Nuclear Nightmares

September 30, 2013
With the Cold War ending but more nations wanting to get into the nuclear weapons club, Cirincione, a former staffer of then senator Obama’s nuclear policy team and current member of the secretary of state’s International Security Advisory Board, sounds the alarm on the global arms race. He provides a wealth of material on currently nuclear-armed nations and their 17,000-strong stockpile, assessing the rapid spread of the weapons, the cost of the arsenals, and the damage they could wreak, with a keen emphasis on “nuclear terrorism.” The frightening assessment by Cirincione is further supported by a government document of 32 nuclear weapon accidents that occurred between 1950 and 1980—including six bombs “that were lost and never recovered.” Along with detailing the bombs’ enormous potency, he spells out the potential fatalities war could cause, estimating “between 35 to 77 percent of the U.S. population would be killed.” Cirincione explains the efforts to reduce the arsenals up to the revised START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) talks, while stressing the dreaded current exceptions of Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan. It’s wonk-oriented, but Cirincione’s gripping, harrowing account of the arms race debate is essential reading for those concerned with a fickle world prone to threats and terrorism.