An updated edition of ABC-CLIO's classic reference book on nuclear arms programs and proliferation in nations around the world. Fully updated and revised since its initial publication, Nuclear Weapons and Nonproliferation, Second Edition explores all key issues related to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and efforts to curb them, from the U.S. atomic bomb project during World War II to current debates on nuclear terrorism, North Korea's nuclear test, and Iran's enrichment program. Nuclear Weapons and Nonproliferation, Second Edition clarifies weapons-related policy debates from both U.S. and international perspectives, offering a detailed look at current technologies, arsenals, weapons tests, and nonproliferation efforts. Readers will find expert analysis of such crucial recent events as Libya's disarmament, the failed WMD search in Iraq, A.Q. Khan's nuclear technology black market, "dirty bombs," developments in North Korea and Iran, and the U.S. plan to aid India's nuclear program-plus recent progress (or lack thereof) on a range of treaties and initiatives. Primary documents include an excerpt from the 1945 U.S. report on the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the text of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and the UN resolution sanctioning North Korea for its nuclear test A detailed and updated chronology highlights major events between 1939-2007 pertaining to the buildup of nuclear weapons and the efforts to control and dismantle them

A unique overview of the United States' current nuclear command, control, and communications system and its modernization for the digital age Concerns about the security of nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) systems are not new, but they are becoming more urgent. While modernization is crucial to the future success of NC3 systems, the transition from analog to digital technologies has the potential to introduce vulnerabilities and unintended consequences. Nuclear infrastructure and command could be penetrated, corrupted, destroyed, or spoofed, leading to a loss of positive control (the ability to fire weapons) or negative control (the ability to prevent unauthorized or accidental use). Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications explores the current NC3 system and its vital role in ensuring effective deterrence, contemporary challenges posed by cyber threats, new weapons technologies, and the consensus across the nuclear enterprise of the need to modernize the United States' Cold War-era system of systems. This volume, edited by James J. Wirtz and Jeffrey A. Larsen, offers the first overview of US NC3 since the 1980s. Part 1 provides an overview of the history, strategy, and technology associated with NC3 and how it enables deterrence strategy as the basis of national defense. Parts 2 and 3 identify how the US military's NC3 works, the challenges of introducing digital technologies and the potential security threats, and how the system could fail if these considerations are not taken into account. Part 4 explains the progress NC3 has made thus far, and how we might move forward. During this critical juncture, policymakers, practitioners, and scholars will find this an invaluable resource to understanding our current NC3 system, its relationship to effective deterrence, what must be done to modernize NC3, and how to ensure this transition is undertaken safely and successfully.

The decline in central financing for Russia's nuclear complex and the known interest of terrorist groups in acquiring fissile material and technologies, has made the state of Russia's far-flung nuclear enterprises a pressing international issue. In this important volume, a group of leading US and Russian policy experts - drawing on extensive interviews with officials, facility personnel, and analysts in Russia's regions - explores the intersecting problems of Russian nuclear insecurity and decentralization, including the growing influence of regional, political and economic forces. The work presents insights into both nuclear safety issues and post-Soviet intra-agency governance, as well as detailed case studies of critical nuclear regions: the Far East, the Urals, Siberia, and the Volga area. The volume also offers major new findings on the interface linking Russia's evolving center-periphery relations, its ailing nuclear facilities, and the role played by foreign assistance providers.

For the past sixty years, countries have conducted military and civilian activities in space, often for competitive purposes. But they have not yet fought in this environment. This book examines the international politics of the space age from 1957 to the present, the reasons why strategic restraint emerged among the major military powers, and how recent trends toward weaponization may challenge prior norms of conflict avoidance. James Clay Moltz analyzes the competing demands of national interests in space against the shared interests of all spacefarers in preserving the safe use of space in the face of emerging threats, such as man-made orbital debris. This new edition offers analysis of the 2011 to 2018 period, including the second term of President Obama and the beginning of the Trump administration. Focusing on great power competition and cooperation, as well as questions related to the sustainability of current and future national space policies, The Politics of Space Security is an authoritative history of the space age.

A unique overview of the United States' current nuclear command, control, and communications system and its modernization for the digital age Concerns about the security of nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) systems are not new, but they are becoming more urgent. While modernization is crucial to the future success of NC3 systems, the transition from analog to digital technologies has the potential to introduce vulnerabilities and unintended consequences. Nuclear infrastructure and command could be penetrated, corrupted, destroyed, or spoofed, leading to a loss of positive control (the ability to fire weapons) or negative control (the ability to prevent unauthorized or accidental use). Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications explores the current NC3 system and its vital role in ensuring effective deterrence, contemporary challenges posed by cyber threats, new weapons technologies, and the consensus across the nuclear enterprise of the need to modernize the United States' Cold War-era system of systems. This volume, edited by James J. Wirtz and Jeffrey A. Larsen, offers the first overview of US NC3 since the 1980s. Part 1 provides an overview of the history, strategy, and technology associated with NC3 and how it enables deterrence strategy as the basis of national defense. Parts 2 and 3 identify how the US military's NC3 works, the challenges of introducing digital technologies and the potential security threats, and how the system could fail if these considerations are not taken into account. Part 4 explains the progress NC3 has made thus far, and how we might move forward. During this critical juncture, policymakers, practitioners, and scholars will find this an invaluable resource to understanding our current NC3 system, its relationship to effective deterrence, what must be done to modernize NC3, and how to ensure this transition is undertaken safely and successfully.

In contrast to the close cooperation practiced among European states, space relations among Asian states have become increasingly tense. If current trends continue, the Asian civilian space competition could become a military race. To better understand these emerging dynamics, James Clay Moltz conducts the first in-depth policy analysis of Asia's fourteen leading space programs, concentrating especially on developments in China, Japan, India, and South Korea. Moltz isolates the domestic motivations driving Asia's space actors, revisiting critical events such as China's 2007 antisatellite weapons test and manned flights, Japan's successful Kaguya lunar mission and Kibo module for the International Space Station (ISS), India's Chandrayaan lunar mission, and South Korea's astronaut visit to the ISS, along with plans to establish independent space-launch capability. He investigates these nations' divergent space goals and their tendency to focus on national solutions and self-reliance rather than regionwide cooperation and multilateral initiatives. He concludes with recommendations for improved intra-Asian space cooperation and regional conflict prevention. Moltz also considers America's efforts to engage Asia's space programs in joint activities and the prospects for future U.S. space leadership. He extends his analysis to the relationship between space programs and economic development in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, North Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, making this a key text for international relations and Asian studies scholars.

In contrast to the close cooperation practiced among European states, space relations among Asian states have become increasingly tense. If current trends continue, the Asian civilian space competition could become a military race. To better understand these emerging dynamics, James Clay Moltz conducts the first in-depth policy analysis of Asia's fourteen leading space programs, concentrating especially on developments in China, Japan, India, and South Korea. Moltz isolates the domestic motivations driving Asia's space actors, revisiting critical events such as China's 2007 antisatellite weapons test and manned flights, Japan's successful Kaguya lunar mission and Kibo module for the International Space Station (ISS), India's Chandrayaan lunar mission, and South Korea's astronaut visit to the ISS, along with plans to establish independent space-launch capability. He investigates these nations' divergent space goals and their tendency to focus on national solutions and self-reliance rather than regionwide cooperation and multilateral initiatives. He concludes with recommendations for improved intra-Asian space cooperation and regional conflict prevention. Moltz also considers America's efforts to engage Asia's space programs in joint activities and the prospects for future U.S. space leadership. He extends his analysis to the relationship between space programs and economic development in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, North Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, making this a key text for international relations and Asian studies scholars.

Written for all readers, this expert analysis details the basics of space technology, diplomacy, commerce, exploration, and military applications from the mid-twentieth century to today. Space has become increasingly crowded since the end of the Cold War, and this book pays particular attention to the politics and economics of space and recent debates over national security, focusing on the competing themes of international competition and cooperation and the effort to avoid dangerous conflicts. Unfortunately, the growth of human space activity and challenges to existing international tools of management, such as rules, laws, and treaties, have increased the likelihood of conflict over a diminishing pool of space resources close to Earth. Drawing on more than twenty years of experience in international space debates and policy, James Clay Moltz points to the logic of cooperation and collaboration among the expanding number of space actors, considering their shared challenges regarding space traffic, orbital debris, radio-spectrum crowding, space situational awareness, and space weaponization.He concludes with policy recommendations for improving international space relations, focusing on enhanced communication, data sharing, and operational cooperation.

The decline in central financing for Russia's nuclear complex and the known interest of terrorist groups in acquiring fissile material and technologies, has made the state of Russia's far-flung nuclear enterprises a pressing international issue. In this important volume, a group of leading US and Russian policy experts - drawing on extensive interviews with officials, facility personnel, and analysts in Russia's regions - explores the intersecting problems of Russian nuclear insecurity and decentralization, including the growing influence of regional, political and economic forces. The work presents insights into both nuclear safety issues and post-Soviet intra-agency governance, as well as detailed case studies of critical nuclear regions: the Far East, the Urals, Siberia, and the Volga area. The volume also offers major new findings on the interface linking Russia's evolving center-periphery relations, its ailing nuclear facilities, and the role played by foreign assistance providers.