Nuclear weapons threaten every city on the planet with staggering humanitarian, environmental and economic loss. So long as they exist we will never be safe.
30 years ago, there were 70,300 nuclear weapons on the planet. Today, an estimated 14,485 nuclear weapons remain. By 2030, we could remove all nuclear weapons from military service and consign them to the dustbin of history.
Working with political leaders, senior military commanders and national security experts from across the political spectrum and in every nuclear-armed region of the world, we are working to achieve historic Global Zero Accords that would ensure that all nuclear weapons are permanently dismantled.
We live in an unprecedented moment in time: The world has never faced so many simultaneous conflicts and crises that could erupt into nuclear conflict.
In the face of these rising dangers, Global Zero launched the Nuclear Crisis Group: an elite international task force dedicated to preventing crises from escalating to nuclear warfare. Every day, we’re working to reduce these risks by focusing public and media attention on the risks, and by putting forward workable, politically viable ideas from the most experienced diplomats, nuclear commanders and national security experts on the planet.
Since its launch in Paris in 2008, Global Zero has grown to include hundreds of eminent political, military and civic leaders and hundreds of thousands of engaged citizens globally. By combining cutting-edge policy analysis, backchannel diplomacy, media outreach and public engagement, we’re blazing a trail for governments to follow — one that leads to the lasting peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.
35 years ago, Able Archer, a United States command exercise simulating the release of conventional and nuclear weapons, almost provoked the Soviet Union into starting a nuclear war. Nuclear Crisis Group Director Jon Wolfsthal analyzes this anniversary in the context of current nuclear weapons policy and US-Russia relations.
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The international system put in place to protect us from the buildup of nuclear weapons — weapons designed to kill millions of people in seconds, and poison whole nations for generations — is crumbling.
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