Joseph Cirincione surveys the best thinking and worst fears of experts specializing in nuclear warfare and assesses the efforts to reduce or eliminate these nuclear dangers. His book offers hope: in the 1960s, twenty-three states had nuclear weapons and research programs; today, only nine states have weapons. More countries have abandoned nuclear weapon programs than have developed them, and global arsenals are just one-quarter of what they were during the Cold War. Yet can these trends continue, or are we on the brink of a new arms race—or worse, nuclear war? A former member of Senator Obama's nuclear policy team, Cirincione helped shape the policies unveiled in Prague in 2009, and, as president of an organization intent on reducing nuclear threats, he operates at the center of debates on nuclear terrorism, new nuclear nations, and the risks of existing arsenals.

Part I. Policy

1. Promise

2. Legacy

3. Pivot

Part II. Nightmares

4. Arsenals and Accidents

5. Calculating Armageddon

6. Exploding Budgets

7. The 95 Percent

8. The Most Dangerous Country on Earth

Part III. Solutions

9. Posture and Proliferation

10. The End of Proliferation

11. Foundations

Appendix A. Remarks by President Barack Obama

Appendix B. Statement by President Barack Obama on the Release of Nuclear Posture Review

Appendix C. Remarks by President Barack Obama at the United Nations Security Council Summit on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Disarmament

Appendix D. Excerpts from President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address

Appendix E. Remarks by President Barack Obama at New START Treaty Signing Ceremony

Appendix F. Ploughshares Fund

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index