ScienceDaily (Oct. 13, 2006) — In the wake of the announcement of a nuclear test by North Korea, new questions have been raised about proliferation and the threat of nuclear terrorism. Is nuclear terrorism preventable?

What steps has the United States already taken to avoid a nuclear catastrophe and what steps should be taken in the future?

Scholars, scientists, and policymakers, including Graham Allison, Sam Nunn, and William Perry, address these crucial questions in articles that are currently available online in the September volume of SAGE Publication's The Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science. The volume is edited by Allison of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John. F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Of particular interest in light of North Korea's claim that it has conducted a nuclear test are Allison's article "Flight of Fancy," which traces the chain of events a Korean nuclear test might set in motion, Perry's article "Proliferation of the Peninsula: Five North Korean Nuclear Crises," Sam Nunn's "The Race between Cooperation and Catastrophe: Reducing the Global Nuclear Threat" and Robert Galucci's article on "Averting Nuclear catastrophe: Contemplating Extreme Responses to U.S. Vulnerability."

"The authors devoutly hope for a future when world leaders recognize this grave danger, taking the actions necessary to defeat it," commented volume editor Graham Allison. "On current trendlines, however, the likelihood of failure is greater than that of success. We hope to remind the world just how horrible nuclear anarchy would be."

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