world knows and doesn't know about the impending launch of a missile that Pyongyang says is carrying a satellite.

  • Iran, Istanbul, and the future
    By Thomas R. Pickering

    The Iranian nuclear talks are off to a promising but indefinite start. If both sides are ready to look at win-win possibilities and move by steps and stages, there is room for progress. But it's far too soon for victory laps.

  • How to succeed in Baghdad
    By Lawrence J. Korb

    Many factors now seem to favor progress in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. But a successful conclusion won't be reached until each side acknowledges the other's legitimate concerns.

In 2010 Israel decided to distribute 8 million gas masks by 2013; it has long feared Syrian chemical or biological weapons.

Fearful of a nuclear Iran? The real WMD nightmare is Syria

Charles P. Blair

At least six sophisticated terror organizations and Al Qaeda-affiliated fighters from Iraq are active in Syria, which has a large, sophisticated chemical weapons program and, perhaps, a biological arsenal. If the Syrian government falls, who will guard the WMD?

  • Chemical weapons deconstruction deadline missed
    By Alexander Kelle

    To ensure a world free of chemical weapons, officials at the international, national, and local levels must avoid complacency to achieve completion.

  • H5N1: Bungling dual-use governance
    By Alexander Kelle

    After the uproar over the planned publication and later redaction of scientists' experiments on the H5N1 virus, the clamor has shifted focus -- to questioning the virus threat, condemning the use of ferrets, ignoring the BWC, and avoiding matters of dual-use governance.

  • Going viral
    By Laura Kahn

    Scientists recently made the deadly H5N1 influenza virus more communicable. Clearly it's time for the National Institutes of Health to have greater oversight before it funds one of the seven deadly sins of biomedical research.

Soldiers voluntarily plant trees in Beijing in 2007. China afforested 5.2 million hectares of land in 2006.

Climate change and the military in China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States

Michael Brzoska

National security agencies see their militaries taking on additional roles in domestic disaster relief because of the effects of global climate change. Yet they are not expressing much urgency or taking aggressive stands, in part due to the paucity of established knowledge about the connection between a warming climate and national security.

May/June special issue on low-dose radiation risks

May/June Bulletin: Special issue on low-dose radiation risks

Jan Beyea, David Richardson, Terry Brock, Sami Sherbini, Gordon Thompson, Colin Hill, Roger Kasperson, Paul Slovic, and Sander Greenland

This special issue of the Bulletin examines what is new about the debate over radiation risk, specifically focusing on areas of agreement and disagreement, including quantitative estimates of cancer risk as a function of dose. The articles are free of charge for the month of May.

Web Edition

Columnists

  • Kingston ReifProfile

    The Politics of Reduction

    US congressional Republicans just passed legislation that will hamper implementation of New START as well as the administration's ability to make changes to the US nuclear arsenal. But this isn't a lingering Cold War hangover or an ideological battle. It's pure partisanship.

  • Kennette BenedictProfile

    Dream deterred

    A little-noticed document reports on the failure of the latest iteration of missile defense. So why are NATO officials still harboring missile defense fantasies? And why is a disproved technological daydream creating a very real diplomatic nightmare for NATO and Russia?

  • Dawn StoverProfile

    "The new retirement" for nuclear power plants

    One of every five US nuclear power plants doesn't have enough money for retirement. Why? For the same reason that so many American senior citizens have put their dreams on hold.

  • Fissile Materials Working GroupProfile

    Could less be more?

    The 2012 Nuclear Security Summit made some progress, but barriers to reform are ingrained. Luckily, there are still steps global leaders can take to ensure nuclear security past 2014.

  • Alexander KelleProfile

    Chemical weapons destruction deadline missed

    To ensure a world free of chemical weapons, officials at the international, national, and local levels must avoid complacency to achieve completion.

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Analysis

  • Technical concerns: Why Russia worries about missile defense

    By Ivanka Barzashka

    Ahead of NATO's summit in Chicago, Russian military experts say fast interceptor missiles in northern Europe and flexibility of design make the West's missile defense plans potentially destabilizing.

  • Flight from disarmament

    By M. V. Ramana

    India's successful launch of the Agni-5 missile is just the latest display of the country's expanding defense establishment. India's intensive modernization of its nuclear weapons program is worth a closer look -- especially in light of the nation's call for disarmament.

  • Does India need ICBMs?

    By A. Vinod Kumar

    India's latest technological success puts it on the edge of intercontinental ballistic missile capability and gives it the ability to hit Beijing. But high-tech enthusiasms might be blinding India to strategic realities.

  • Negotiating with Iran: Expectations for Baghdad

    By Emily B. Landau

    Why sanctions can't be lifted until Iran has taken concrete, meaningful steps in the nuclear realm.

  • Iran, Istanbul and the future

    By Thomas R. Pickering

    The Iranian nuclear talks are off to a promising but indefinite start. If both sides are ready to look at win-win possibilities and move by steps and stages, there is room for progress. But it's far too soon for victory laps.

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Development and Disarmament Roundtable

Roundtables

  • When politicians distort science

    COMPLETED: 22 December 2011

    Recently, Rick Perry made misstatements not only about climate science -- but the scientists behind the science. How should scientists respond to such distortions? Over the upcoming weeks, Robert Socolow, Roger A. Pielke, Jr., and Randy Olson will provide authoritative, provocative analysis.

  • Is nuclear energy different than other energy sources?

    COMPLETED: 3 November 2011

    The question remains whether nuclear energy will expand or decline, but what is it that differentiates this energy source from others? Over the upcoming weeks, the Bulletin's experts will provide thoughtful analysis as they explore this very question.

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Op-Eds

  • Restarting nuclear talks with Iran: Old problems, some new hopes

    By Ivan Oelrich

    If Iran shows it is serious about negotiating, the major powers might be wise to call Tehran's bluff, accept official claims that its nuclear program is peaceful and act to integrate the program into the global nuclear economy.

  • A security system commensurate with the risk of nuclear terrorism

    By Kenneth C. Brill and Kenneth N. Luongo

    The international community needs to create a legally binding convention on nuclear security -- before terrorists exploit weaknesses in the current security regime to create and use a nuclear weapon.

  • Is suspension the solution?

    By David Nusbaum

    As North Korean and Iranian negotiations continue, the international community needs to develop new tools for ensuring that agreements to suspend nuclear enrichment are not fig leafs that hide illicit nuclear activities.

  • 2012 Nuclear Security Summit: What it was and wasn’t

    By Duyeon Kim

    The 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul could have been a watershed moment for nuclear security, but it was largely a review of past successes.

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Special Topics

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Doomsday Clock

It is 5 Minutes to Midnight

The Doomsday Clock

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  • The digital journal is in honor of John A Simpson, a founder of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and was made possible by a gift from the Scorpio Rising Fund and other generous donors.

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