Ploughshares Blog: Joe Cirincione

As tensions have risen in the face of North Korea’s heated rhetoric, the U.S. media has been running non-stop, and often inflammatory, coverage of every new development. Unfortunately, much of the coverage has been neither useful nor informative and cuts against the opinion of many North Korea experts by touting the DPRK as a direct threat to the United States. Most experts aren’t concerned with the prospect of a preemptive military strike from North Korea. We’ve seen this pattern of provocation before. Instead, experts worry that the situation could spiral out of control, spurring a real crisis on the Korean peninsula. Read more »
Posted by Rebecca Remy on April 17, 2013
Since its most recent nuclear test on February 12, 2013, there has been a lot of attention to and activity around North Korea. The test – it’s third and most “successful” to date – elicited a predictable response in the passage of additional U.N. Security Council sanctions the. But the fact that the sanctions passed unanimously – with China’s consent – is significant, although it is still unclear if this marks a shift in Chinese policy toward North Korea. In short, the North’s latest behavior seems to have raised the game with respect to the stability and security in Northeast Asia. Read more »
Posted by admin on April 2, 2013
We've doubled down on a defense that doesn't work against missiles that don't exist. Read more »
Posted by Joe Cirincione on March 21, 2013
Today, Foreign Affairs published "Obama's Nuclear Future: The Battle to Reduce the U.S. Nuclear Stockpile Begins" by Joe Cirincione. He looks at the past and likely future of President Obama's policies and how we might finally break the grip of Cold War thinking on our nuclear posture. Read more »
Posted by admin on March 6, 2013
President Barack Obama has assembled perhaps the most knowledgeable senior nuclear policy team in American history. Read more »
Posted by Joe Cirincione on February 27, 2013
On Monday, December 3, I was honored to be part of a select audience for President Obama's first national security speech since his reelection. That night, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Rachel Maddow to talk about the President’s speech. Read more »
Posted by Joe Cirincione on December 5, 2012
In the wake of last week's election, pundits and politicians alike are starting to think about what the next four years may hold. While not heavily discussed during the campaign, it seems that nuclear policy is coming up high on many people's lists of issues that are likely to receive major presidential attention in the next term. Read more »
Posted by admin on November 12, 2012
For a sense of what's at stake for nuclear policy in this year's election, consider this: The U.S. government is on track to spend $640 billion over the next 10 years on nuclear weapons and related programs -- more than the military's budget for an entire year. The next president will make key policy decisions early in his term that will have an impact on these budgets and global security more broadly. Read more »
Posted by Joe Cirincione on November 6, 2012
Governor Mitt Romney's description, caught on video, of what he considered the real nuclear threat from Iran has further undermined his national security credentials, showing a fundamental misunderstanding of nuclear threats. Iran's nuclear program has nothing to do with dirty bombs. Terrorists would not use uranium -- from Iran or anywhere else -- in a dirty bomb. It is unclear if Gov. Romney was just riffing, or if his advisors had fed him this line of attack. Read more »
Posted by Joe Cirincione on September 19, 2012
Foreign policy has been the hot topic on the campaign trail recently, with President Obama and Governor Romney making several public appearances – and trading jabs – in an attempt to build support leading up to the November election. Read more »
Posted by Joe Cirincione on July 26, 2012