Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists articles from September 1996

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists archives from September 1996

Moving toward disinvention. (end of nuclear weapons testing)(Editorial)
September 1, 1996... Nuclear tests have been sources of technical feedback to weapons designers, awesome displays of national power, and the focus of protesters' outrage. As we contemplate a world in which nuclear testing may come to an end--if the comprehensive...

Just like the bad old days? (investigation into the Bellona Foundation causes Russia to use tactics from Communists)
September 1, 1996... In February, the Russian secret police did their best to stop the Oslo-based Bellona Foundation from publishing a report on nuclear pollution in northern Russia. Plain-clothes agents confiscated mountains of material in Russia. They searched...

Where in the (cyber) world is Carlos Salinas? (mistaken identity on the Internet)
September 1, 1996... For one-time world leaders under house arrest or exiled overseas, electronic mail opens up a new way of keeping in touch--while staying out of sight. One of the first to use email was former Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez,...

Cassini, yes; Topaz, no. (releases of spacecraft are evaluated)
September 1, 1996... As the spacecraft Galileo sends back its startling pictures of Jupiter and its moons--most recently, of Io and Ganymede--it's hard to remember that environmentalists protested the launch of that probe in October 1989, as well as the launch of...

Bobbled ban. (on use of antipersonnel mines)
September 1, 1996... When the delegates negotiating new controls on the use of land mines concluded their work on May 3 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, the diplomats and legal and military experts applauded themselves. But in the back of the conference room,...

Rivals to march side by side. (Brazil and Argentina sign military agreement)
September 1, 1996... One of South America's major rivalries seemed to be coming to an end as the continent's two giants, Brazil and Argentina, signed a military agreement in April to conduct their first joint peace-time army operations during the last three months...

Smoke, but no fire. (smuggling of nuclear materials)
September 1, 1996... Concerns about Poland becoming an important route for the smuggling of nuclear materials from the former Soviet Union continue to grow. Because of its geographic location, many Western experts worry that Poland could join the ranks of Germany...

The parity's over: with the election safely won, Russia's government must find an affordable way to meet its national security concerns.
September 1, 1996... With the election safely won, Russia's government must find an affordable way to meet its national security concerns. During the crucial Russian presidential election campaign, which pitted a possible communist comeback against continuing...

A Byrd, not a hawk: with Republicans playing to the far right, former strong-defense Democrats are looking downright dovish. (Sen Robert Byrd)
September 1, 1996... With Republicans playing to the far right, former strong-defense Democrats are looking downright dovish. In 1991, the year the Soviet Union disbanded, West Virginia Democrat Sen. Robert Byrd scored 44 percent on the Council for a Livable...

The stewardship smokescreen: the U.S. government says it is committed to nuclear disarmament. So why is its nuclear design capacity continuing to grow?(Cover Story)
September 1, 1996... The U.S. government says it is committed to nuclear disarmament. So why is its nuclear design capacity continuing to grow? The major goal of the comprehensive test ban (CTB) treaty may be to prevent would-be nuclear powers from conducting...

Costly giveaways: the U.S. government continues to arm the world, asking few questions, and often charging nothing.
September 1, 1996... The U.S. government continues to arm the world, asking few questions, and often charging nothing. After World War II, the United States shipped a mountain of unwanted military equipment--armored vehicles, aircraft, naval vessels, and...

World Court says mostly no to nuclear weapons. (includes related information)
September 1, 1996... Ten of 14 judges condemned the use of nuclear weapons. What happens next? In an opinion that was simultaneously forthright and ambiguous, the International Court of Justice--usually called the World Court--said in The Hague July 8...

And now, abolition. (of nuclear weapons)(Column)
September 1, 1996... In its prolonged deliberations on the nuclear weapons case, the World Court labored mightily. It did not bring forth a mouse, as some had predicted, but a great victory for the anti-nuclear movement. The 37 closely printed pages of the...

Less than meets the eye. (ruling that makes use of nuclear weapons illegal)(Column)
September 1, 1996... In July the World Court dared to speak, but said little, on the issue of the legality of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. That is addressed the issue at all was the big news. The British government had previously advised the court...

The counter-revolution. (changing public opinion about nuclear weapons)(Column)
September 1, 1996... Revolutions in nuclear strategy must overcome powerful resistance. As Henry Kissinger wrote in 1957 in Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy, "Contemporaries are in a peculiarly difficult position to assess the nature of revolutions through which...

So what? (use of nuclear weapons is deemed illegal)(Column)
September 1, 1996... Nuclear weapons will continue to exist and they are likely to be used--politically if not militarily--regardless of the World Court's advisory opinion. That's because weapons technology is widely available; the power of the weapons is...

High flyin' spies: the targets may be getting more sophisticated, but so are U.S. intelligence collection systems. (spy satellites) (includes related article on companies that will be selling pictures taken by spy satellites for other uses)
September 1, 1996... The targets may be getting more sophisticated, but so are U.S. intelligence collection systems. In the fictional version of the Cold War, it was the human who usually reigned supreme--whether in the cynical novels of John Le Carre or the...

No reform here: a blue-ribbon panel proved once again that "intelligence reform" is something of an oxymoron. (evaluation of intelligence gathering efforts)
September 1, 1996... A blue-ribbon panel proved once again that "intelligence reform" is something of an oxymoron. When Congress passed the 1995 budget authorization for U.S. intelligence activities, it ordered a study of intelligence requirements in the...

Revolution and War.
September 1, 1996... In Revolution and War, political scientist Steve Walt writes about how misperceptions and a lack of solid information can lead to overreaction, paranoia, and war when revolutionary states and outside states face one another across the Gulf of...

Estimated Russian stockpile, September 1996.(NRDC Nuclear Notebook)
September 1, 1996... Estimating the size and composition of the former Soviet nuclear stockpile remains difficult, even with improved--though at times conflicting and ambiguous--information from the Russian government. Over the past year, implementation of...

The special-weapons umbrella. (management of the Defense Special-Weapons Agency)(Column)
September 1, 1996... In June, the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA), the oldest of the defense agencies, was renamed the Defense Special Weapons Agency (DSWA). Though it seems back to the future for an organization begun in 1947 as the Armed Forces Special Weapons...