Blog Post
CNN founder Ted Turner and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia recently announced a private foundation dedicated to dramatically reducing the dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction around the globe.
Turner pledged a budget of $50 million per year over the next five years to support the foundation that will be led by Nunn and work together with governmental and private efforts internationally.
The announcement of the Nuclear Threat Initiative follows a feasibility study that began in July under the direction of Nunn and former Deputy Secretary of Energy Charles Curtis, who will be the Chief Operating Officer of the new foundation. As part of that study, Turner, Nunn, Curtis, and several study staff members visited the Belfer Center in October to exchange ideas with Center experts.
Following the meeting, BCSIA experts Graham T. Allison, Matthew Bunn, Steven E. Miller, John C. Reppert, Jim Walsh, Stephen M. Walt, and Jennifer Weeks submitted memos to the duo outlining pragmatic and effective steps a well-funded private institution could take to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction. Allison, Bunn, and BCSIA''s Ashton B. Carter and John P. Holdren also took part in the feasibility study.
At a press conference in Washington, Turner said that the issue "seems to have fallen off most people''s radar screens" since the end of the Cold War. He pointed out that although the threat of nuclear war may be diminished, the challenges posed by security issues and deteriorating control technology have increased, and the possibility of an "accidental exchange is not out of the question." Nunn said that the emphasis of the foundation will be to "reduce the pressure on the nuclear trigger."
In their memos, BCSIA experts outlined a series of specific proposals ranging from rapid blend-down of HEU (highly-enriched uranium) in the former Soviet Union to an international network of groups in key countries working to reduce the dangers of weapons of mass destruction, to a major new prize for leadership in reducing these dangers.