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Siegfried Hecker

Siegfried S. Hecker

Siegfried Hecker is a senior fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a research professor in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. He is also director emeritus at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he served as director from 1986 to 1997 and senior fellow until July 2005. 

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Articles by Siegfried S. Hecker

Opinion
6 August 2012
Nuclear Weapons

Contemplating a third nuclear test in North Korea

Frank V. PabianSiegfried S. Hecker

Shortly after its failed April 13 rocket launch, North Korea was widely expected to conduct its third underground nuclear test. Such a test would have fit the pattern of the first two nuclear tests, both of which followed failed rocket launches and international condemnation. And Pyongyang has compelling technical, military, and political reasons to conduct a third nuclear test that would demonstrate it can miniaturize nuclear warheads to fit on a missile, making its nuclear arsenal more threatening.

Opinion
6 January 2012
Nuclear WeaponsNuclear Energy

North Korea from 30,000 feet

Niko MilonopoulosSiegfried S. HeckerRobert Carlin

The first publicly available overhead imagery that suggested North Korea was constructing a new nuclear reactor at its Yongbyon complex appeared on November 4, 2010. Charles L. Pritchard, a former special envoy for negotiations with North Korea and the president of the Korea Economic Institute, along with a delegation from the institute provided the first confirmation of this construction after a visit to Yongbyon that week.

1 January 2012
Doomsday Clock issue

North Korea in 2011: Countdown to Kim il-Sung’s centenary

Siegfried S. HeckerRobert Carlin
Opinion
20 December 2010
Nuclear WeaponsNuclear Energy

Redefining denuclearization in North Korea

Siegfried S. Hecker

When my Stanford University colleagues and I were taken to the construction site of a small, experimental light water reactor (LWR) and to a new centrifuge facility in North Korea on November 12, it marked my seventh visit to North Korea and my fourth to the Yongbyon nuclear complex.

Opinion
12 May 2009

The risks of North Korea's nuclear restart

Siegfried S. Hecker

On April 13, the U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea's rocket launch earlier in the month. Within nine hours, North Korea denounced and rejected the Security Council statement; expelled international inspectors and the U.S.

1 May 2008
Feature

Denuclearizing North Korea

Siegfried S. Hecker
After visiting the Yongbyon nuclear complex, the former head of Los Alamos National Laboratory judges that North Korean officials are working in “good faith” to disable the facilities. But he warns that