NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN THE AGE OF AUTHORITARIANISM

Once again, nuclear threats are on the rise. The last remaining treaty limiting U.S. and Russian nuclear arms ended early this year, with no replacement in sight. According to national security analyst Joseph Cirincione, that may be the least of our problems.

While new technologies are increasing nuclear dangers and more nations are considering starting their own weapons programs, the biggest danger may be the political tidal wave that has swept the globe: the rise of authoritarianism. At the beginning of this century, only one authoritarian state had nuclear weapons, China. Today, six of the nine nuclear-armed states have authoritarian leaders.

Cirincione will discuss how U.S. strategies and policies were not developed for this world and how it may be far more dangerous than any previous period in the Nuclear Age, which began over 80 years ago.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY:

Joseph Cirincione is a national security analyst and author with 45 years of experience in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Council for Foreign Relations and the author or editor of seven books, including Nuclear Nightmares: Securing the World Before It Is Too Late and Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons.

Cirincione is the Vice Chair of the Center for International Policy Board of Directors and the publisher of “Strategy & History” on Substack. He previously served on the International Security Advisory Board for Secretaries of State John Kerry and Hillary Clinton. He has been an advisor for three presidential campaigns: Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders & Elizabeth Warren.

He served previously as president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation, as vice president for national security at the Center for American Progress, director for non-proliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, among other positions. He worked as a congressional investigator for over nine years on the Armed Services Committee and the Government Operations Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

He taught at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service for twelve years, having graduated from the MSFS masters program. He appears frequently on television, radio and in the media and is the author of over one thousand articles and reports on defense and national security.