Battlefield nuclear weapons — also called tactical or nonstrategic nuclear weapons — are a continuing topic of conversation in the halls of Congress and inside the Pentagon following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But what are they, are they necessary and why do we keep talking about them? Host Geoff Wilson talks with Jane Vaynman, Assistant Professor in Political Science at Temple University, to discuss their role in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, deterrence and more.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, a day that changed the trajectory of world history in ways that we are still coming to terms with. In this special episode of Nukes of Hazard, host Geoff Wilson talks to the Center's Executive Director, former Congressman John Tierney about his experience in Congress post-9/11, his work to redress some of the worst policies that came out of these tragic events, and how we must reframe the way we think about national security going forward.

There is a rising clamor among top U.S. policymakers pushing for more military spending to confront China. Recent discoveries of new nuclear missile silos being built in China have only added fuel to the fire. But will China’s actions really change the nuclear balance of power? And what does it mean for global arms control and non-proliferation efforts? Host Geoff Wilson sits down with Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists, who helped uncover some of China’s new nuclear developments, to get some answers.

Inauguration Day means it's almost time for the nuclear football to shift from one president to another. But how does that work, exactly? And in a country built on a system of checks and balances, why does the President of the United States have complete and total control over the U.S. nuclear arsenal? How did the system get set up this way, what are the actual mechanics involved in a nuclear launch, and is it about time for America to rethink its system? Host Geoff Wilson sits down with Stephen Schwartz, nonresident Senior Fellow at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and author of Atomic Audit, to get some answers.

You asked, we answered! In our annual year-end mailbag podcast episode, host Geoff Wilson and Senior Policy Director Alexandra Bell take on listener-submitted questions, covering topics such as the future of nuclear policy under a Biden administration, the National Defense Authorization Act, "exotic" nuclear weapons and more.

With the 2020 presidential election looming large, it’s a good time to take a look at the absolute power the President of the United States has over U.S. nuclear weapons. Policy Analyst and Host Geoff Wilson sat down with Dr. Alex Wellerstein, a historian of science at the Stevens Institute of Technology, to discuss the history of presidential launch authority, how our nuclear launch system actually works, and what steps we could take to make it more democratic.

August 6 marks the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, followed three days later by the bombing of Nagasaki, on August 9th. In this special episode, Nukes of Hazard host Geoff Wilson narrates a selection from John Hersey’s Hiroshima, written in 1946. We also revisit last year’s episode of Nukes of Hazard, an interview with Kathleen Burkinshaw, who tells the story of her mother, who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Mariwan Hama was 8 years old when he was a victim of a chemical weapons attack. It was 1988, during the closing days of the Iran-Iraq War, and the Iraqi military gassed ethnic Kurdish civilians in their own country with a lethal cocktail of mustard gas, sarin and VX nerve agents in what would become known as the Halabja Massacre. In this special episode, Center Senior Science Fellow John Gilbert speaks with Mariwan about his experience and thoughts on chemical weapons use today.

Since the beginning of the nuclear age, there have been hundreds of serious and well-drilled plans about how the United States would use nuclear weapons in war, with the express purpose of winning. But when a military plan calls for the use of thousands of nuclear weapons, and assumes that your enemy will respond in kind, how do you define winning? Policy Analyst and Host Geoff Wilson sat down with Dr. Fred Kaplan to discuss his new book, The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War.

For our last episode of the year, experts at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation answered listener-submitted questions on topics like how nuclear weapons are made, the situation in the Middle East, the prospects of reaching nuclear zero, and more. Host Geoff Wilson, a policy analyst at the Center, is joined by Alexandra Bell, Senior Policy Director.

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