Hugh Gusterson | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Project Minerva revisited

Hugh Gusterson — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:58:09 -0600

In my last column, as well as in a column for Foreign Policy, I expressed reservations about Project Minerva--a $50 million Pentagon initiative to mobilize anthropologists and other social scientists to do research in aid of the "war on terror." I argued that such research should be sponsored by a civilian agency such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) rather than by the Pentagon

The U.S. military's quest to weaponize culture

Hugh Gusterson — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:06:00 -0600

The Pentagon seems to have decided that anthropology is to the war on terror what physics was to the Cold War. As an anthropologist, this makes me very nervous.

Where former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld believed that the United States would vanquish its enemies through technological superiority, his replacement Robert Gates has said that cultural expertise in counterinsurgency operations will be crucial in the future wars he anticipates.

The new nuclear abolitionists

Hugh Gusterson — Tue, 13 May 2008 09:50:00 -0600

Twenty-five years ago, the Nuclear Freeze campaign mobilized hundreds of thousands of Americans to demand an end to the testing, production, and deployment of new nuclear weapons. At that time, advocating the complete abolition of nuclear weapons was a fringe position confined to a few utopians on the left. Even most antinuclear activists struggled getting past the "you can't put the genie back in the bottle" common sense of pundits and arms control experts.

The "public" discussion about the Energy Department's Complex Transformation

Hugh Gusterson — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:00:00 -0600

On Tuesday, the Energy Department held public hearings in Washington on its plans to "transform" the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. Last time I went to Energy headquarters I was turned away because I wasn't a U.S. citizen. (See "Misadventures at the U.S. Energy Department.") This time they let me in without inquiring about my citizenship; they even let me roam the halls unescorted to look for a bathroom. Go figure.

U.S. nuclear double standards

Hugh Gusterson — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:00:00 -0700

As seen from Pakistan, U.S. nuclear weapons policies present troubling trends; an exclusive interview with the irreverent Brig. Gen. Atta M. Iqhman.

A Pakistani view of U.S. nuclear weapons

Hugh Gusterson — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:00:00 -0700

Before the United States criticizes Pakistan and other countries about the security of their nuclear arsenals, Washington should make sure its safeguards system is foolproof.

Misadventures at the U.S. Energy Department

Hugh Gusterson — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 23:00:00 -0700

Getting into a public talk at the Energy Department has become a surreal exercise, which is worrisome considering all the notoriously mismanaged agency is charged to do.

Deconstructing HBO's Pu-239

Hugh Gusterson — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:00:00 -0700

Like its recent documentary White Light/Black Rain, HBO's latest original movie, Pu-239, provides a thought-provoking examination of the nuclear age.

The effect of U.S. nuclear testing on the Marshallese

Hugh Gusterson — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:00:00 -0600

Five decades after its final nuclear test in the Marshall Islands, Washington still refuses to appropriately compensate those harmed by the tests.

Determining the truth about U.S. missile defense

Hugh Gusterson — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 23:00:00 -0600

Among the many reasons for the deterioration in relations between the United States and Russia is the Bush administration's recent announcement of plans to deploy components of a missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland. While the administration said the system is designed to target future Iranian missiles, the Russians objected that it would also hold their nuclear missiles at risk. They suggested that the United States use a radar in Azerbaijan, which would be unable to track Russian missiles, in lieu of the proposed facility in the Czech Republic.

Still surviving Hiroshima

Hugh Gusterson — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 23:00:00 -0600

Even for those who lived through the first atomic bombings, it will always be August 1945.

Nuclear terrorism: The new day after

Hugh Gusterson — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 23:00:00 -0600

It's irrational to think that human beings would behave rationally in the hours and days after a nuclear terrorist attack.

Nuclear terrorism: Correcting the future

Hugh Gusterson — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 23:00:00 -0600

If we lose Washington, we better get our story straight. Otherwise, history will rewrite itself.

The New York Times's slanted North Korea coverage

Hugh Gusterson — Mon, 07 May 2007 23:00:00 -0600

You would never guess by reading the country's so-called paper of record, but Pyongyang actually has national security interests of its own.

The militarization of neuroscience

Hugh Gusterson — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 23:00:00 -0600

The U.S. military's interest in physics helped produce the Bomb. Now the Pentagon is mining neuroscience for a host of futuristic weapons.

Understanding the reliable replacement warhead

Hugh Gusterson — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 23:00:00 -0600

The U.S. weapons laboratories want to build a new, supposedly safer, nuclear warhead. But will it make the country safer?

A parent's quandary

Hugh Gusterson — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 23:00:00 -0700

When it comes to war and social issues, what do we tell the children?

Finding Article VI

Hugh Gusterson — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 23:00:00 -0700

How the anti-nuclear movement remembered the nuclear powers’ obligation to complete disarmament.