Editor's Note

Miles A. Pomper

On Feb. 13, the United States, North Korea, and four other countries struck a deal on initial steps that could lead to North Korea’s nuclear disarmament. Critics on the right and on the left quickly lashed out at the agreement either as too little or too late.

But this month’s cover story by Sigfried S. Hecker and William Liou points to the virtue of not making the perfect the enemy of the good. By striking a deal now, the six parties could cap and perhaps eventually reverse North Korea’s ability to generate plutonium that could be used in nuclear weapons. Hecker and Liou lay out a compelling case that North Korea has developed nuclear materials, technology, and expertise that could well be exported to states such as Iran that also might be interested in developing nuclear weapons. They warn that, through such transfers, these nuclear materials or know-how might find their way to terrorists.

Likewise, Jez Littlewood argues that those who criticized the recent once-every-five-years Biological Weapons Convention review conference for having achieved too little are mistaken. These critics, he says, overestimate what these review conferences can accomplish and underestimate the importance of follow-through. States’ actions during the next few years will determine whether in retrospect the conference will be viewed as a “historic” or “modest” success, he writes.

In another feature article, Holger Anders acknowledges that opposition from some countries, particularly the United States, has led to slower progress in controlling small arms and light weapons than might be hoped. These arms still kill hundreds of thousands of people each year. But Anders says that several smaller initiatives on issues such as regulating arms brokers have a chance of moving forward.

Our news section includes an analysis of the contents and dynamics surrounding the North Korean nuclear deal, coverage of China’s use of an anti-satellite weapon, and a detailed look at the nuclear weapons, missile defense, nonproliferation, and threat reduction portions of President George W. Bush’s fiscal year 2008 budget request.

In our book review this month, Barclay Ward examines U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, an edited volume that makes clear the importance that U.S. leadership in nuclear disarmament efforts has in shoring up the global nuclear nonproliferation regime.