In the 1950s, '60s and '70s, security experts worried about the spread of nuclear weapons. Now, after decades of academic analysis, some argue that nuclear weapons in more hands may be better. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump suggested the United States might be better off if Japan and South Korea got the bomb. All this raises the question: Should we let the bomb spread? The authors in this volume present a variety of views. Some favor letting America's allies get nuclear weapons; others say preventing proliferation is more dangerous than allowing it. Still others argue that nonproliferation is more essential to U.S. security than ever before. Table of Contents Introduction by Henry Sokolski Chapter 1: Getting Past Nonproliferation by Harvey M. Sapolsky Chapter 2: Why U.S. Policy Makers Who Love the Bomb Don't Think More is Better by W. Seth Carus Chapter 3: "At All Costs": The Destructive Consequences of Antiproliferation Policy by John Mueller Chapter 4: Should We Let It All Go? by Victor Gilinsky Chapter 5: The Next Nuclear War by Matthew Kroenig and Rebecca Davis Gibbons Chapter 6: After Armageddon: The Potential Political Consequences of Third Use by Matthew Fuhrmann
About the Author: Below are the authors of this edited volume. W. Seth Carus, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction at the National Defense University and co-author of "The Future of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Their Nature and Role in 2030" and author of "Defining 'Weapons of Mass Destruction', Revised and Updated." Matthew Fuhrmann, associate professor of political science at Texas A&M University and the author of "Atomic Assistance: How 'Atoms for Peace' Programs Cause Nuclear Insecurity" and the co-author of "Nuclear Weapons and Coercive Diplomacy." Rebecca Davis Gibbons, PhD. candidate in international relations at Georgetown University and a former Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the RAND Corporation. Victor Gilinsky, former commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1975-1984 and before that head of the Rand Corporation Physical Sciences Department. Matthew Kroenig, associate professor of government and foreign service at Georgetown University and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council. He is the author of "Exporting the Bomb: Technology Transfer and the Spread of Nuclear Weapons" and "A Time to Attack: The Looming Iranian Nuclear Threat." John Mueller, Woody Hayes Senior Research Scientist at the Mershon Center as well as Adjunct Professor of political science at Ohio State University. Among his books are "War, Presidents and Public Opinion;" "Retreat from Doomsday: The Obsolescence of Major War;" "Quiet Cataclysm;" "Overblown;" and "Atomic Obsession: Nuclear Alarmism from Hiroshima to Al-Qaeda." Harvey M. Sapolsky, Professor of Public Policy and Organization, Emeritus, at MIT and the former Director of the MIT Security Studies Program. His most recent books are "US Defense Politics: the Origins of Security Policy (with E. Gholz and C. Talmadge)" and "US Military Innovation Since the End of the Cold War: Creation Without Destruction (edited with B. Friedman and B. Green)." Henry Sokolski, Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center (NPEC) and former Deputy for Nonproliferation Policy in the Department of Defense. He is the author of "Underestimated: Our Not So Peaceful Nuclear Future" and "Best of Intentions: America's Campaign Against Strategic Weapons Proliferation."