Source: Carnegie
For Immediate Release: June 13, 2002
Contact: Scott Nathanson, 202-939-2211, snathanson@ceip.org
New Book Offers Latest Data on Weapons of Mass Destruction
Country-by-Country Analysis Highlights Successes and Failures of Non-Proliferation
Regime
Deadly
Arsenals: Tracking Weapons of Mass Destruction
is a complete and authoritative work on the history, current status, and
future prospects of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). In an event yesterday-available
on audio online at www.ceip.org/live-the
authors and other experts agreed that the fifty years of work to control the
spread of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons through an interlocking
network of treaties and agreements has created a foundation that, with some
forward-thinking alterations, can continue to keep people safe from the world's
most lethal weaponry.
Carnegie Endowment president Jessica Matthews noted that, "Deadly Arsenals is a complete and authoritative resource on the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons… The authors hope to convey both the seriousness of the threat and the optimism that goes with knowing that tools to deal with these dangers exist and can be effective."
Bi-partisan endorsements for Deadly Arsenals came prior to the event. Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman noted, "The Carnegie Endowment's new survey of proliferation is required reading for those who care about the future of our country and our planet." Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) called the book "an essential guide to understanding the nature of the proliferation problem."
The authors begin their analysis with a policy review of past successes:
"President John F. Kennedy worried that while only the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France in the early 1960's possessed nuclear weapons, 15 or 20 nations would be able to obtain them…Only four nations since 1964 have overcome the substantial diplomatic and technical barriers to manufacturing nuclear weapons."
Despite this track record, they caution that WMD non-proliferation must take its place back at the top of the U.S. and international community's agenda:
"It is possible that the powerful moderating mechanisms in the U.S. foreign policy process, realistic appraisals of the continuing importance and successes of international non-proliferation agreements, and the influence and preferences of U.S. allies will combine in the new decade to develop dynamic new approaches to sustain and even expand the regime. If not, future editions of this book may well include a growing list of nuclear nations, and more, not fewer states with chemical and biological weapons."
Deadly Arsenals offers a thorough primer on the specifics and global trends in the materials and delivery mechanisms for the planet's most lethal weaponry. The book includes country-by-country analyses of the history, influences, and rationales that caused nations to pursue, or in some cases abandon, WMD programs; comprehensive charts and maps; and complete text for key treaties.
Countries in the book include:
DECLARED NUCLEAR-WEAPON STATES
Russia, China, France, United Kingdom, United States
NON-NPT NUCLEAR-WEAPON STATES
India, Pakistan, Israel
THREE HARD CASES
North Korea, Iran, Iraq
STATES OF SOME CONCERN
Algeria, Libya
STATES THAT HAVE GIVEN UP NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa
Joseph Cirincione is senior associate and director of the Non-Proliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment. He is the editor of Repairing the Regime: Preventing the Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction (Carnegie Endowment/Routledge, 2000). Jon B. Wolfsthal is the deputy director of the Carnegie Non-Proliferation Project. He is the co-editor of Nuclear Status Report: Nuclear Weapons, Fissile Material, and Export Controls in the Former Soviet Union (Carnegie Endowment/Monterey Institute, 2001). Miriam Rajkumar is project associate with the Carnegie Endowment's Non-Proliferation Project, where she tracks proliferation and security developments in South Asia and the Middle East.
All of the authors are available to broadcast and print media for expert analysis on the pressing non-proliferation issues of the day.
Deadly
Arsenals: Tracking Weapons of Mass Destruction
Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace/465 pages
$29.99/paperback: 0-87003-193-7 (plus tax and shipping)
To order call: 1-800-275-1447 or 202-797-6258 or visit www.ceip.org/deadly
More statistics, featured chapters, and factoids from Deadly Arsenals are available
online by visiting www.ceip.org/deadly
"Deadly Arsenals is an indispensable resource for anyone working
in these critical areas. In plain terms, the book explains why countries pursue
these deadly weapons, and what we have done and must still do to prevent it."
-Samuel R. (Sandy) Berger, former National Security Advisor
"Required reading for those who want to remain current on the full range
of weapons of mass destruction issues."
-Robert Gallucci, Dean, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
"A proliferation encyclopedia."
-Susan Eisenhower, President, Eisenhower Institute
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