Proliferation Rings: New Challenges to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime

Overview

How great a threat are the nuclear programs of Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, and other emerging nuclear-weapons states to the survival of the nuclear nonproliferation regime? Chaim Braun of Altos Management Partners and Christopher Chyba of Stanford University warn that the exchange of nuclear technologies, weapons designs, and delivery systems among networks of second-tier proliferators, which the authors dub “proliferation rings,” is far more extensive than previously recognized. Left unchecked, the activities of these networks could lead to the end of the nonproliferation regime, as growing numbers of second-tier proliferators are able to free themselves from the constraints imposed by the regime. The authors recommend the adoption of a series of demand-side and supply-side measures, including expansion of the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, to address this growing danger.