February 29th, 2012

Stanford’s Straub, Hecker explain North Korea’s plan to halt nuclear program

In an agreement with Washington, Pyongyang will allow nuclear inspectors into North Korea and also receive much-needed nutritional assistance to the impoverished country. David Straub and Siegfried Hecker discuss Pyongyang’s moratorium on nuclear testing. Read more »

January 12th, 2012

Stanford scholars weigh in on Iran's nuclear program

With tension rising over Iran’s nuclear program, we asked three prominent nuclear experts to discuss what U.S. policymakers should bear in mind as they consider their range of options. Read more »

January 2nd, 2012

Political scientist maps militant groups

Martha Crenshaw is building a searchable, online map in an attempt to overcome one of the biggest challenges to tackling terrorism: understanding the motivations, allegiances, shifting priorities and organizational structures of the dozens of militant groups around the world. Read more »

April 25th, 2011

Stephen Stedman: Why honest elections really matter

Stanford's Stephen Stedman, a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and its Center for International Security and Cooperation, discusses democracy's surge and the growing need for elections with integrity. Stedman was recently named director of the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy, and Security. Read more »

April 18th, 2011

Leonard Weiss: The U.S. may have hid Israel's nuclear test

CISAC's Leonard Weiss, a former staff director for the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Senator John Glenn, provides a first-hand account.

• » Israel’s 1979 Nuclear Test and the U.S. Cover-Up

January 27th, 2011

Ethics and War: Why So Many Civilians Are Dying

There are more laws and international treaties designed to protect human rights in conflict zones than ever before. Yet civilians continue to pay the ultimate price, with women and children frequently caught in the crossfire. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was one civilian casualty for every eight or nine military casualties, said Richard Goldstone, the South African jurist who played a key role in helping his country overcome apartheid, served as the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals on Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and became a household name in 2009 for his controversial fact-finding mission after an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. During World War II, the ratio increased to 1-to-1. Today, after what was, Goldstone said, a "very bloody century," every combatant casualty is matched by nine civilian deaths. What explains this? Goldstone joined Stanford historian James Campbell and Peter Berkowitz, a political scientist, to grapple with this paradox as part of Stanford's Ethics and War Series, co-sponsored by the Center for International Security and Cooperation. Audio transcript available
Read more »

April 5th, 2010

Some Nukes

CISAC Affiliate Leonard Weiss responds to an article titled, 'Some Nukes,' by New Yorker Senior Editor Hendrik Hertzberg. Read more »