Thursday, June 02, 2005

McNamara on the Nuclear Threat

Robert McNamara, who served as Secretary of Defense during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, continues to weigh in on matters of national security. In an interview published in today's Guardian (London), McNamara points to two serious dangers related to nuclear weapons. First, there is continued danger of an accidental launch of one or more of the nuclear weapons that the United States and Russia maintain on alert. Second, there are growing dangers that a non-state actor will be able to manufacture a nuclear weapon for use outside the constraints imposed by political leaders.

McNamara's warnings are particularly timely given the recent failure of the NPT review conference. You can read the Guardian story here.

(While on the subject of Robert McNamara, those who haven't seen the 2004 Oscar-winning documentary Fog of War should do so.)