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March 13, 2009
| Author: | Michael A. Levi, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment and Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change |
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This module features teaching notes by CFR Senior Fellow Michael A. Levi, author of On Nuclear Terrorism, along with other resources to supplement the text. In this CFR book, Dr. Levi examines one of the greatest national security threats of our time: terrorist groups armed with nuclear weapons, and argues that only a broad-based and multi-layered defense can be effective in confronting it.
What is a CFR Academic Module?
Academic Modules—featuring teaching notes by the authors of CFR publications—are designed to assist educators in creating or supplementing a course syllabus. The modules are customized packages built around a primary CFR text, such as a book or report, and include teaching notes; additional readings; video, audio, and transcripts of CFR meetings; Foreign Affairs articles; and other online resources. Use of these modules is free of charge. They may be used in part or in their entirety.
November 2007
In this book, Michael A. Levi draws from our long experience with terrorism and proposes new principles for understanding and defending against nuclear threats.
November 2, 2007
Supplies of uranium are tightening at a time when demand for nuclear power is on the rise.
December 28, 2006
The “war on terrorism” is often portrayed as playing out on the streets of Baghdad or in the mountains of Afghanistan. But New York City is another important battleground and could provide lessons for how other U.S. localities deal with counterterrorism.
Updated: October 19, 2006
The United States launched the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) in 2003 to help curb the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Since then, PSI membership has expanded sevenfold, and the program has contributed to significant seizures of WMD shipments.
September 2008
Council Special Report No. 39
Unlike during the Cold War, the threat of nuclear attack now comes from rogue states that receive their weapons from sovereign nations. In this report, Michael A. Levi outlines how to discourage those nations from giving their nuclear technologies to terrorists, how to prevent accidental transfers, and the role that nuclear attribution plays in contemporary proliferation.
March 2006
Council Special Report No. 11
The threat of a nuclear attack—especially a nuclear detonation—by terrorists has never been greater. The United States and the international community must do more to prevent terrorists from buying, stealing, or building nuclear weapons. This report identifies where efforts have fallen short in securing and eliminating nuclear weapons and weapons-usable nuclear materials, and it offers realistic recommendations to plug these gaps in the U.S. and international response.
November/December 2008
Summary
Washington must lead the way to a world without nuclear weapons, say Obama advisors. The first step will be dramatically limiting the U.S. nuclear arsenal's declared size and purpose.
September/October 2007
Summary
The Bush administration has adopted a misguided and dangerous nuclear posture. Instead of recycling antiquated doctrines and building a new generation of warheads, the United States should drastically reduce its nuclear arsenal, strengthen the international nonproliferation regime, and move toward the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons.
January/February 2007
Summary
Although many governments say that they will not negotiate with terrorists, in practice they often do. And their rhetoric has prevented the systematic analysis of how to do so best. The goal should be to buttress moderates among the terrorists without strengthening hard-liners -- by promising legitimate political involvement, but only if the terrorists eschew violence and accept democratic principles.
February 18, 2008
Michael A. Levi argues that “too many scientists today wrongly assume that a lack of information is the biggest barrier facing terrorists or countries that might build nuclear bombs, and they overstate the risks involved in sharing information as a result.”
December 5, 2007
Michael Levi writes that “the revelation last week that Slovak and Hungarian police arrested three men suspected of selling uranium powder is sure to spark an investigation into how security at the source of those materials failed. It would be wise, though, to study not only how defenses failed but also how authorities succeeded in breaking up the plot.”
March 28, 2006
Letter
December 5, 2007
CFR Fellow for Science and Technology Michael A. Levi discusses his new book, On Nuclear Terrorism, which highlights many of the obstacles potential nuclear terrorists face.
May 3, 2006
Michael Levi speaks with cfr.org's Eben Kaplan about the consequences of nuclear terrorism on U.S. soil.
Updated: April 20, 2007
CFR’s Michael A. Levi and Harvard’s Graham T. Allison consider the likelihood of catastrophic nuclear terrorism in the United States.
July 27, 2006
November 18, 2008
Report
Author: Matthew Bunn
September 2008
Book
Author: Brian Michael Jenkins
May 2006
Book
Author: Bruce Hoffman
June 14, 2005
Book
Authors: Charles D. Ferguson and William C. Potter
June 2005
Report
Author: Richard G. Lugar
2005
Book
Authors: Michael A. Levi and Michael E. O'Hanlon
August 2004
Book
Author: Graham T. Allison
1998
Book
Author: Bradley Thayer
September 2008
Council Special Report No. 39
Unlike during the Cold War, the threat of nuclear attack now comes from rogue states that receive their weapons from sovereign nations. In this report, Michael A. Levi outlines how to discourage those nations from giving their nuclear technologies to terrorists, how to prevent accidental transfers, and the role that nuclear attribution plays in contemporary proliferation.
March 2006
Council Special Report No. 11
The threat of a nuclear attack—especially a nuclear detonation—by terrorists has never been greater. The United States and the international community must do more to prevent terrorists from buying, stealing, or building nuclear weapons. This report identifies where efforts have fallen short in securing and eliminating nuclear weapons and weapons-usable nuclear materials, and it offers realistic recommendations to plug these gaps in the U.S. and international response.
Defending Against Nuclear Terrorism
| Speaker: | Michael A. Levi, Fellow for Science and Technology and Director, Program on Energy Security and Climate Change, Council on Foreign Relations; Author, On Nuclear Terrorism, Council on Foreign Relations |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Irina A. Faskianos, Vice President, National Program & Outreach, Council on Foreign Relations |
12:00 to 1:00 p.m. (ET)
This call was made possible in part by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Audio: Academic Conference Call: Defending Against Nuclear Terrorism (Audio)
On Nuclear Terrorism
| Speaker: | Michael A. Levi, Fellow for Science and Technology, Council on Foreign Relations |
|---|---|
| Introductory Speaker: | Richard N. Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations |
Audio: On Nuclear Terrorism (Audio)
This meeting is on the record.
Reducing Nuclear Dangers: The Race Between Cooperation and Catastrophe
| Speaker: | Sam Nunn, Co-Chairman and CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative |
|---|---|
| Presider: | James F. Hoge Jr., Peter G. Peterson Chair & Editor, Foreign Affairs |
Recognizing that we have arrived at a dangerous tipping point in the nuclear era, Senator Nunn will discuss the path that he, George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, and Bill Perry have charted for advancing the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons linked to specific steps to reduce nuclear dangers.
12:15 - 1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 - 2:00 p.m. Meeting
Transcript: Reducing Nuclear Dangers: The Race between Cooperation and Catastrophe [Rush Transcript; Federal News Service]
Audio: A Conversation with Sam Nunn (Audio)
Video: A Conversation with Sam Nunn (Video)
This meeting is on the record.
C. Peter McColough Roundtable Series on International Economics: The Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons - Prospects for Continuance
Related Project: C. Peter McColough Roundtable Series on International Economics
| Presider: | Ashton B. Carter, Co-director, Preventive Defense Project and Ford Foundation Professor of Science & International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University |
|---|---|
| Speaker: | Thomas C. Schelling, Distinguished University Professor, School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland and 2005 Nobel Laureate in Economics |
The C. Peter McColough Roundtable Series on International Economics is presented by the Corporate Program and the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies.
5:30-6:00 p.m. Reception
6:00-7:00 p.m. Meeting
7:00-8:00 p.m. Cocktail Reception
Transcript: The Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons: Prospects for Continuance [Rush Transcript; Federal News Service, Inc.]
This meeting is on the record.
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Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
The report of this bipartisan Task Force of distinguished leaders and experts represents a strong consensus on the importance of repairing America's immigration policy. It makes the case that maintaining America's political and economic leadership depends on attracting talented and hard-working immigrants, and on securing the country's borders in a smart, effective, and humane way.
This report finds that nuclear weapons will remain a fundamental element of U.S. national security in the near term, and makes recommendations on how to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. deterrent nuclear force, prevent nuclear terrorism, and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR
Complete list of Task Force reports
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
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