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Washington Post

The next nuclear age

Today's nuclear landscape is more precarious than during the Cold War This page lists a series of articles by experts from the Federation of American Scientists, a leading think tank studying the nuclear threat, examining why today's nuclear landscape is more complicated and, in many ways, more precarious than during the Cold War. Part 1 Why we should worry about nuclear weapons again (Cristiana Couceiro/For The Washington Post; Getty images; U.S. Army A.A.F/Library of Congress) By Jon B. Wolfsthal, Hans Kristensen and Matt Korda Over the past 30 years, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the prospect of nuclear war has faded from the American consciousness. With the end of the Cold War, films depicting the last days of humanity, such as 1959's 'On the Beach,' or the 1983 TV drama 'The Day After,' largely disappeared from the Hollywood playbook. Schoolchildren no longer hid under their desks during practice drills to survive nuclear war. Read more. Part 2 How nuclear war could start (Cristiana Couceiro/For The Washington Post) By Hans Kristensen, Matt Korda, Eliana Johns and Allie Maloney If a nuclear war happens, it could very well start by accident. A decision to use the most destructive weapons ever created could grow out of human error or a misunderstanding just as easily as a deliberate decision on the part of an aggrieved nation. A faulty computer system could wrongly report incoming missiles, causing a country to retaliate against its suspected attacker. Read more. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement Part 3 Only one American can start a nuclear war: The president (Cristiana Couceiro/For The Washington Post; Getty) By Mackenzie Knight-Boyle Three minutes, a football and a biscuit. These are all a president of the United States needs to start nuclear war. During a 1974 meeting with lawmakers, President Richard M. Nixon reportedly stated: 'I can go into my office and pick up the telephone, and in 25 minutes 70 million people will be dead.' He was correct. And since then, despite the end of the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union, little has changed. Read more. Part 4 What's making some countries daydream about nukes again? () By Jon B. Wolfsthal, Hans Kristensen and Matt Korda For 80 years, the United States has invested enormous effort in preventing countries from building nuclear arsenals. It has done so through lengthy negotiations, trade incentives, diplomatic engagement, treaties and, on rare occasions, military force. The recent U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear facilities was aimed at the same goal: stopping Iran from becoming the world's 10th nuclear power. Whether that goal was achieved will not be known for some time. But by bombing now, the United States might have brought about the very thing it was trying to prevent. Read more. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement Part 5 How a nuclear attack on the U.S. might unfold, step by step (Cristiana Couceiro/For The/Library of Congress) By Mackenzie Knight-Boyle This article is a hypothetical scenario of the United States responding to an incoming nuclear attack. Though the full nuclear launch process remains classified, many of the harrowing details have been made public via declassified documents and reports from those who have been on the inside. Read more.