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Sally Lilienthal
Sally Lilienthal founded Ploughshares Fund and served as its President until her death in 2006. Learn more...
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Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland and Chairman Emeritus of Crisis Group.
Ploughshares Fund Arrives in Washington
Senator Chuck Hagel and board member Michael Douglas inaugurate Ploughshares' new office in the nation's capital.
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NEWS & Comments
Obama should appoint nuclear terrorism czar, says new report.
Posted by Deborah Bain
on Nov 18, 2008; From Associated Press
President-elect Barack Obama has a historic opportunity to drastically reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism and should appoint a senior White House official to take charge of countering the danger, according to a new report released today. The author, Ploughshres Fund grantee Matthew Bunn, director of Harvard University's Managing the Atom project, said that "despite all the challenges he faces, President-elect Obama cannot afford to let this sit on a back-burner...It will take sustained White House leadership to close the dangerous gaps that still remain in our efforts to keep nuclear bombs out of terrorists' hands.
Doing the Nuclear Posture Review right.
Posted by Deborah Bain
on Nov 17, 2008;
For the third time since the end of the Cold War, the President of the United States has been mandated by Congress to conduct a thorough review of the U.S. nuclear posture. According to Ploughshares Fund's Joe Cirincione and Andy Grotto from the Center for American Progress, the 2009-2010 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) offers the incoming Obama Administration an opportunity to "strengthen America’s ability to exercise global leadership in countering 21st century nuclear threats," and to "realign nuclear polcy, forces, and posture with these threats." Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) asserted that "the new NPR should recommend ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty...No other single action could send a clearer signal to the rest of the world that the United States is committed to controlling the spread of nuclear weapons and materials."
Obama will have opening on new nuclear policy.
Posted by Deborah Bain
on Nov 16, 2008; From National Journal Online
"Transforming U.S. nuclear weapons policy would accomplish numerous goals for the new president," Joe Ciricincione told the National Journal Online. "First, it would represent an early political victory, because there is now a broad, bipartisan consensus for fundamentally changing our nuclear posture. That includes drastically reducing the size of our nuclear arsenal, ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and reining in nuclear proliferation. Secondly, such an initiative would make our country more secure, not less. Finally, it would save tens of billions of dollars that could pay for some of the other military bills coming due."
Lead by example on nukes, Mr. President-elect.
Posted by Joseph Cirincione
on Nov 15, 2008; From Danger Room Debrief (Wired blog)
On nuclear weaponry, the United States must lead by example. Expect President-elect Barack Obama to call for a nuclear summit of leading nations on practical steps that all can take towards a world without nuclear weapons. Their ultimate elimination should be a core principle of his national security strategy. Look for early talks with Russia on mutual reductions to show we are serious. There are dozens of other steps to take, but cleaning out our own nuclear house would be an important early move.
ISIS warns of Middle East nuclear growth.
on Nov 12, 2008;
Posted under Iran, Israel, Middle East, nuclear material, nuclear weapons
The Middle East is in danger of accumulating large stocks of nuclear material over the next decade that could be used to produce over 1,700 nuclear bombs, say David Albright and Andrea Scheel of the Ploughshares-funded Instiitute for Science and International Security (ISIS) in a new report released today. Noting plans by ten countries to build new nuclear power plants over the next ten years, Albright and Scheel called for urgent measures to ensure that the plutonium generated by those plants is not diverted to nuclear weapons. Among other recommendations, they called on the Obama administration to "persuade Israel to join the negotiations for a universal, verified treaty that bans the production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium for nuclear explosives." Read the ISIS report here.
