As readers of Strategic Demands may recall, your editor as a younger man was close to Dan Ellsberg during his Rand research days in Santa Monica. Dan’s role with the “Pentagon Papers” was historic, but few know of Dan Ellsberg’s role as a U.S. nuclear war planner…
The “button” can morph into a perverse temptation for an unstable leader. In 1974, during his impeachment proceedings, President Richard M. Nixon said to reporters: “I can go into my office and pick up the telephone, and in 25 minutes, 70 million people will be dead.”
Nuclear weapons of the US and adversaries remain on “high alert”. The Union of Concerned Scientist address the risks, as the United Nations Non-Proliferation Review Conference concludes in disarray…
Look carefully as the U.S. is declaring what, when, why, where and how the use of Nuclear Weapons is authorized to take place in the new National Defense Strategy and Nuclear Posture. More than anything else focus on how many uses of nukes are authorized as a ‘first use’ of nukes is approved
If decades of disastrous wars in the Mid/Near East aren’t enough for you… if U.S. forces based across the globe aren’t enough… if a Triad of 24/7/365 hair-trigger alert nuclear weapons aren’t enough, if the collapse of weapons control agreements and treaties aren’t enough then how about a Big Show on the 4th of July? […]
A decade ago, founding members of Strategic Demands organized a “Surviving Victory” conference in Washington DC to address the 2006 security briefing: Strategic Demands of the 21st Century. Our intent was to bring new perspective to failing, counterproductive security policy. This week we look back — and look forward. The #CostsofWar are top of mind
The US Nuclear Arsenal What is it there for, if it can’t be used? – The U.S. President
The U.S. nuclear arsenal should not be under the control of one person. No decision of one person should be able to initiate nuclear weapons conflict and potentially a humanity-ending nuclear war. Humanity is at a precipice, we need to draw back from the brink of disaster
Strategic Demands of the 21st Century The clock is ticking and for decades now we, the founders, strategists and activists from Strategic Demands and GreenPolicy360, have worked to put forward a new security vision, new ways of seeing, new definitions of national security. The mutual threats of global climate change and a renewed […]
2024 War in the Mideast Threatens to Become Regional — and International Multiplying Pits ‘n Triggers Multiplying Pits Mean Multiplying Nukes They built it, then they warned about nuclear proliferation Read more about the Academy Award winning movie Oppenheimer — the tragic legacy of ‘the Bomb’ […]
Published 2017 Strategic Demands Editor, Steven Schmidt: It is time to recall my memories of Dan Ellsberg of nearly 50 years ago… From a nondescript building in Santa Monica to a house on the beach in Malibu, from a basketball court in Pacific Palisades to a Parade editor’s tennis court on Sunset Boulevard… My […]
As the war in Ukraine grinds on and new weapon systems are escalating the fighting, a war of words, threats, and responses are delivering new levels of risks, collapsing arms control agreements, and calls for a negotiated wars end. Will the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war continue to expand, and expand…
To look at some 200 nations of the world and ask how democracy’s doing these days is to witness what’s being called ‘backsliding’. Signs of loss in democratic norms are global and the world wide web — the Internet with its social media storms — is pushing breakdowns. Democracy’s ‘backsliding’ & its breakdowns are all-too-real
The Russian president sends a warning — the end of the INF and resumption of US tests of intermediate range ground-launched nuclear warheads means gravely higher stakes. When new first strike, ‘usable’ nukes are deployed to countries threatening the Russian Federation, then all bets are off
As the international nuclear arms control architecture collapses, the progenitors of nuclear weapons control meet up at their annual DC confab to talk of strategic issues and academically shake their heads witnessing a descent toward a nuclear precipice … Nukes in the new era of proliferation … The 2019 Carnegie Nuclear Policy Conference
Another legislative attempt to bring sanity into nuclear weapons policy. Being ‘on the brink’ of disaster is not rational policy. A new nuclear arms race is accelerating. Threats and chaos dominate U.S. foreign policy. Risks are multiplying and strategic opportunities lost in clicks of daily crisis. It is time to change course …
