Key Resources from ACA
For Immediate Release: October 5, 2012
Contact: Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director, Arms Control Association, 202-463-8270, ext. 107
(Washington, D.C.) Fifty years since the October 15-28 Cuban missile crisis, the lessons of the events that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war are still being debated. A more complete understanding of the 1962 crisis--as well as today's nuclear dangers--is essential to avoid nuclear conflict in the future.
Lessons: As two important essays in Arms Control Today illustrate, the U.S. and Soviet leaders narrow escape from nuclear conflict was as much the result of good luck as good crisis management. More recent scholarship and documentary evidence shows that earlier accounts of the 13-day Cuban missile crisis do not tell the whole story:
"Looking Back: Reconsidering the Cuban Missile Crisis 50 Years Later," by Barton J. Bernstein, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, Arms Control Today, October 2012.
"Forty Years After 13 Days," by Robert S. McNamara, Arms Control Today, November 2002. On the 40th anniversary of the crisis, the former Secretary of Defense wrote an original essay on the lessons of the crisis in light of his conversations that year with his Soviet counterparts.
"A Conversation in Havana," between McNamara and former Soviet Foreign Ministry official Georgy M. Kornienko and former KGB officer for Cuba, Nikolai S. Leonov from Arms Control Today, November 2002. These excerpts from an October 2002 conference in Havana organized by the National Security Archive and Brown University's Watson Institute further reveal how little each side knew about the other intentions and potential actions at the height of the crisis.
Next Steps: Five decades after 13 days, the threats posed by the bomb have changed, but a wide-range of nuclear weapons-related risks remain. Today, there are approximately 20,000 nuclear weapons and nine nuclear-armed states. More countries have access to the technologies needed to produce nuclear bomb material than in 1962, and the risk of nuclear terrorism is a real and present danger.
Doing nothing is not an option. No matter who occupies the White House following the 2012 election, he will face a range of nuclear security challenges that deserve high-level attention. For perspectives on the next steps, see:
"The Nuclear Sword of Damocles," by Daryl G. Kimball, Arms Control Today, October 2012, outlines today's key problems and a nuclear risk reduction action plan for the U.S. president and other key leaders.
"Nuclear Deterrence in a Changed World," by Sidney Drell and James Goodby, Arms Control Today, June 2012. The Cold War is over but U.S. and Russian nuclear forces exceed what is necessary to deter nuclear attack. The authors outline a path to reduce the role and number of U.S. and Russian stockpiles and engage other nuclear-armed states in the disarmament process.
"Assessing Progress on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament," an ACA report, November 2010. This study measures the performance of 11 key states in 10 universally-recognized nonproliferation, disarmament, and nuclear security categories.
The report underscores that preventing the use and spread of nuclear weapons depends on strengthening the global nuclear nonproliferation system and resolving the underlying security problems that can lead to conflict and nuclear competition.
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The Arms Control Association is an independent, membership-based organization dedicated to providing authoritative information and practical policy solutions to address the threats posed by the world's most dangerous weapons. ACA publishes the Arms Control Today, the leading journal in the field.