John Mecklin

Figure 1. Missile test silo construction at Vandenberg Space Force Base, possibly for Sentinel. (Credit: Federation of American Scientists/Airbus via Google Earth).

It can be predicted with reasonable confidence that Russia will not threaten, much less use, nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Escalation vis-à-vis NATO, however, is a different matter: That likelihood appears higher, but knowing in advance how high it is may be impossible.

The candidates in the coming election in the United States have said little, certainly nothing coherently, about nuclear weapons. Yet those weapons continue to haunt us, even as they move in and out of our conscious awareness.

The N.S. Savannah was the world's first nuclear powered merchant ship. It launched in 1959 as part of the Atoms for Peace program. Photo: Department of Transportation Maritime Administration

On January 6 four years ago, angry supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol in an attempt to keep him in office, even though he had lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Two years later, supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro refused to concede his electoral defeat and called for a military coup: They stormed the presidential palace, broke windows, ransacked the country’s Supreme Court building, and switched on sprinkler systems to flood Brazil’s congressional quarters.

If you Google “Harper Reed,” the first item that search returns is a link to his website [1] and the headline “Harper Reed ★ Probably one of the coolest guys ever.” And Reed has undeniably done many interesting things in his 46-plus years on the planet. They are summarized this way on his home page:

Media reactions to Tuesday’s US presidential debate tended to summarize it as “fiery” and to follow one general narrative: Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat in the race, set a series of traps for Republican former president Donald Trump, and he took the bait, turning angry and spouting obvious and sometimes risible falsehoods about a supposedly near-dystopic America overrun by criminal immigrant invaders who were—at least in one Midwestern town—even eating cats and dogs. (Just to be clear on the facts: Haitians are not eating pets in Ohio.)

Nuclear policy experts suggest questions that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.

California’s Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act, currently with Governor Newsom awaiting his signature, requires that developers of the most powerful AI systems write and follow safety and security protocols to prevent critical harm. Newsom should sign it.

Members of Israel's Home Front Command and police forces inspect a crater left by an exploded projectile at a heavily-damaged school building in Israel's southern city of Gedera on October 1, 2024, after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel in response to the killings of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Nasrallah and other Iran-backed militants. Reports said Iran fired between 150 and 200 missiles in the attack, the country's second on Israel after a missile and drone attack in April in response to a deadly Israeli air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)