Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - Too late to counter missile proliferation?

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Too late to counter missile proliferation?

Missiles are a critical component of a country’s nuclear weapons arsenal, which is one reason why concern over missile proliferation is widespread among policy experts. Yet, there is no consensus on how to respond to the WMD missile challenge. This week, the Bulletin closes the third and final round of our debate on this difficult topic, and asks what, if anything, can be done to constrain the spread of missile technology. Our distinguished panel of authors includes Waheguru Pal Singh (WPS) Sidhu, senior fellow at NYU’s Center on International Cooperation and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution; Masako Ikegami, professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology and the previous director of the Center for Pacific Asia Studies at Stockholm University; and Sitki Egeli, a former foreign relations director of Turkey’s Undersecretariat for Defense Industries who currently teaches at Izmir University of Economics. Read on for more insights on how the world should respond to missile proliferation. Round 1: Why missile proliferation is so hard to stop, by WPS Sidhu Missiles: The hidden force behind nuclear proliferation, by Masako Ikegami How to revitalize missile nonproliferation, by Sitki Egeli Round 2: Missile proliferation—and ideas that might work, by WPS Sidhu How to prevent theater nuclear warfare, by Masako Ikegami How an emphasis on drones harms missile controls, by Sitki Egeli Round 3: To reduce missile threats, think outside the silo, by WPS Sidhu Half-measures won't stop missile proliferation, by Masako Ikegami Sitki Egeli's final entry is posting this week. Related Reading: To limit—or expand—missile defense, Roundtable with Tatiana Anichkina, Liviu Horovitz, and Wu Riqiang Test ban for hypersonic missiles? Roundtable with Mark Gubrud, Rajaram Nagappa, and Tong Zhao From the John A. Simpson Archive: (Subscription required) Does India need ICBMs? by A. Vinod Kumar, 2012 Missile control: A multi-decade experiment in nonproliferation, by Joshua Pollack, 2011 How to avoid a new arms race, by Ivanka Barzashka, Timur Kadyshev, Göetz Neuneck, and Ivan Oelrich, 2011 Nuclear US and Soviet/Russian Intercontinental ballistic missiles, 1959-2008, by Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen Time for a missile test ban, by Bharath Gopalaswamy and Jürgen Scheffran, 2009 Slowing the missile race, by Aluf Benn, 2002 Subcontinental missiles, by Andrew Koch and Wahegaru Pal Singh Sidhu, 1998 Do it better and smarter, by Michael Krepon, 1995 Missile mania some rules for the game, by Janne E. Nolan, 1990 The frantic Third World quest for ballistic missiles, by Aaron Karp, 1988 Missile accuracy – an arms control opportunity, by Donald MacKenzie, 1986 Two missiles in every garage, by Gerald M. Steinberg, 1983 Strategic balance and the ABM, by Franklin A. Long, 1968