| “Smart Power” Nuclear Diplomacy |
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bridges vol. 25, April 2010 / OpEds & Commentaries By Siegfried S. Hecker mp3 download 
Siegfried S. Hecker
During this time, scientists in both nations also began to pressure their governments to control the nuclear dangers resulting from atmospheric nuclear testing and the nuclear arms race. The Soviet scientists were led by Andrei Sakharov and later by Evgeny Velikhov. The American scientists worked mostly under the umbrella of the National Academy of Sciences and were led by W.K.H. Panofsky and Sidney Drell of Stanford University and Hans Bethe, Herbert York, and Richard Garwin. The scientific dialogue was instrumental in bringing some measure of arms control to the nuclear arms race during the last two decades of the Cold War. My personal involvement with scientific diplomacy began with the collapse of the Soviet Union. I was director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1986, during the Reagan defense buildup to counter what he called the "evil empire." By October 1986, however, President Reagan met with Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev in Reykjavik and together they nearly agreed to eliminate nuclear weapons. Although they did not succeed, they asked nuclear scientists from each country to conduct their own nuclear test and allow the other side to make on-site measurements of its explosive yield. These tests developed technical confidence for verification of the Nuclear Threshold Test Ban Treaty that allowed the two presidents to sign the treaty. Access to the full article is free, but requires you to register. Registration is simple and quick – all we need is your name and a valid e-mail address. We appreciate your interest in bridges. |
