Does the US Need "New" Nuclear Weapons? Host Jim Falk Guests: Sarah Scoles, a science journalist, and author of Countdown:The Blinding Future of Nuclear Weapons, published in February of this year; Jay Coghlan is the president of Nuclear Watch New Mexico. Established in 1999, Nuclear Watch and Hans Kristensen is the Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists. He is the co-author of the Nuclear Notebook Column in the bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The discussion is on an important topic that due to the film Oppenheimer and saber rattling from Russia and North Korea is especially timely and that is nuclear weapons. The euphoria at the end of the Cold War is now a distant fleeting memory. Today, Russia, China and the United States are each committed to robust and expensive nuclear modernization. programs while at the same time long-standing arms control treaties have either been suspended, or canceled and negotiations to extend them have essentially ceased. Serving as a stark reminder of the risks we face: the Doomsday Clock, set annually by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, symbolically shows how close the world is to nuclear Armageddon was reset this year at 90 seconds to midnight. The economic and political questions surrounding the state of our nuclear stockpiles are among the best kept national security secrets. Sure, certain aspects must remain under wraps, but given the enormous amount of money devoted to our nuclear arsenal, it seems appropriate for there to be more transparency, understanding and discussion.
Broadcast In: English Duration: 0:28:30