Publications
DR. BRUCE BLAIR
As an expert on national security issues, Dr. Bruce Blair, co-founder of Global Zero, is the principal author of Global Zero’s policy reports and has authored many articles in leading publications including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, National Interest and Scientific American. Below is a sampling of his publications.
Reports (Principal Author)
The End of Nuclear Warfighting: Moving to a Deterrence-Only Posture, September 2018
Global Zero Commission on Nuclear Risk Reduction Report, April 2015
Global Zero NATO-Russia Commission Report, February 2012
Articles and Contributions to Edited Volumes
“Trump can launch nuclear weapons whenever he wants, with or without Mattis,” with Jon Wolfsthal, The Washington Post, December 23, 2018.
“Strengthening Checks on Presidential Launch Authority,” Arms Control Today, Jan/Feb 2018.
“A new Trump administration plan makes nuclear war likelier,” The Washington Post, January 13, 2018.
“Presidents Have Too Much Power Over U.S. Nukes. Especially President Trump.” The Washington Post, August 18, 2017.
“Why Our Nuclear Weapons Can Be Hacked,” The New York Times, March 14, 2017.
“Trump and the Nuclear Keys,” The New York Times, October 12, 2016.
“The Flimsy Case Against No-First-Use of Nuclear Weapons,” Politico Magazine, September 28, 2016.
“End the First-Use Policy for Nuclear Weapons,” with James E. Cartwright, The New York Times, August 14, 2016.
“OPINION: Why Japan ought to support nuclear no-first-use,” Kyodo News, July 19, 2016.
“What Exactly Would It Mean to Have Trump’s Finger on the Nuclear Button,” Politico Magazine, June 11, 2016.
“Lowering the Nuclear Threshold: The Dangerous Evolution of World Nuclear Arsenals toward Far-Flung Dispersal, Hair-Trigger Launch Readiness, and First Use Doctrines,” Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, Vienna, Austria, December 8, 2014.
“Book Review: Mad Fiction,” Nonproliferation Review, (Monterey Institute of International Studies, June 2014).
“Risks of Nuclear Weapons Use in an Era of Proliferation, Cyber Warfare and Terrorism,” presented at the Second Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, Nayarit, Mexico, February 14, 2014.
“Can Disarmament Work,” Foreign Affairs, co-authored with Matt Brown, Richard Burt, Josef Joff and James W. Davis, July/August 2011.
“One Hundred Nuclear Wars: Stable Deterrence between the United States and Russia at Reduced Nuclear Force Levels Off Alert in the Presence of Limited Missile Defenses,” Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, co-authored with Victor Esin, Matthew McKinzie, Valery Yarynich and Pavel Zolotarev, August 9, 2011.
“Bombs Away,” The New York Times, co-authored with Damon Bosetti and Brian Weeden,December 6, 2010.
“Could Terrorists Launch America’s Nuclear Missiles?” TIME, November 11, 2010.
“Smaller and Safer: A New Plan For Nuclear Postures,” Foreign Affairs, co-authored with Victor Esin, Matthew McKinzie, Valery Yarynich and Pavel Zolotarev (Council on Foreign Relations, September-October 2010).
“De-Alerting Strategic Forces,” in Reykjavik Revisited: Steps Toward a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, George P. Shultz, Sidney D. Drell, and James E. Goodby, eds., (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2008).
“Increasing warning and decision time (‘De-Alerting’),” (International Conference, Achieving the Vision of a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, Oslo, February 26-27, 2008).
“A Rebuttal of the U.S. Statement on the Alert Status of U.S. Nuclear Forces,” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, November 6, 2007.
“Primed and Ready,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January/February 2007.
“The Fallacy of Nuclear Primacy” China Security, co-authored with Chen Yali (Washington, D.C.: World Security Institute, Autumn 2006).
“The Oil Weapon: Myth of China’s Vulnerability,” China Security, co-authored with Chen Yali and Eric Hagt (Washington, D.C.: World Security Institute, Summer 2006).
“Editors’ Notes: The Space Security Dilemma,” China Security, co-authored with Chen Yali (Washington, D.C: World Security Institute, Issue No. 2 (2006)).
“General Zhu and Chinese Nuclear Preemption,” China Security (Washington, D.C: World Security Institute, Issue No. 1(2005).
“The Wrong Deterrence: The Threat of Loose Nukes Is One of Our Own Making,” The Washington Post, September 19, 2004.
“The Logic of Intelligence Failure,” Forum on Physics and Society, American Physical Society, April 2004. (Also presented at the 10th International Castiglioncello Conference: “Unilateral Actions and Military Interventions: The Future of Nonproliferation,” April 1, 2004).
“Keeping Presidents in the Nuclear Dark (Episode #2: The SIOP Option that Wasn’t),” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, February 17, 2004.
“Keeping Presidents in the Nuclear Dark (Episode #1: The Case of the Missing Permissive Action Links),” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, February 11, 2004.
“Rogue States: Nuclear Red-Herrings,” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, December 5, 2003.
“We Keep Building Nukes for All the Wrong Reasons,” The Washington Post, May 25, 2003.
“Nuclear Recollections,” The Defense Monitor, April/May 2003.
“The Folly of Nuclear War-Gaming for Korea and South Asia,” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, April 30, 2003.
“Hair-Trigger Missiles Risk Catastrophic Nuclear Terrorism,” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, April 29, 2003.
“Nuclear Time Warp,” The Defense Monitor, May 2002.
“The Ultimate Hatred is Nuclear,” The New York Times, October 22, 2001.
“Nukes: A Lesson from Russia,” The Washington Post, July 11, 2001.
Toward True Security: Ten Steps The Next President Should Take to Transform U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, with Richard L. Garwin, Frank von Hippel, et al. (Cambridge, MA: UCS Publications, February 2008).
Toward True Security: A U.S. Nuclear Posture for the Decade, with Richard L. Garwin, Frank von Hippel, and others (Cambridge, MA: UCS Publications, June 2001).
“Trapped in the Nuclear Math,” The New York Times, June 13, 2000.
“A Longer Nuclear Fuse,” with Frank von Hippel, The Washington Post, June 6, 2000.
“Some Sensible Options for U.S. Missile Defense,” Moscow Times, June 3, 2000.
“Russia’s Aging War Machine: Economic Weakness and the Nuclear Threat,” co-authored with Cliff Gaddy, The Brookings Review, June 22, 1999.
The Nuclear Turning Point: A Blueprint for Deep Cuts and De-alerting of Nuclear Weapons, co-authored with Harold Feiveson, ed., Frank von Hippel, and others (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1999).
“Loose Cannon,” National Interest, Summer 1998.
“The Plight of the Russian Military and Nuclear Control,” in Report of the Commission To Assess The Ballistic Missile Threat To The United States, July 15, 1998.
“Accidental Nuclear War – A Post-Cold War Assessment,” with L. Farrow and others, New England Journal of Medicine, April 30, 1998.
“Dismantle Armageddon,” with Henry W. Kendall, The New York Times, October 8, 1993.
“Lighten Up on Ukraine,” The New York Times, June 1, 1993.
“The Terrorist Threat to World Nuclear Programs,” with Garry D. Brewer, The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. XXXI No. 3, September 1977.
Congressional and other Testimony
Outside Perspectives on Nuclear Deterrence Policy and Posture, Testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, March 6, 2019
“Benefits and Risks of Continuing U.S. Nuclear Reductions” in The U.S. Nuclear Deterrent: What are the Requirements for a Strong Deterrent in an Era of Defense Sequester? Hearing before the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces of the House Committee on Armed Services, 113 Cong. 1 sess. (GPO, 2013).
“Russian Nuclear Policy and the Status of De-targeting,” Testimony before the Subcommittee on Military Research and Development, House Committee on National Security, March 13, 1997.
“Nuclear Danger and the Former Soviet Union,” Loose Nukes, Nuclear Smuggling, and the Fissile-Material Problem in Russian and the NIS, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Military Research and Development, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, March 13, 1997.
“The Changing Landscape of Nuclear Policy,” Testimony before the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Senate Armed Services Committee, March 31, 1998.
“Soviet Nuclear Weapons Control During the August 1991 Coup Attempt,” Command and Control of Soviet Nuclear weapons: Dangers and Opportunities Arising from the August Revolution, Testimony before the European Affairs Subcommittee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, September 24, 1991 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1992).
“Our Nation’s Nuclear Warning System: Will it Work if We Need It?” Testimony before the House Committee on Government Operations, September 26, 1985 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1986).