Everyday Ambassador

Hey Friends,

This month, we’re exploring friendship as a tool for rebuilding democracy and peace. So I’m dusting off something from our archives—an episode I recorded before Everyday Ambassador existed as a Substack. A lot of you have never heard it, and honestly? It might be one of the most practical conversations I’ve ever had about what friendship actually requires.

In this episode, I sit down with two remarkable people:

Richard Haass, the former Special Envoy to Northern Ireland, talks about the Good Friday Agreement—and how personal relationships between former adversaries changed the course of history. He shares the risks people took, the trust they built when it would have been easier to stay apart.

Lois Anderson, my longtime friend and Executive Director of Oregon Right to Life, talks about our own friendship—and what we have learned from each other despite having very different political perspectives.

The conversation is a masterclass in what it takes and why it matters.

If you’re thinking about your own relationships across divides right now, this one’s for you.

Listen above.

Shout out to Toby Susan Goldbach who has recruited three friends to the Everyday Ambassador community! Thank you so much Toby! I am so grateful for all your support.

Did you know you can earn an opportunity to join the Everyday Ambassador Salons at no cost when ten of your friends subscribe? All you have to do is to click on the share button below or forward or restack a post. Substack will credit you for those subscriptions.

So if this interview lands for you, share it with your friends. And thank you for all you do!

Hibakusha leader and physician Masao Tomonaga joins Everyday Ambassador to share a lifetime shaped by the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Drawing on decades of medical research, he explains how radiation exposure led to leukemia, cancer, and lasting psychological trauma among survivors. The conversation offers a rare firsthand account of nuclear weapons’ human consequences—and a sober reflection on the limits of deterrence and disarmament today.

For the first time in nuclear history, 7 of 9 nuclear-armed states have authoritarian leaders. Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans agree: we must build more nuclear weapons. A veteran policy insider and an international law professor ask the uncomfortable questions—How did we get here? Why is the nuclear priesthood silent? And what can everyday citizens do when democracy itself is under threat?

Historian and activist Vince Intondi joins Everyday Ambassador to explore the deep connections between nuclear weapons, race, and social justice in the United States. Drawing on decades of research, Intondi traces how Black leaders, clergy, artists, and organizers have challenged nuclear violence from Hiroshima to the present day. The conversation examines why disarmament has always been a civil rights issue—and what today’s movements can learn from that history.

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Frank von Hippel—physicist, diplomat, policy-maker, architect of disarmament treaties, and co-founder of Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security. One of the most influential voices in the history of nuclear arms control, von Hippel worked hand-in-hand with Soviet scientists to reduce the nuclear arsenals of both countries. He’s sounding the alarm about the state of nuclear diplomacy today. Von Hippel explains what’s at stake when policymaking loses its scientific foundation—and how to rebuild.

Von Hippel reflects on a career spent navigating the space between scientific expertise and geopolitical brinkmanship: from citizen-driven movements that helped shift U.S. nuclear posture in the 1980s, to negotiating with Gorbachev, to the ongoing dangers posed by nuclear modernization and renewed great-power rivalry. Von Hippel shows us not only how policy changes happen, but how fragile progress can be.

The conversation touches on the great questions of today’s nuclear landscape. What does deterrence theory assume about human behavior? How do weapons labs think about nuclear testing? Why has China altered its long-held posture of nuclear minimalism? And what does it mean to rebuild a knowledge-based policy system in an era of deep political polarization?

Von Hippel also discusses the vulnerabilities of civilian nuclear power systems, lessons from Fukushima, and the long, troubled legacy of plutonium reprocessing—an issue that continues to shape global nuclear security debates far beyond the weapons complex.

This episode is a reminder that experts, citizens, and institutions all play a role in reducing nuclear dangers. Progress has never been inevitable—but neither is backsliding. As von Hippel notes, periods of cynicism and misinformation have historically been followed by stronger public engagement and reform. The task now is to stay engaged long enough for that next turn.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe now to get perspectives and analysis on peace, security and disarmament you won’t find elsewhere, plus bonus interviews like the one below.

Timestamps

00:00 – The return of Cold War–era tensions and the shrinking space for science-based policymaking

02:18 – Indiscriminate deregulation and the challenge for the next generation of scientist-advocates

05:22 – Star Wars, ballistic missile defense, and how scientists reshaped U.S.–Soviet perceptions of nuclear war

09:54 – Behind the scenes: von Hippel’s advisory role with Gorbachev and the push for a nuclear test moratorium

13:39 – The road to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and why testing still matters today

16:40 – Deterrence theory, risks of accidental war, and whether nuclear weapons are truly necessary for stability

20:57 – China’s evolving nuclear posture and the complexities of three-way deterrence

25:55 – No-first-use policy debates and how U.S. allies shape American nuclear doctrine

27:46 – Civilian nuclear power: Fukushima lessons, regulatory capture, and spent-fuel vulnerabilities

33:35 – Plutonium reprocessing, proliferation risks, and the political economy of nuclear waste

Bonus Content for All Subscribers: Frank von Hippel on Family Legacy, the Manhattan Project, and Becoming a Citizen-Scientist

In this extended conversation, von Hippel shares a personal account of his grandfather’s role in the Manhattan Project—and how earlier experience with chemical weapons shaped his views on the moral obligations of scientists. He reflects on his own path from particle physics to public policy during the Vietnam War, and the rise of student-driven scientific activism that helped reshape congressional and executive science advising. These stories offer a rare, intimate look at how individual scientists navigate the responsibilities that come with knowledge and influence.

Ambassador’s notebook from JFK

And what’s up with all the pro nuclear armament rhetoric on Substack?

I get a little controversial in this one. Do you disagree? I would love to hear from you! Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Annelise Riles speaks with historian Elisabeth Roehrlich about the origins, evolution, and modern challenges of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Together they explore how the IAEA balances its dual mandate to promote civilian nuclear technologies while preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, and why its work remains both technical and deeply political. Roehrlich offers historical insight into today’s debates over inspections, nuclear safety, and the future of the global nonproliferation system.

Dear Friends,

Are you one of kind? Seeking to connect with brilliant, engaged people around the world for inspiration, new ideas, and a whole-hearted approach to issues like the economy and trade, disarmament and borders, or the impact of AI and digital platforms?

Join us at Everyday Ambassador Salons!

Every first Friday of the month, we’re building a “cohort that thinks otherwise” and having fun doing it…Off-the-record conversation with thought leaders about the state of the world outside the silos and beyond the usual political divides. It’s an intellectual shot in the arm to keep you going all month.

Hope you can join us!

Annelise

PS: Bring a friend and get a 20% discount on membership! Use this code: https://anneliseriles.substack.com/3e18d318

More info here:

For most Americans, nuclear weapons live in the abstract: Cold War history, distant threats, geopolitical chess pieces. But for New Mexicans, the legacy of the atomic age is not theoretical, it’s lived, inherited, and ongoing. In this episode of Everyday Ambassador, we speak with Jay Coghlan, executive director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, about the deep and often invisible impacts that eight decades of nuclear development have had on the state and its people.

Coghlan has spent 30 years working on nuclear policy. The conversation moves from the early days of the Manhattan Project to present-day policy debates, from the lived trauma of uranium miners to the moral and strategic contradictions of modern nuclear modernization.

Coghlan begins where the modern nuclear era began: Los Alamos and the Trinity Test of 1945. He recounts how New Mexican communities, Indigenous, Hispanic, rural, became unwitting subjects of the world’s first atomic experiment. Downwinders, ranching families, the Mescalero Apache, and displaced homesteaders were all affected, yet ignored for generations. Compensation, where granted at all, came far too late and in far too small a measure.

If the Trinity Test was the first wound, uranium mining was the second. Coghlan details the concentration of uranium extraction on Native lands, particularly the Navajo Nation and Laguna Pueblo, and the long-term health consequences for miners who were misinformed, unprotected, and ultimately abandoned.

Hundreds of mines remain open and unremediated, continuing to contaminate water, soil, livestock, and communities. This environmental injustice forms the structural backdrop to New Mexico’s status today as what Coghlan bluntly calls “America’s nuclear weapons colony.”

Conghlan strongly criticizes President Trump’s recently floated idea of resuming nuclear weapons testing. From a national security standpoint, Coghlan argues, testing is self-defeating: it would help rival nations “catch up” with U.S. capabilities.

Coghlan draws a distinction between minimal deterrence, which requires a small arsenal, and counterforce, which requires thousands of weapons designed for war fighting. Despite public rhetoric focused on deterrence, he explains, U.S. policy continues to embrace counterforce planning.

As the strategic landscape shifts from a bipolar world to a multipolar one involving Russia, China, and new technologies like hypersonics and AI, Coghlan warns of escalating risks. Coghlan also describes how he forged a partnership with Archbishop John Wester, a leading moral voice on nuclear disarmament. Coghlan tells the story with humor and candor, reflecting on how secular activism and religious leadership can meet in a shared mission: protecting life. Their work together reframes nuclear disarmament as a challenge to ideological boundaries and partisan assumptions.

Episode Timestamps

00:00 — Introduction: New Mexico at the center of nuclear history01:17 — Displacement and the forced removal of Hispanic homesteaders04:55 — Lawsuits, cleanup, transparency, and the politics of accountability08:03 — The modernization program and the Non-Proliferation Treaty10:12 — Uranium vs. plutonium weapons and how modern bombs work16:51 — The risks of new weapon designs and the push for production22:27 — Should we worry about resumed testing? Short-term vs long-term risks24:19 — Why testing is dangerous: fallout, cancer, global deposition26:49 — Underground tests and venting; why testing still poses risks30:15 — Deterrence, counterforce, and the modern nuclear arms race33:40 — AI, escalation risks, and the importance of human judgment36:52 — Proposals to hand weapons-grade plutonium to private entities41:01 — Nuclear winter and the pro-life framing of disarmament

Annelise Riles speaks with Brazilian scholar Fernando Brancoli about the October 2025 police raid in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas—the deadliest in Brazil’s history. Brancoli explains how global arms markets, political dynamics, and historical inequalities have blurred the lines between policing and warfare. They explore how local and global struggles for peace are increasingly intertwined.