On Monday 17 December 2007, Dr Michael Levi (Council of Foreign Relations) will launch his new book entitled On Nuclear Terrorism from 11 am - 12 noon.
Dr Michael A. Levi is a Fellow for Science and Technology at the Council on Foreign Relations and Director of the Council’s Program on Energy Security and Climate Change He also teaches at Columbia University as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs. He was previously a fellow at The Brookings Institution and Director of the Federation of American Scientists’ flagship Strategic Security Project. He is the author of the book On Nuclear Terrorism and coauthor with Michael O’Hanlon of The Future of Arms Control (Brookings Institution Press, 2005). His 2005 monograph with Michael D’Arcy, Untapped Potential: U.S. Science and Technology Cooperation with the Islamic World, was the first comprehensive study of science and technology in the Muslim world. His essays have been published in Foreign Policy, Nature, Scientific American, and the New Republic, among others. His op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Financial Times. He holds a PhD in War Studies from the University of London (King’s College), where he was the SSHRC William E. Taylor fellow.
Book Description
Nuclear terrorism is such a disturbing prospect that we shy away from its details. Yet as a consequence, we fail to understand how best to defeat it. To wreak mass destruction, it is often said, terrorists must succeed only once -- but to stop them, we must prevail every time. On Nuclear Terrorism turns that conventional wisdom on its head. Michael Levi takes us inside nuclear terrorism and behind the decisions and hurdles a terrorist leader would confront in pursuing a plot. Drawing lessons and using analogies from areas as diverse as nuclear physics, the cocaine trade, human smuggling, fine art, conventional terrorism, and baseball strategy, Levi identifies obstacles, large and small, that such a terrorist scheme might encounter, and sheds light on a host of ways that any plan might succeed - and more importantly might be foiled. This accessible account challenges the silver bullet solutions peddled across the political spectrum, showing how a wide-ranging defence can multiply, intensify, and compound the possibility that nuclear terrorists will fail. Levi cautions that obsession with worst-case scenarios distorts strategy and obscures opportunities, leading us to do less to defend ourselves and making nuclear terrorism more likely to happen. He proposes a series of concrete steps that governments must take to fix the problem.
Reviews
This book offers the best insights for a coordinated defense system against nuclear terrorism I have seen, as well as a perceptive survey of the opportunities and difficulties nuclear terrorists would face. Well written and carefully researched, it is a must for every counterterrorism planner as well as for any interested citizen.
--Michael M. May, former Director, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Professor Emeritus, Stanford University
Michael Levi shows that defending against nuclear terrorism requires confronting every aspect of a terrorist's plot. Thoroughly researched, thoughtfully argued, and well written, On Nuclear Terrorism examines the most important security problem the world faces today.
--William Perry, former Secretary of Defense and Professor, Stanford University
This is serious stuff. If you want to know how a terrorist organization might manage to mount a nuclear attack - or how to stop them - you need to read this book.
--Thomas C. Schelling, 2005 Nobel Laureate in Economics
This meeting will be chaired by Mark Fitzpatrick, Senior Fellow for Non-Proliferation, and will take place on the Fourth Floor at Arundel House, 13-15 Arundel Street, Temple Place, London WC2R 3DX.
If you would like to attend this meeting, please RSVP Kathleen James on james@iiss.org or tel. 020 7395 9109
