Nuclear Insecurity

Nuclear Insecurity is an insider's account of official American efforts to prevent the theft or diversion of nuclear and radiological weapons that could be used by rogue nations or terrorist groups. This perspective draws heavily from the author's work on the White House National Security Council Staff (1996-2000), where he was directly responsible to President Clinton for the development of U.S. nuclear material security policies and, subsequently, at the U.S. Department of Energy, where he directed the department's largest international nuclear security program, focused primarily on Russia.

In Caravelli's assessment, despite exceptional bipartisan political support and very high funding levels that have reached over $9 billion, a series of policy mistakes and programmatic bureaucratic missteps have badly compromised the United States government's efforts to protect against the spread of nuclear weapons and materials. The most striking example of the current situation is that the U.S. government, some 12 years after the start of these programs, still has failed to enhance the security of more than 300 metric tons of nuclear materials in Russia alone, enough to make hundreds of nuclear devices. The book concludes with recommendations and policy prescriptions for addressing some of these problems.

Jack Caravelli is one of America's leading experts on nonproliferation and nuclear terrorism. He is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the U.K. Defence Academy and Visiting Professor at Cranfield University. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy (2000-2003), and he served on the White House National Security Council (1996-2000), where he was the president's principal advisor for nonproliferation policies and programs involving Russia and the Middle East. He began his governmental career in 1982 at the Central Intelligence Agency. Caravelli is a Chatham House Fellow and member of the advisory board of Oxford University's Pluscarden Program on Intelligence and Terrorism.