July 30th, 2009

Two CISAC staff receive fellowships

Michael Chaitkin and Niko Milonopoulos, both CISAC staff members and graduates of the center's undergraduate honor's program, have been awarded a Luce Fellowship and a Fulbright Fellowship, respectively, this year. Read more »

July 22nd, 2009

Hillary, India and 'The New York Times'

Sumit Ganguly, a former CISAC fellow currently at CDDRL, criticizes a New York Times editorial on India's nonproliferation efforts in a op-ed in Forbes magazine. Read more »

July 16th, 2009

CISAC announces members of 2009-10 Honors Program

CISAC is pleased to announce that 14 seniors have been selected to participate in its Undergraduate Honors Program in International Security Studies. Read more »

July 9th, 2009

Philip Taubman assesses Obama's big missile test

Now that President Obama has set a promising arms reduction agenda with President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia, he faces the greater challenge of getting his own government and the American nuclear weapons establishment to support his audacious plan to make deep weapons cuts, Philip Taubman writes in the New York Times. Read more »

July 7th, 2009

In Moscow, Obama to Focus on Arms Control

CISAC's Pavel Podvig and Dean Wilkening commented on some of the challenges President Obama was likely to face regarding the replacement of the START I Treaty during the Moscow Summit with Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev July 6-8, 2009. Read more »

June 23rd, 2009

A security test in Iraq

Brian Burton, a 2007 CISAC Honors alumnus who won a Firestone Medal for his thesis ("Counterinsurgency Principles and U.S. Military Effectiveness in Iraq"), was interviewed by Reuters about the upcoming U.S. combat troop withdrawal by the end of June, and how it will be a key test for Iraqi security forces.

• » Video: Reuters - A security test in Iraq

June 19th, 2009

Gays in the Military: Let the Evidence Speak

John Shalikashvili, senior advisor to the Preventive Defense Project at CISAC, has written an opinion piece about research that shows that openly gay soldiers would not undermine military readiness. Read more »

June 18th, 2009

How Firestorms Would Greatly Intensify the Effects of Nuclear War

Lynn Eden, CISAC acting co-director, discusses the history and dysfunctional aspects of U.S. war planning and nuclear weapons targeting, arguing that a nuclear blast on a U.S. (or Russian) city would be far more destructive than planners have estimated because they did not take into account firestorms resulting from an bomb detonation. Read more »

June 15th, 2009

A Threat in Every Port

CISAC faculty member Lawrence Wein warns that "while President Obama's future vision of 'a world with no nuclear weapons' is certainly laudable, for the present America still needs to do everything it can to prevent a terrorist from detonating such a bomb on our soil." Read more »

June 12th, 2009

CISAC awards certificates in international security studies to 12 seniors

CISAC conferred honors certificates to 12 undergraduates at a ceremony held under a sprawling oak tree outside Encina Hall on Friday, June 12. Students included Jane Esberg, who was awarded the Firestone Medal for her thesis on Regimes of Terror: The Relationship between Democracy and Terrorism in Chile and Sarah Catanzaro, who received the William J. Perry Prize for her research on Bin Laden's Henchmen: Al Qa'ida's Commanding Officers who are Leading the Global Jihad. The students were participants in CISAC's year-long Interschool Honors Program in International Security Studies. Read more »

June 4th, 2009

CISAC Celebrates 25th Anniversary

More than 75 people connected to CISAC's past and present gathered in Encina Hall on Friday, May 29, to reminisce and look toward the center's next quarter century. The CISAC String Quartet led by Paul Stockton, who has just left CISAC to work as an assistant defense secretary, welcomed guests with concertos by Bach and Beethoven. Meanwhile, a slide show depicting CISAC's history through the decades brought back memories of potluck meals, receptions and group clean-up parties at Galvez House.

• » CISAC 25th Anniversary
  

May 29th, 2009

Look at the bright side

Former CISAC fellow Matthew Kroenig explains why there isn't a need to treat the North Korean nuclear test as an existential crisis. Read more »

May 28th, 2009

Research paper on consolidation of Russia's nuclear complex

International Panel on Fissile Materials published Pavel Podvig's paper on consolidation of Russia's nuclear complex as part of its research report series: Pavel Podvig, Consolidating Fissile Materials in Russia's Nuclear Complex Research Report No. 7, International Panel on Fissile Materials, May 2009 Read more »

North Korean Nuclear Blast Draws Global Condemnation

CISAC co-director Siegfried Hecker comments on North Korea's nuclear test. Hecker has visited North Korea's nuclear complex in Yongbyon Read more »

"Power and Responsibility" on Forum with Michael Krasny

Stephen Stedman, CISAC faculty member, and Bruce Jones, CISAC consulting professor were interviewed by Michael Krasny on KQED's Forum about their recently released book, "Power and Responsibility: Building International Order in an Era of Transnational Threats." Read more »

May 27th, 2009

Siegfried Hecker discusses North Korea's recent nuclear and missile tests

Siegfried Hecker, Co-Director of FSI's Center for International Security and Cooperation and Professor (Research) in Management Sciences and Engineering, has been to North Korea six times in recent years. Hecker, who has spent most of his career working on plutonium science, nuclear weapons policy, and nuclear security challenges, assesses the current risks from North Korea. Read more »

May 26th, 2009

From Pyongyang to Tehran, with nukes

North Korea's tests are not the scary part. It's the country's collaboration with Iran, CISAC Co-Director Siegfried Hecker argues in Foreign Policy. Read more »

May 19th, 2009

Spies collect data, analysts provide insight

Thomas Fingar, the nation's first Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis and Chairman of the National Intelligence Council (2005-08), offered the second lecture of the 2009 Distinguished Payne Lecture series, "Reducing Uncertainty: Intelligence and National Security," on Tuesday May 19 at 4:30 p.m. in Encina Hall's Bechtel Conference Center. FSI Acting Director Stephen Krasner introduced Fingar. Just as Fingar's first lecture exposed myths, fears, and exponentially rising expectations, in this talk he tackled the roles and responsibilities of today's intelligence community -- spies collect the data, analysts provide insight and seasoned analysis. Audio & Video transcripts available paper available
Read more »

Groundbreaking U.S.-Russia Joint threat assessment on Iran

The EastWest Institute (EWI) today released a U.S.-Russia joint threat assessment on Iran's nuclear and missile potential. More than a year in the making, the report was produced by a team of Russian and American scientists and experts brought together by EWI. David Holloway, a faculty member at CISAC, is one of the principal authors of the report. CISAC Co-Director Siegfried Hecker contributed and Theodore Postol, a former CISAC senior scientist now at MIT, wrote technical appendices available on EWI's website. William Perry, also a CISAC faculty member, reviewed the report's conclusions.

• » East West Institute: Download a PDF version of the report
• » Related: Washington Post -- "U.S.-Russian Team Deems Missile Shield in Europe Ineffective"
• » Robert Amsterdam (blog) -- Saving Face on the Missile Shield

The Perry Approach to Pyongyang

In this opinion piece, Hisahiko Okazaki illustrates how the Clinton-era approach to North Korea--spearheaded by former Secretary of Defense and CISAC faculty member William Perry--worked, and asks why it can't be tried again. Read more »

Paul Stockton Confirmed as Assistant Secretary of Defense

CISAC senior research scholar Paul Stockton has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate to serve in President Obama's administration as Assistant Secretary of Defense (Homeland Defense and Americas' Security Affairs).

• » United States Senate - Nominations Confirmed (Civilian)

May 14th, 2009

Nominee Vows to Strengthen Homeland Defense

Paul Stockton, senior research scholar at CISAC, said yesterday at his confirmation hearing that he welcomes the opportunity to strengthen government partnerships at all levels. Stockton is President Barack Obama's nominee for assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and Americas' security affairs. Read more »

May 13th, 2009

The risks of North Korea's nuclear restart

CISAC Co-director Siegfried Hecker has authored an article for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists website, in which he talks about North Korea's capability to restore operations at its 5-megawatt reactor, reprocessing facility, and fuel-fabrication facility; its ability to yield enough plutonium for at least one more bomb; and how the export of nuclear materials or know-how remains the greatest risk of Pyongyang's restart. Read more »

May 12th, 2009

Stockton answers questions at Senate confirmation hearing

Paul Stockton, a CISAC senior research scholar, answered questions about the National Guard and tackling U.S.-Mexico border violence during a May 12 hearing in Washington, D.C. Stockton, 54, has been nominated for assistant secretary of defense (homeland defense and America's security affairs, in the Department of Defense. Read more »

May 11th, 2009

North Korea May Be Ready to Produce More Plutonium

CISAC Co-director Siegfried Hecker spoke to Mike Shuster of NPR with an update on North Korea. In the past couple of weeks, North Korea has threatened to restart its production of plutonium, carry out tests of a nuclear weapon and an intercontinental ballistic missile, and make war on South Korea. In actuality, North Korea has carried out only the first of these threats -- it has taken steps to restart its nuclear facilities, and it could be ready to produce more plutonium any day now. The other threats are still pending.

• » Listen to Interview on NPR: North Korea May Be Ready to Produce More Plutonium