Bruce G. Blair is the president of the World Security Institute, a nonprofit organization that he founded in 2000 to promote independent research and journalism on global affairs. In addition, he is the executive producer for Azimuth Media and Foreign Exchange with Daljit Dhaliwal, and publisher of Washington ProFile (Russian), Washington Observer (Chinese), Washington Prism (Farsi), Taqrir Washington (Arabic) and China Security.  WSI is also the host organization for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Dr. Blair is Co-founder and Co-coordinator of Global Zero, an international non-partisan group of 200 world leaders dedicated to achieving the elimination of nuclear weapons. 

He is an expert on U.S. and Russian security policies, specializing in nuclear forces and command-control systems. He has frequently testified before Congress and has taught security studies as a visiting professor at Yale and Princeton universities. In 1999, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship Prize for his research, work and leadership on de-alerting nuclear forces. In 2009, he was selected as a finalist for a Skoll Social Entrepreneur Award.

Dr. Blair was a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution from 1987 to 2000. In previous positions, he served as a project director at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment from 1982 to 1985. From 1970 to 1974, Dr. Blair served in the U.S. Air Force, serving as a Minuteman ICBM launch control officer and support officer for the Strategic Air Command’s Airborne Command Post.

He is the author of numerous books and articles on security issues in such publications as Scientific American, National Interest, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.  His books include Strategic Command and Control (Brookings, 1985), winner of the Edgar S. Furniss Award for its contribution to the study of national security; Crisis Stability and Nuclear War (Oxford, 1988; co-editor); The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War (Brookings, 1993); and Global Zero Alert for Nuclear Forces (Brookings, 1995). He is currently writing a new book on global nuclear arms control and producing (co-executive producer) a documentary film on nuclear weapons and the idea of their elimination for theatrical release in 2010.

Dr. Blair earned a Ph.D. in operations research at Yale University in 1984. He received his B.S. in communications from the University of Illinois in 1970.

He resides in Washington, D.C.

For a complete CV, please click here.

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Books 

Global Nuclear Arms Control (forthcoming)

Global Zero Alert for Nuclear Forces (Washington, DC: Brookings, 1995).

The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War (Washington, DC: Brookings, 1993).

Crisis Stability and Nuclear War, co-editor with Kurt Gottfried (Oxford, 1988).

Crisis Stability and Nuclear War, co-editor with Condoleezza Rice, et al (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 1987.)

Strategic Command and Control: Redefining the Nuclear Threat (Washington, DC: Brookings, 1985).

Progress in Arms Control?  Selected Readings from Scientific American, co-editor with Bruce Russett (San Francisco: Freeman, 1979).

Journals/Articles and Contributions to Edited Volumes

“De-Alerting Strategic Forces,” in Reykjavik Revisited: Steps Toward a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, George P. Shultz, Sidney D. Drell, and James E. Goodby, eds., (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2008), http://www.hoover.org/publications/books/15766737.html.

“Increasing warning and decision time (‘De-Alerting’),” (international conference, Achieving the Vision of a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, Oslo, February 26-27, 2008), http://disarmament.nrpa.no/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/Paper_Blair.pdf.

“A Rebuttal of the U.S. Statement on the Alert Status of U.S. Nuclear Forces,” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, November 6, 2007, http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?documentid=4135.

 “Primed and Ready,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January/February 2007, http://thebulletin.metapress.com/content/wl66350172162k87.

“The Fallacy of Nuclear Primacy” China Security, co-authored with Chen Yali (Washington, D.C.: World Security Institute), Autumn 2006, http://www.worldsecurityinstitute.org/showpublications.cfm?id=149.

 “The Oil Weapon: Myth of China’s Vulnerability,” China Security, co-authored with Chen Yali and Eric Hagt (Washington, D.C.: World Security Institute, Summer 2006), http://www.chinasecurity.us/index.php?option=com_csissues&secid=15&catid=62&task=catetory&Itemid=8.

“Editors’ Notes: The Space Security Dilemma,” China Security, co-authored with Chen Yali (Washington, D.C: World Security Institute, Issue No. 2 (2006), http://www.chinasecurity.us/images/stories/cs2-editorsnotes.pdf.

“Chinese Nuclear Preemption,” China Security (Washington, D.C: World Security Institute, Issue No. 1(2005), http://www.chinasecurity.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=257&Itemid=8.

“Iran and the Rogues: America’s Nuclear Obsession,” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, September 19, 2005, http://www.cdi.org/friendlyversion/printversion.cfm?documentid=3146.

“The Wrong Deterrence: The Threat of Loose Nukes Is One of Our Own Making,” The Washington Post, September 19, 2004, http://www.cdi.org/blair/loose-nukes.cfm.

“The Logic of Intelligence Failure,” Forum on Physics and Society, American Physical Society, April 2004. (Also presented at the 10^th International Castiglioncello Conference: “Unilateral Actions and Military Interventions: The Future of Nonproliferation,” April 1, 2004, http://www.cdi.org/blair/logic.cfm.

“Keeping Presidents in the Nuclear Dark (Episode #2: The SIOP Option that Wasn’t),” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, February 17, 2004, http://www.cdi.org/blair/launch-on-warning.cfm.

“Keeping Presidents in the Nuclear Dark (Episode #1: The Case of the Missing Permissive Action Links),” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, February 11, 2004, http://www.cdi.org/blair/permissive-action-links.cfm.

“Rogue States: Nuclear Red-Herrings,” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, December 5, 2003, http://www.cdi.org/blair/russia-targeting.cfm.

“We Keep Building Nukes for All the Wrong Reasons,” The Washington Post, May 25, 2003, http://www.cdi.org/blair/new-nukes.cfm.

“Nuclear Recollections,” The Defense Monitor, April/May 2003, http://www.cdi.org/program/issue/document.cfm?DocumentID=914&IssueID=110&StartRow=1&ListRows=10&appendURL=&Orderby=DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=32&issueID=110.

“The Folly of Nuclear War-Gaming for Korea and South Asia,” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, April 30, 2003, http://www.cdi.org/blair/nuclear-folly.cfm.

“Hair-Trigger Missiles Risk Catastrophic Nuclear Terrorism,” Bruce Blair’s Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, April 29, 2003, http://www.cdi.org/blair/hair-trigger-dangers.cfm.

“US Nuclear Posture and Alert Status Post Sept. 11,” in Strategic Partners or Nuclear Targets?  Russian and US Perspectives on Hair-Trigger Alert and the Nuclear Posture Review, Carnegie Non-Proliferation Project, January 28, 2002, http://www.cdi.org/nuclear/post911.cfm.

“Nuclear Time Warp,” The Defense Monitor, May 2002, http://www.cdi.org/nuclear/time-warp-pr.cfm.

“Nuclear Nightmares,” National Journal, December 15, 2001.

“The Ultimate Hatred is Nuclear,” The New York Times, October 22, 2001, http://www.cdi.org/terrorism/ultimate.cfm.

“Nukes: A Lesson from Russia,” The Washington Post, July 11, 2001, http://www.cdi.org/nuclear/nukesoftware.html.

Toward True Security: Ten Steps The Next President Should Take to Transform U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, with Richard L. Garwin, Frank von Hippel, et al. (Cambridge, MA: UCS Publications, February 2008).

Toward True Security: A U.S. Nuclear Posture for the Decade, with Richard L. Garwin, Frank von Hippel, and others (Cambridge, MA: UCS Publications, June 2001).

“Problems of Engagement: Russia’s Security, Economic, and Banking Crises,” with Clifford Gaddy, Andrew Spindler, and Denis Maslov, in Russia: Facing the Future (New York: Carnegie Corporation, May 2001), http://www.carnegie.org/pdf/rimaster.pdf.

“Nuclear De-alerting: A Solution to Proliferation Problems,” The Defense Monitor, November 3, 2000, http://www.cdi.org/dm/2000/issue3/dealerting.html.

“The Impact of Missile Defense on Russia and Nuclear Security,” The Defense Monitor, October 2000, http://www.cdi.org/dm/2000/issue8/nmdrussia.html.

“Impact of NMD on Russia, Nuclear Security,” in National Missile Defense, What Does It All Mean? A CDI Issue Brief (Washington, DC: Center for Defense Information, September 2000).

“Russian National Security Policy,” US-Russia Relations Conference Report, The Aspen Institute, August, 2000. (Also presented at the “US-Russia Relations” conference hosted by The Aspen Institute, Aug. 21-25, 2000).

“START III, Nuclear War Plans, and the Cold War Mindset,” The Defense Monitor, June 2000, http://www.cdi.org/dm/2000/issue5/start.html.

‘Trapped in the Nuclear Math,” The New York Times, June 13, 2000, http://www.cdi.org/issues/proliferation/blairnytimes6.12.00.html.

“A Longer Nuclear Fuse,” with Frank von Hippel, The Washington Post, June 6, 2000, http://www.cdi.org/issues/proliferation/blairvon.html.

“Some Sensible Options for U.S. Missile Defense,” Moscow Times, June 3, 2000, http://www.cdi.org/issues/proliferation/blairvonmoscow.html.

“Background Paper on the Strategic War Plan and START Reductions,” Democratic Policy
Committee of the U.S. Senate, May 18, 2000, http://www.cdi.org/issues/proliferation/blairbckReduc.html.

“A Nuclear-Weapon-Free World,” with Frank Blackaby and Tom Milne, in Russia’s Nuclear Collapse: The Case For A Mutual Stand-Down (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000), https://www.penelopebokhandel.no/vare.php?ean=9780333791905.

“Russia’s Aging War Machine: Economic Weakness and the Nuclear Threat,” co-authored with Cliff Gaddy, The Brookings Review, June 22, 1999, http://www.brookings.edu/articles/1999/summer_russia_bruce-blair-and-clifford-gaddy.aspx.

The Nuclear Turning Point: A Blueprint for Deep Cuts and De-alerting of Nuclear Weapons, co-authored with Harold Feiveson, ed., Frank von Hippel, and others (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1999), http://www.cdi.org/aboutcdi/NuclearTurn.html.

“Targeting and Controlling the Bomb,” with John Pike in Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940,” co-authored with Stephen I. Schwartz, ed., Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998), http://www.cdi.org/aboutcdi/AtomicAudit.html.

“Defending Against the Bomb,” with John Pike in Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940,” co-authored with Stephen I Schwartz, ed., Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998), http://www.cdi.org/aboutcdi/AtomicAudit.html.

“De-alerting Russian and American Nuclear Missiles,” with Harold Feiveson and Frank von Hippel, UNIDIR Newsletter, No. 38, 1998.

“Loose Cannon,” National Interest, Summer 1998, http://www.cdi.org/aboutcdi/loosecannonbb.html.

“The Plight of the Russian Military and Nuclear Control,” in Report of the Commission To Assess The Ballistic Missile Threat To The United States, July 15, 1998, http://fas.org/irp/threat/missile/rumsfeld/pt2_blair.htm.

“From Nuclear Deterrence to Mutual Safety,” with Sam Nunn, The Washington Post, June 22, 1997.

 “Accidental Nuclear War – A Post-Cold War Assessment,” with L. Farrow and others, New England Journal of Medicine, April 30, 1998.

“Redoubling Nuclear Weapons Reduction,” with Harold Feiveson and Frank von Hippel, The Washington Post, November 12, 1997, http://www.cdi.org/aboutcdi/RedoubleNucBB.html.

“Taking Nuclear Weapons Off Hair-Trigger Alert,” with Harold Feiveson and Frank von Hippel, Scientific American, November 1997.

“Command, Control, and Warning for Virtual Arsenals,” in Nuclear Weapons in a Transformed World: The Challenge of Virtual Nuclear Arsenals, Michael J. Mazarr, ed. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, November 1997).

“Where Would All the Missiles Go?” The Washington Post, October 15, 1996.

“Who’s Got the Button? The Slightly Shaky Control of Russia’s Nuclear Weapons,” The Washington Post, August 29, 1996.

“Russian Control of Nuclear Weapons,” in The Nuclear Challenge in Russia and the New States of Eurasia, George Quester, ed. (London: M.E. Sharpe, 1995).

“Four Trillion and Counting,” The Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project Committee, Stephen I. Schwartz, ed., in Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, November/December 1995.

“And the Moral Price of Nuclear Peace,” The Washington Post, August 10, 1995, http://www.cdi.org/nuclear/moral-price.cfm.

“Lengthening the Fuse,” The Brookings Review, Summer 1995 (Reprinted in Congressional Record,

August 1, 1995).

“IAEA: Mission Impossible?” The Brookings Review, Summer 1994. 

“Nuclear Inadvertence: Theory and Evidence,” Security Studies, Spring 1994.

“Dismantle Armageddon,” with Henry W. Kendall, The New York Times, October 8, 1993.

“Russia’s Doomsday Machine,” The New York Times, October 8, 1993.

“Ukraine’s Nuclear Backlash,” The Brookings Review, Summer 1993.

“Lighten Up on Ukraine,” The New York Times, June 1, 1993.

“Break-up of the USSR: Whither Nuclear Control?”  Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems, Fall 1992.

“Targeting and Deterrence,” with Walter B. Slocombe, et al. Strategic Arms Control in the Post-Start Era, (Oxford, UK: Brassey’s, 1992).

“Strengthening Nuclear Safeguards through Arms Control,” in The Future of Arms Control: New Opportunities, report for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs by the Congressional Research Service, Committee Print, 102^nd Congress, 2^nd Session (Washington, DC: GPO, April 1992).

“Accidental Nuclear War,” with Henry W. Kendall, Scientific American, December 1990.

“The Effects of Warning on Strategic Stability,” with John D. Steinbruner, Brookings Occasional Paper, June 1990.

“Alerting in Crisis and Conventional War,” in Managing Nuclear Operations, A. B. Carter, J. D. Steinbruner, and C. A. Zraket, eds. (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1987).

“The Terrorist Threat to World Nuclear Programs,” with Garry D. Brewer, The Journal of Conflict Resolution (Vol. XXXI No. 3, September 1977), http://www.cdi.org/blair/terrorist-threat.cfm.

Congressional and other Testimony

“Empty Reassurances: A Critique of the US Arguments, Presented at Geneva on January 19-21, 2000, that National Missile Defense Will Be Incapable of Threatening Russia’s Strategic Deterrent,” The Future of Arms Control and Nonproliferation, 2000 Senate Democratic Issues Conference, May 5-7, 2000.

“The Changing Landscape of Nuclear Policy,” Testimony before the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Senate Armed Services Committee, March 31, 1998.

“Russian Nuclear Policy and the Status of De-targeting,” Testimony before the Subcommittee on Military Research and Development, House Committee on National Security, March 13, 1997, http://www.brookings.edu/testimony/1997/0317defense_blair.aspx.

“Nuclear Danger and the Former Soviet Union,” Loose Nukes, Nuclear Smuggling, and the Fissile-Material Problem in Russian and the NIS, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Military Research and Development, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, March 13, 1997, http://www.nukefix.org/97-3-13Blair.html.

“US Policy on Ukrainian Security: The Nuclear Dimension,” Testimony before the European Affairs Subcommittee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, June 24, 1993.

“Russian-Ukrainian Relations: The Nuclear Dimension,” US Department of State Conference, July 2, 1993.

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