Defusing the Nuclear Threat

The risk of a nuclear catastrophe is far greater than we think.

Our ability to reduce that risk is far greater than we imagine.

Too few people are interested in nuclear weapons and there's a much larger “market” of people wanting to improve their relationships, so I’m now working with my wife Dorothie on a new approach that combines the personal with the global. Click here to sign up for information, updates, and opportunities to participate.

Lessons From the Cuban Missile Crisis: Did you know that JFK was taking amphetamines? that American destroyers unknowingly attacked Soviet subs armed with nuclear torpedoes? that we are still engaged in very risky behavior? Learn how we can change that!

How Risky is Nuclear Optimism?: Read Prof. Hellman's paper in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and find out.

Soaring, Cryptography and Nuclear Weapons: How could three such different topics be related?

Your role in defusing the nuclear threat

This web site is dedicated to the premise that a group of ordinary citizens can be the catalyst for defusing the nuclear threat, a problem that has confounded world leaders for fifty years and that has assumed an ominous new dimension with the spectre of nuclear terrorism. To understand how we can manifest such power it helps to remember past triumphs where individual initiative played a key role. more ››

Ways to participate

Become informed, spread the word by sharing your concern with friends, and join our call for studies so society can learn the risk it currently faces. more ››

How it works

How can you change the world just by sharing your concern about the risk of nuclear weapons? Malcolm Gladwell's best-seller The Tipping Point describes connectivity – the number of people a person influences – as a key characteristic of those able to propagate new ideas. If you share your concern with just one person each week for the next year, you increase your connectivity on this issue 52-fold. If one in ten decide to participate, the number of participants still grows by a factor of 140 per year. more ››

Learn more:

In The Tipping Point, Gladwell identifies another key group that he calls Mavens – Yiddish for "those who know." To become a Maven on defusing the nuclear threat, you don't have to become an expert in nuclear physics. But you have to be firm in your conviction that society is neglecting a critical threat that demands our urgent attention and that ordinary citizens can play a key role in changing that situation. The best way to do that is to read this site's primer ... more ››