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Joe Cirincione's Blog Posts

Joseph Cirincione is President of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation. He is the author of Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons and Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Threats. He is a member of Secretary of State John Kerry's International Security Advisory Board and the Council on Foreign Relations.
A Better National Security Strategy for Stopping Iran
Brookings Institution President Strobe Talbott calls the new US National Security Strategy introduced on Thursday "the most comprehensive National Security Strategy ever." Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on May 27, 2010
Nuclear Naivete
Far-right conservatives posture as nuclear tough guys, but push a shockingly naive policy. Clinging to Cold War doctrines, they play politics with our nuclear weapons. It is a dangerous game that puts American security at risk. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on May 24, 2010
A Tale of Two Viewpoints
The NPT conference, as any reader of this blog knows, is going better than most experts expected. The conference, however, is a minor issue in Washington, where debate remains focused on the New START treaty, missile defense and Iran. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on May 19, 2010
Europe, Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Nuclear Policy, United States
Iran's Incredible Shrinking Influence
The trumpeted U.S.-Iran showdown at the United Nations was over moments after it began. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad strutted and fretted his almost-hour on the stage of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference on May 3. Then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered her smack down. If it were a boxing match, the refs would have ended it. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on May 6, 2010
Middle East & Persian Gulf, NPT, Nuclear Weapons, Proliferation, Iran
Some Nuclear Sunshine
By Joseph Cirincione and Benjamin Loehrke For the first time since America first tested a nuclear weapon 65 years ago, the government has disclosed how many nuclear weapons are in our active stockpile. It is long overdue. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on May 4, 2010
Nuclear Weapons, United States
Global Strikeout
New weapons systems should always meet three requirements: They should be feasible, needed, and affordable. The proposed Prompt Global Strike program, which according to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been "embraced by the new administration," does not meet any. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on April 23, 2010
Nuclear Weapons, Conventional Weapons, Military Strategy, Conflict & Regional Security, United States
Will Obama End the Nuclear Era?
There are times when you can feel the hinge of history moving. This is one of them. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on April 11, 2010
China, Europe, South Asia, Middle East & Persian Gulf, North Korea, Nuclear States, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, Nuclear Terrorism, Proliferation, U.S. Nuclear Policy, Nuclear Materials, Iran, United States
Obama's Nuclear Offensive
Huffington Post President Obama's new nuclear security agenda has had to weather a brutal political environment, cynics inside and outside the administration, and Cold War politics in both Russia and the U.S. Senate. But one year after his historic speech in Prague, Obama has forged internal administration consensus, lined up his initiatives, and and won congressional supporters. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on April 2, 2010
nonproliferation, NPT, Nuclear Posture Review, nuclear security summit, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Terrorism, Proliferation, U.S. Nuclear Policy, START, United States
Taking the Field: Obama's Nuclear Reforms
US President Barack Obama’s nuclear-security agenda is in trouble. It is behind schedule, under-staffed, under attack and battered by some less-than-cooperative international partners. Critics of the administration have dominated the domestic public debate. But after a year of analysis, discussion and speeches, the Obama administration has reached internal consensus, lined up its nuclear initiatives, and begun organising its congressional supporters. The Obama team is finally ready to take the field. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on March 31, 2010
The START of a New Obama Narrative
Days after scoring his biggest domestic policy win, President Obama secured his first major foreign policy victory. He's on a roll. The new treaty with Russia, dubbed New START, makes the world a little safer. It verifiably reduces the threat posed by the only weapons that can destroy America. It shrinks, at least a little, the dangerously bloated U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles. But it does much more than that. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on March 26, 2010
Nuclear Weapons, Russia, United States