07
May 2014
Past Event
The Second Nuclear Age: A Conversation with Professor Paul Bracken

The Second Nuclear Age: A Conversation with Professor Paul Bracken

Past Event
The Penn Club
May 07, 2014
Default Event Image
07
May 2014
Past Event

30 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036

Speakers:
lewis-libby
Lewis Libby

Former Senior Vice President

Paul Bracken

Author, The Second Nuclear Age, Professor, Yale University

William Schneider, Jr

Adjunct Fellow, Hudson Institute

sarah_stern
Sarah May Stern

Chair, Hudson Institute Board of Trustees

Last year’s North Korean launch of a long-range missile illustrated the frightening prospect of old rivalries in the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia flaring up but this time in the context of nuclear armed states. It occurred against the backdrop of growth in the nuclear arsenals of both Pakistan and India, a significant modernization of Russia’s nuclear arsenal, China’s move of its nuclear weapons to mobile launchers and submarines, and, of course, the looming Iranian nuclear threat. Failure to stop Iran raises the specter of an exceedingly volatile poly-nuclear Middle East.

Paul Bracken, Professor of Management and Political Science at Yale University, former senior researcher at Hudson Institute, author of the widely acclaimed book, The Second Nuclear Age: Strategy, Danger and the New Power Politics, and long-time Pentagon advisor contends the atomic bomb has returned for a second act, a post-Cold War encore. But its return, however, is in a multiple regional context where the rules are less certain and the margins for miscalculation much narrower.

All of this is taking place under an alarmingly rapid aging of America’s nuclear capability, sharp cuts in the number of U.S. submarine and bomber-launched nuclear weapons and President Obama’s “Global Zero” nuclear policy – the elimination of all nuclear weapons worldwide. Eight of the world’s nine nuclear armed states are modernizing their arsenals. The United States is not.

Hudson Senior Vice President Lewis Libby moderated the discussion.

Hudson Adjunct Fellow William Schneider, Jr., the noted nuclear strategist who served as Chairman of the Defense Science Board at the Pentagon and Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology in the Reagan administration, offered comments.

Related Events
22
May 2025
Virtual Event | Invitation Only
US-China Rivalry in the Middle East Conference
Featured Speakers:
Senator Ted Cruz
Congressman Kevin Hern
Elliott Abrams
Michael Doran
Mary Kissel
Bernard Haykel
Joshua Meservey
John Lee
Aaron MacLean
Ray Takeyh
Thomas J. Duesterberg
Jonathan Hessen
Joel Scanlon
Jason Hsu
Dan Blumenthal
Michael Sobolik
Garrett Exner
Ilan Berman
Mike Watson
Moderators:
Liel Leibovitz
Zineb Riboua
Ethan Gutman
Adhwaa Alsaleh
Daniel Samet
(US-China Rivalry in the Middle East logo)
22
May 2025
Virtual Event | Invitation Only
US-China Rivalry in the Middle East Conference

Former policymakers and leading national security experts will join Hudson to assess how China’s growing influence is reshaping the regional order—and how the US should respond.

(US-China Rivalry in the Middle East logo)
Featured Speakers:
Senator Ted Cruz
Congressman Kevin Hern
Elliott Abrams
Michael Doran
Mary Kissel
Bernard Haykel
Joshua Meservey
John Lee
Aaron MacLean
Ray Takeyh
Thomas J. Duesterberg
Jonathan Hessen
Joel Scanlon
Jason Hsu
Dan Blumenthal
Michael Sobolik
Garrett Exner
Ilan Berman
Mike Watson
Moderators:
Liel Leibovitz
Zineb Riboua
Ethan Gutman
Adhwaa Alsaleh
Daniel Samet
23
May 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Trump and the Gulf
Featured Speakers:
Michael Doran
Bernard Haykel
Moderator:
Zineb Riboua
Saudi and United States flags fly as Air Force One arrives at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 13, 2025. (Getty Images)
23
May 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Trump and the Gulf
Saudi and United States flags fly as Air Force One arrives at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 13, 2025. (Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Michael Doran
Bernard Haykel
Moderator:
Zineb Riboua
03
June 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Unbroken: One Uyghur’s Fight for Freedom with Rushan Abbas
Featured Speakers:
Rushan Abbas
Dean Baxendale
Damon Wilson
Moderator:
Olivia Enos
Getty Images
03
June 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Unbroken: One Uyghur’s Fight for Freedom with Rushan Abbas

Join Hudson for a discussion of the book and the ways the United States and other countries can support the Uyghur people in their time of need.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Rushan Abbas
Dean Baxendale
Damon Wilson
Moderator:
Olivia Enos
15
May 2025
Past Event
Motwani Jadeja US-India Dialogue Series | Strategic Technology and the US-India Relationship
Featured Speakers:
Lisa Curtis
Lindsey Ford
Jeffrey Bean
Daniel Markey
Moderator:
Aparna Pande
Getty Images
15
May 2025
Past Event
Motwani Jadeja US-India Dialogue Series | Strategic Technology and the US-India Relationship

Hudson will host an expert panel to discuss how increased technology collaboration will benefit the US and India and why these agreements could help both nations expand their partnerships in the Indo-Pacific. 

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Lisa Curtis
Lindsey Ford
Jeffrey Bean
Daniel Markey
Moderator:
Aparna Pande