Security Challenges Journal

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US Political Realities in Downsizing Nuclear Arsenals

Author: Benn Tannenbaum

Volume 6, Number 4 (Summer 2010), pp. 7-19.

Abstract

US President Barack Obama has made very clear his goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons. Articulated to some degree during the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama plainly laid out his agenda during his 5 April 2009 speech in Prague. This idea, as old as the Baruch plan advanced in 1946, laid out again in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan and more recently articulated by senior statesmen in several countries, has attracted widespread support. However, there has been significant resistance to this notion, including from within the US Government. This article explores this resistance and the possibilities for President Obama to realise this goal in the near- and mid-term, in both the political and technical contexts.

About the Author

Dr Benn Tannenbaum is a non-resident scholar at the Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He was the AAAS lead on the AAAS reports on the Reliable Replacement Warhead, Nuclear Forensics, and U.S. Nuclear Policy in the 21st Century. He has authored or coauthored over 160 scientific or policy-related publications. Dr. Tannenbaum received his PhD in particle physics from the University of New Mexico and is currently an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Physics and an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Georgetown University where he lectures on science lobbying and work with the campus chapter of The Triple Helix. Prior to joining AAAS, Dr. Tannenbaum worked as a Senior Research Analyst for the Federation of American Scientists and was the 2002-2003 American Physical Society Congressional Science Fellow. During his Fellowship, Dr. Tannenbaum worked for Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA) on nonproliferation issues. btannenb@aaas.org.