The co-conveners and participants of the Euro-Atlantic Security Leadership Group call for the re-establishment of basic principles relating to security and nuclear order.
EASLG leaders Des Browne, Wolfgang Ischinger, Igor Ivanov, Ernest J. Moniz, and Sam Nunn, along with 34 dignitaries from 12 countries, call for all nuclear-weapons states to conduct internal reviews of their nuclear command-and-control and weapons systems.
This weekend marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, one of the world’s most horrific conflicts. One of the best accounts of how this tragedy began, by the historian Christopher Clark, details how a group of well-meaning European leaders – “The Sleepwalkers” – led their nations into a war with 40 million military and civilian casualties. Today, we face similar risks of mutual misunderstandings and unintended signals, compounded by the potential for the use of nuclear weapons – where millions could be killed in minutes rather than over four years of protracted trench warfare. Do we have the tools to prevent an incident turning into unimaginable catastrophe?
Des Browne, Wolfgang Ischinger, Igor Ivanov, and Sam Nunn issued a statement in Moscow, Munich, London and Washington with specific proposals for the two presidents for reducing and eliminating nuclear and other military risks.
In the Euro-Atlantic region today, the risks of a fateful error leading to nuclear conflict are compounded by heightened tensions between NATO and Russia – and little communication between military and political leaders. In the absence of some positive initiative, we will continue to drift toward danger.
In the lead up to the Munich Security Conference, Des Browne, Wolfgang Ischinger, Igor Ivanov and Sam Nunn write on key steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of confrontation in the Euro-Atlantic region.
Sam Nunn, Richard Lugar and Des Browne write on the nuclear terrorism threat after the assault on Paris: "As the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit approaches, we applaud leaders for engaging on the threat and for taking the steps they have already taken to remove and secure vulnerable materials, but we have a long way to go."
