Jeffrey Lewis

  • Tough Lessons: Advice for the Next President

    Tough Lessons: Advice for the Next President

    Arms control expert Jeffrey Lewis had a stark suggestion on how much money the next president should take out of the nuclear modernization budget, currently set at roughly $2 trillion over the next three decades. “Every little bit,” he said. “Zero it.” “And everyone says, ‘Oh my God, people will...

    December 2, 2019 - By Zack Brown

  • The Nuclear Budget Battle Takes the Front Page

    It is understandable that the American public generally doesn’t know much about nuclear weapons – how many there are, how much they cost, why we still have so many. The topic has not been “news” for most of the past fifteen years or so. Media attention on security issues instead gravitates toward the major crises of the day. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the intermittent but predictable Israeli-Palestinian clashes.

    September 23, 2014 - By Paul Carroll

  • Nuclear Titanic

    Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has ordered two reviews of America's nuclear force in the wake of mounting reports of drug use, drinking, womanizing, cheating and lapsed discipline among top officers. But if the studies focus only on personnel, it will be little more than rearranging the deck chairs on a nuclear Titanic. The core problem is not the people; it's the mission.

    January 24, 2014 - By Joe Cirincione

  • Vulnerable at 2,672 Nuclear Warheads?

    In a recent article, Jeffrey Lewis of Arms Control Wonk outlined what could happen to U.S. nuclear forces under a sequestration budget. He illustrates that even with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s so-called “doomsday” cuts to nuclear weapons related activities, the U.S. could still field enough warheads to greatly surpass the limits put in place by New START.

    What could that “doomsday” look like if the U.S. maximized its nuclear forces? (View at full size)

    December 5, 2011 - By Peter Fedewa