NukeTalk

In this special bonus episode, co-host Tom Collina sits down with Dr. Lisa Ruth Rand, Assistant Professor of History at CalTech. She discusses ASATs, space junk, our dependence on satellites, and what all that means for the possibility of space warfare.

Talk isn't cheap and this week's guest tells us why. Co-host Michelle Dover is joined by Mari Faines, Director of Communications & Outreach at PSR. She discusses what intersectionality means for the nuclear field and how we can make it happen. On Early Warning, Dover takes double duty as co-host and sits down with Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova, Director of IONP at the Vienna Center for Disarmament & Nonpr...

It's the first episode of 2022! Ploughshares Fund President Emma Belcher is joined by John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto Citizen Lab where he researches malware, phishing, and disinformation. He discusses the mounting issue of targeted disinformation campaigns being used to shape environments of policymakers and other influential people.

It's the last episode of 2021! On this special episode, co-hosts Tom Collina and Michelle Dover are joined by Ploughshares President Emma Belcher. They identify what nuclear news and events stood out for them from the past year and those they are anticipating in the new year. What nuclear news caught your eye this year?

Taiwan is increasingly a source of conflict between the US & China, and there are some who believe that a military conflict could arise over this issue. Here to talk with co-host Tom Collina about Taiwan is James Lee, a post-doc research associate at the Institute on Global Conflict & Cooperation. On Early Warning, co-host Michelle Dover sits down with Christine Ahn, Executive Director of Women Cr...

On this week's episode, co-host Tom Collina sits down with Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of J Street, to discuss the growing number former Israeli officials faulting the Israeli government for opposing the Iran nuclear deal. On Early Warning, Michelle Dover is joined by Nomsa Ndongwe, co-founder of WCAPS West coast chapter & staff member at the Global Security at the Middlebury Institute of Internatio...

All eyes are on Ukraine (including ours). Steven Pifer, a William J. Perry Research Fellow at CISAC and former ambassador to Ukraine, joins co-host Tom Collina to discuss Putin's motivations for Ukraine and more. On Early Warning, co-host Michelle Dover and veteran foreign policy journalist Laura Rozen examine the US-Iran talks on salvaging the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in Vienna. Rozen compares wher...

It's story time on this week's episode of Press the Button. Co-host Michelle Dover is joined by Emmy award-winning journalist Helen Young, who discusses her fascinating new film "The Nuns, The Priests, and The Bombs." Their conversation follows a community of nuclear disarmament activists, which include two pacifist Catholic nuns, who risk imprisonment and even death in their effort to raise publi...

What is motivating China's nuclear expansion? That's the question co-host Tom Collina and Tong Zhao, senior fellow at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, explore in this week's episode. On Early Warning, co-host Michelle Dover is joined by two guests: Anuradha Damale, member of the Verification and Monitoring team at VERTIC, and Polina Sinovets, Head of the Odessa Center for Nonprolife...

Terrell Jermaine Starr, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, joins co-host Michelle Dover to put nuclear security in context. In covering topics ranging from Iran to new hypersonic missile development, Starr discusses the importance of a grassroots movement that pushes for the elimination of the nuclear arsenal. Meanwhile on Early Warning, Jessica Sleight, Program...

Ivory towers come crashing down in co-host Michelle Dover's conversation with Dr. Katlyn Turner, a research scientist at MIT Media Lab. Turner joins this week's episode of Press the Button to discuss the accountability, investment, and equity practices that can be put into action to create much-needed transformational changes in the nuclear policy field. On Early Warning, US-China nuclear tensions...

Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer in discussion with Ploughshares Fund President Emma Belcher. They cover topics ranging from the Iran nuclear deal to President Biden's upcoming Nuclear Posture Review, as well as the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine deal. On Early Warning: Ploughshares Fund Senior Program Officer Cara Marie Wagner shares details on an exciting new request for pro...

Chairman Adam Smith of the House Armed Services Committee discusses opportunities President Biden has with the Nuclear Posture Review – working with Russia to reduce the arsenal, getting back to the Iran deal and avoiding nuclear war. Congressman Smith also shares insights on how next year's budget process will drive some of the biggest decisions on nuclear monetization. Extended Early Warning: An...

Mackenzie Cater and Jack Brosnan of the Nuclear Threat Initiative share insights on a new survey that the Gender Champions in Nuclear Policy project conducted about the impacts of COVID-19 on the nuclear policy field. On Early Warning: Zia Mian, physicist and co-director of Princeton University's Program on Science and Global Security, helps us understand the complicated legacy of the late Abdul Q...

Join us for Press the Button LIVE: Nuclear Policy in the Biden Administration and Beyond. Thursday, October 21, 11am-1pm PT / 1-3pm CT / 2-4pm ET – LIVE ON ZOOM. Featured speakers include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Chairman Adam Smith of the House Armed Services Committee; Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA-17). Ploughshares Fund President Emma Belcher featured interview with Principal Deputy National Security...

London-based Sahil Shah, a policy fellow at the European Leadership Network, discusses with Michelle Dover all things nuclear coming from a transatlantic perspective. They cover the recent US-Russian dialogue, what that means for the New START Treaty and the prospects for the JCPOA and Europe's role in those discussions. On Early Warning: Sina Toossi of the National Iranian American Council discus...

Shannon Bugos at the Arms Control Association is co-author of a new report called "The Allure and Risks of Hypersonic Weapons." She goes in depth with Michelle Dover on the state of development for hypersonic missiles around the world and what we can do to reduce these threats. On Early Warning: Colleen Moore of Women Cross DMZ discusses North Korea's recent missile tests, prospects for US-North K...

Andrew Bacevich, President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, discusses the chain of command on the nuclear launch procedure during the end of the Trump administration. On Early Warning: Dr. Jeffrey Lewis at the Middlebury institute of International Studies shares his take on the recent ouster of Leonor Tomero as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Missile Defens...

Sarah Streyder, executive director of the Secure Families Initiative, joins Tom Collina to talk about the post-September 11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the effects on veterans and military families. On Early Warning, Dr. Emma Belcher offers her in-depth analysis on the new defense deal between the US, UK, and Australia that provides Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.

Barbara Slavin of the Atlantic Council talks with Tom Collina about the global war on terror. Slavin shares a perspective on the opportunity costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its impact on US policies and relationships with Iran and North Korea. On Early Warning, Alex Hall speaks with Zubaida Akbar, an Afghan human rights advocate and expert. They discuss the effects of the past 20 ye...

As the withdrawal of all US military forces from Afghanistan is completed, Adam Weinstein, research fellow with the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft provides a deep dive into the questions of why the US went into Afghanistan in the first place, why did the US stay so long, and why it was so hard to leave? Early Warning features New America essay contest winners, Ishan Sharma and Ronit L...

Ploughshares Fund's Roger L. Hale Fellow Dr. Doreen Horschig discusses her new interactive report urging President Biden to focus his upcoming Nuclear Posture Review on preventing accidental nuclear war. Early Warning guests feature Christopher Jackson, a PhD candidate at the University of California Berkeley, and Maggie Boughman, a data and language intelligence analyst at SOS international Cente...

Stephen I. Schwartz, a nonresident senior fellow at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – and a virtual encyclopedia of all things related to the nuclear football – takes us back to the events of January 6. Schwartz talks about how the situation could have escalated if the "football" had been captured by the rioters. Early Warning features Sam A. Winter-Levy and Alasdair Phillips-Robins. And we...

Gregory Kulacki, China project manager at Union of Concerned Scientists and Miyako Kurosaki, research coordinator at the Hiroshima Organization For Global Peace talk about a new report that shows how Japan is not an obstacle to a US No First Use policy. Early Warning features Allen Hester, legislative representative for nuclear disarmament and Pentagon spending at the Friends Committee on National...

Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez, representative for New Mexico's 3rd District, discusses the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act with guest host Lilly Adams. On Early Warning, Dina Esfandiary of International Crisis Group joins Michelle Dover to discuss what is driving tensions in the Persian Gulf as negotiations to renew the Iran deal remain on hold. And a listener asks, what are the biggest...