Gravest Danger: Nuclear Weapons

The mortal danger of nuclear weapons is unique in its terrifying potential for devastation on an unprecedented and unimaginable scale. In this book, Sidney D. Drell and James E. Goodby—each with more than twenty years' experience in national security issues both in public and private capacities—review the main policy issues surrounding nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. They address the specific actions that the community of nations—with American leadership—should take to confront and turn back the nuclear danger that imperils humanity. The nuclear genie, say the authors, cannot be put back in the bottle. Our most urgent task as a nation today is to successfully manage, contain, and reduce the grave danger of nuclear weapons—whether in the hands of adversaries or friendly states. This book hopes to stimulate active public dialogue on this important subject.

"The mortal danger of nuclear weapons in unique in its terrifying potential for devastation on an unprecedented and unimaginable scale. In this book, Sidney D. Drell and James E. Goodby - each with more than forty years' experience in national security issues both in public and private capacities - review the main policy issues surrounding nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. They address the specific actions that the community of nations - with American leadership - should take to confront and turn back the nuclear danger that imperils humanity." The nuclear genie, say the authors, cannot be put back in the battle. Our most urgent task as a nation today is to successfully manage, contain, and reduce the grave danger of nuclear weapons - whether in the hands of adversaries or friendly-states. This book hopes to stimulate active public dialogue on this important subject.

Sidney D. Drell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and professor of theoretical physics (emeritus) at the Stanford's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University.

James E. Goodby is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior fellow with the Center for Northeast Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution. He was a Distinguished Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University from 1989 to 1999 and is now a professor emeritus. Goodby rose to the rank of career minister in the Senior Foreign Service and was given five presidential appointments to ambassadorial rank.