Dr. Bruce G. Blair, President
Phone: 202-797-5116
Email:
Biography:
Bruce G. Blair is the president of the World Security Institute, a nonprofit organization that he founded in 2000 to promote independent research and journalism on global affairs. In addition, he is the executive producer for Azimuth Media and Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria, and publisher of Washington ProFile, Washington Observer, Washington Prism and Taqrir Washington.
Dr. Blair is an expert on U.S. and Russian security policies, specializing in nuclear forces and command-control systems. He has frequently testified before Congress and has taught security studies as a visiting professor at Yale and Princeton universities. In 1999, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship Prize for his work and leadership on de-alerting nuclear forces.
Dr. Blair was a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution from 1987 to 2000. In previous positions, he served as a project director at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment from 1982 to 1985. From 1970 to 1974, Dr. Blair served in the U.S. Air Force, serving as a Minuteman ICBM launch control officer and support officer for the Strategic Air Command’s Airborne Command Post.
He is the author of numerous books and articles on security issues in such publications as Scientific American, National Interest, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. His books include Strategic Command and Control (Brookings, 1985), winner of the Edgar S. Furniss Award for its contribution to the study of national security; Crisis Stability and Nuclear War (Oxford, 1988; co-editor); The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War (Brookings, 1993); and Global Zero Alert for Nuclear Forces (Brookings, 1995). He is currently writing a new book on U.S. strategic policy.
Dr. Blair earned a Ph.D. in operations research at Yale University in 1984. He received his B.S. in communications from the University of Illinois in 1970.
He resides in Washington, D.C.
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Publication:
Books
- U.S. Strategic Policy (forthcoming)
- Global Zero Alert for Nuclear Forces (Washington, DC: Brookings, 1995)
- The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War (Washington, DC: Brookings, 1993).
- Strategic Command and Control: Redefining the Nuclear Threat (Washington, DC: Brookings, 1985).
- “Taking Nuclear Weapons Off Hair-Trigger Alert,” with Harold Feiveson and Frank von Hippel, Scientific American, November 1997.
- Crisis Stability and Nuclear War, co-editor with Kurt Gottfried (Oxford, 1988).
Journal Articles and Contributions to Edited Volumes
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“China’s Definitive Challenge: Energy,” China Security, co-authored with Chen Yali and Eric Hagt (Washington, D.C.: World Security Institute, summer 2006).
“China’s Space Ambitions,” China Security, co-authored with Chen Yali (Washington, D.C: World Security Institute, Issue No. 2, 2006).
“Chinese Nuclear Preemption,” China Security (Washington, D.C: World Security Institute, Issue No. 1, 2005).
“Iran and the Rogues: America’s Nuclear Obsession,” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, www.cdi.org, Sept. 19, 2005.
“The Wrong Deterrence: The Threat of Loose Nukes Is One of Our Own Making,” The Washington Post, Sept. 19, 2004.
“The Logic of Intelligence Failure,” Forum on Physics and Society, American Physical Society, April 2004. (Also presented at the 10 th International Castiglioncello Conference: “Unilateral Actions and Military Interventions: The Future of Nonproliferation,” April 1, 2004).
“Keeping Presidents in the Nuclear Dark (Episode #2: The SIOP Option that Wasn’t),” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column,Center for Defense Information, www.cdi.org, Feb. 17, 2004.
“Keeping Presidents in the Nuclear Dark (Episode #1: The Case of the Missing Permissive Action Links),” Bruce Blair ’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, www.cdi.org, Feb. 11, 2004.
“Rogue States: Nuclear Red-Herrings,” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, www.cdi.org, Dec. 5, 2003.
“We Keep Building Nukes for All the Wrong Reasons,” The Washington Post, May 25, 2003.
“Nuclear Recollections,” The Defense Monitor, April/May 2003.
“The Folly of Nuclear War-Gaming for Korea and South Asia,” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, www.cdi.org, April 30, 2003.
“Hair-Trigger Missiles Risk Catastrophic Nuclear Terrorism,” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, www.cdi.org, April 29, 2003.
“Nuclear Time Warp,” The Defense Monitor, May 2002.
“The Ultimate Hatred is Nuclear,” The New York Times, Oct. 22, 2001.
“Nukes: A Lesson from Russia,” The Washington Post, July 11, 2001.
“Problems of Engagement: Russia’s Security, Economic, and Banking Crises,” with Clifford Gaddy, Andrew Spindler, and Denis Maslov, in Russia: Facing the Future ( New York: Carnegie Corporation, May 2001).
“The Impact of Missile Defense on Russia and Nuclear Security,” The Defense Monitor, October 2000.
“Impact of NMD on Russia, Nuclear Security,” in National Missile Defense, What Does It All Mean? A CDI Issue Brief ( Washington, DC: Center for Defense Information, September 2000).
“Russian National Security Policy,” US- Russia Relations Conference Report, The Aspen Institute, August, 2000. (Also presented at the “US-Russia Relations” conference hosted by The Aspen Institute, Aug. 21-25, 2000).
“START III, Nuclear War Plans, and the Cold War Mindset,” The Defense Monitor, June 2000.
‘Trapped in the Nuclear Math,” The New York Times, June 13, 2000.
“A Longer Nuclear Fuse,” with Frank von Hippel, The Washington Post, June 6, 2000.
“Some Sensible Options for U.S. Missile Defense,” Moscow Times, June 3, 2000.
“Background Paper on the Strategic War Plan and START Reductions,” Democratic Policy Committee of the U.S. Senate, May 18, 2000.
“Nuclear De-alerting: A Solution to Proliferation Problems,” The Defense Monitor, Nov. 3, 2000.
“A Nuclear-Weapon-Free World,” with Frank Blackaby and Tom Milne, in Russia’s Nuclear Collapse:The Case For A Mutual Stand-Down ( New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000).
“ Russia’s Aging War Machine: Economic Weakness and the Nuclear Threat,” co-authored with Cliff Gaddy, The Brookings Review, June 22, 1999.
“Command, Control, and Warning for Virtual Arsenals,” in Nuclear Weapons in a Transformed World: The Challenge of Virtual Nuclear Arsenals, Michael J. Mazarr, ed. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, November 1997).
“The Terrorist Threat to World Nuclear Programs,” with Garry D. Brewer, The Journal of Conflict Resolution (Vol. XXXI, No. 3, September, 1977).
“Has the Bush-Putin Meeting Fulfilled Expectations?” interview in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Nov. 17, 2003.
“The US is Still Vulnerable,” panel interview in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Aug. 7, 2003.
“The Price of Mutual Trust,” Izvestia, May 15, 2003.
Toward True Security: A U.S. Nuclear Posture for the Decade , with Richard L. Garwin, Frank von Hippel, and others ( Cambridge, MA: UCS Publications, June 2001).
“US Nuclear Posture and Alert Status Post Sept. 11,” in Strategic Partners or Nuclear Targets? Russian and US Perspectives on Hair-Trigger Alert and the Nuclear Posture Review, Carnegie Non-Proliferation Project and Back From the Brink, Jan. 28, 2002.
“Nuclear Nightmares,” National Journal, Dec. 15, 2001.
The Nuclear Turning Point: A Blueprint for Deep Cuts and De-alerting of Nuclear Weapons , co-authored with Harold Feiveson, ed., Frank von Hippel, and others (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1999).
“Targeting and Controlling the Bomb,” and “Defending Against the Bomb,” in Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940,” co-authored with Stephen I. Schwartz, ed., and others (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998).
“De-alerting Russian and American Nuclear Missiles,” with Harold Feiveson and Frank von Hippel, UNIDIR Newsletter, No. 38, 1998.
“Loose Cannon,” National Interest, summer 1998.
“The Plight of the Russian Military and Nuclear Control,” in Report of the Commission To Assess The Ballistic Missile Threat To The United States, July 15, 1998.
“Accidental Nuclear War – A Post-Cold War Assessment,” with L. Farrow and others, New England Journal of Medicine, April 30, 1998.
“Redoubling Nuclear Weapons Reduction,” with Harold Feiveson and Frank von Hippel, The Washington Post, Nov. 12, 1997.
“Command, Control, and Warning for Virtual Arsenals,” in Michael J. Mazarr, ed., Nuclear Weapons in a Transformed World (New York: St. Martins Press, 1997).
“From Nuclear Deterrence to Mutual Safety,” with Sam Nunn, The Washington Post, June 22, 1997.
“Where Would All the Missiles Go?” The Washington Post, Oct. 15, 1996.
“Who's Got the Button? The Slightly Shaky Control of Russia's Nuclear Weapons,” The Washington Post, Aug. 29, 1996.
“Russian Control of Nuclear Weapons,” in The Nuclear Challenge in Russia and the New States of Eurasia, George Quester, ed. (London: M.E. Sharpe, 1995).
“Four Trillion and Counting,” The Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project Committee, Stephen I. Schwartz, ed., in Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, November/December 1995.
“And the Moral Price of Nuclear Peace,” The Washington Post, Aug. 10, 1995.
“Lengthening the Fuse,” The Brookings Review, summer 1995 (Reprinted in Congressional Record, Aug. 1, 1995).
“IAEA: Mission Impossible?” The Brookings Review, summer 1994.
“Nuclear Inadvertence: Theory and Evidence,” Security Studies, spring 1994.
“Dismantle Armageddon,” with Henry W. Kendall, The New York Times, Oct. 8, 1993.
“ Russia’s Doomsday Machine,” The New York Times, Oct. 8, 1993.
“ Ukraine’s Nuclear Backlash,” The Brookings Review, summer 1993.
“Lighten Up on Ukraine,” The New York Times, June 1, 1993.
“Break-up of the USSR: Whither Nuclear Control?” Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems, fall 1992.
“Strengthening Nuclear Safeguards through Arms Control,” in The Future of Arms Control: New Opportunities, report for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs by the Congressional Research Service, Committee Print, 102 nd Congress, 2 nd Session (Washington, DC: GPO, April 1992).
“Accidental Nuclear War,” with Henry W. Kendall, Scientific American, December 1990.
“The Effects of Warning on Strategic Stability,” with John D. Steinbruner, Brookings Occasional Paper, June 1990.
“Alerting in Crisis and Conventional War,” in Managing Nuclear Operations, A. B. Carter, J. D. Steinbruner, and C. A. Zraket, eds. (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1987).
Progress in Arms Control? Selected Readings from Scientific American , co-editor with Bruce Russett (San Francisco: Freeman, 1979).
“The Terrorist Threat to World Nuclear Programs,” with Garry D. Brewer, The Journal of ConflictResolution (Vol. XXI No. 3, September 1977).
Congressional and Other Testimony
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“Empty Reassurances: A Critique of the US Arguments, Presented at Geneva on January 19-21, 2000, that National Missile Defense Will Be Incapable of Threatening Russia’s Strategic Deterrent,” The Future of Arms Control and Nonproliferation, 2000 Senate Democratic Issues Conference, May 5-7, 2000.
“The Changing Landscape of Nuclear Policy,” Testimony before the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Senate Armed Services Committee, March 31, 1998.
“Russian Nuclear Policy and the Status of De-targeting,” Testimony before the Subcommittee on Military Research and Development, House Committee on National Security, March 13, 1997.
“Nuclear Danger and the Former Soviet Union,” Loose Nukes, Nuclear Smuggling, and the Fissile-Material Problem in Russian and the NIS, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Military Research and Development, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, March 13, 1997.
“US Policy on Ukrainian Security: The Nuclear Dimension,” Testimony before the European Affairs Subcommittee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, June 24, 1993.
“Russian-Ukrainian Relations: The Nuclear Dimension,” US Department of State Conference, July 2, 1993.
“Soviet Nuclear Weapons Control During the August 1991 Coup Attempt,” Command and Control of Soviet Nuclear weapons: Dangers and Opportunities Arising from the August Revolution, Testimony before the European Affairs Subcommittee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sept. 24, 1991 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1992).
“The Risk of Accidental/Unauthorized Soviet Nuclear Attack and the Need for Limited Defense,” Testimony before the National Security Subcommittee, House Government Operations Committee, Oct. 1, 1991.
“US and Soviet Nuclear Control: A Comparison,” Testimony before the Advisory Committee for Nuclear Fail-safe and Risk Reduction, Oct. 18, 1991.
“Soviet Nuclear Command-Control,” Testimony before the House Committee on Armed Services, July 31, 1991.
“Strategic Warning,” Testimony before the House Committee on Armed Services, March 15, 1988.
“Our Nation’s Nuclear Warning System: Will it Work if We Need It?” Testimony before the House Committee on Government Operations, Sept. 26, 1985 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1986).
Television Documentaries
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“Deadlock: Russia’s Forgotten War,” CNN Presents, CNN, 2002.
“Missile Wars,” FRONTLINE, PBS, Oct. 10, 2002.
Television Productions
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“The Future of Iraq,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Jan. 21, 2004.
“Libya Renounces Weapons of Mass Destruction,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Jan.14,2004.
“After the Earthquake: U.S. - Iranian Relations,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Jan. 7,2004.
“The Year Ahead,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Dec. 24, 2003.
“What's Next for Iraq,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Dec. 17, 2003.
“Islam and Women's Rights,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Dec. 10, 2003.
“NATO and the New World Order,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Dec. 3, 2003.
“Bolivia in Crisis,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Nov. 26, 2003.
”A Change of Heart in Iraq?” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Nov. 19, 2003.
“Afghanistan: The Forgotten Reconstruction,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Nov. 12, 2003.
“Russian Democracy in Crisis,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Nov. 5, 2003.
“Alternatives to the Roadmap,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Oct. 29, 2003.
“Bush on the Ropes,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Oct. 22, 2003.
“America's Immigration Policy,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Oct. 15, 2003.
“Can the Kyoto Treaty Survive?” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Oct. 8, 2003.
“Global Issues Affecting Women's Rights,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Oct. 1, 2003.
“The Russian American Summit,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Sept. 24, 2003.
“Iran's Nuclear Gamble,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Sept. 17, 2003.
“The U.S. Turns to the UN,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Sept. 10, 2003.
“America's Plan for Columbia,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Sept. 3, 2003.
“Negotiating with North Korea,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Aug. 25, 2003.
“America in the Middle East,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Aug. 13 and 20, 2003.
“The Roadmap Hits a Roadblock,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, Aug. 6, 2003.
“Reconstruction in Iraq,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, July 30, 2003.
“Intelligence Sharing,” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, July 23, 2003.
“Is Iraq a Quagmire?” Superpower: Global Affairs Television, July 16, 2003.
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