Editor's Note

Miles A. Pomper

Barack Obama faces a daunting array of arms control and nonproliferation challenges as he becomes the 44th U.S. president. In this month's issue, we have asked some of the country's leading experts to offer him guidance on how to cope with issues from arms control negotiations with Russia to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

There is no other country whose nuclear program poses as great a potential danger to the United States as Russia, yet strategic dialogue and overall relations between Moscow and Washington are at a low ebb. ACA Board Chairman John Steinbruner suggests that Obama has a unique opportunity to fundamentally alter what, in many ways, is still a Cold War nuclear relationship between the former superpowers.

China's changing nuclear arsenal poses a particular risk at a time when the U.S. strategic arsenal is also changing. Christopher Twomey warns that unless Obama steers things correctly, this "dangerous dynamic" could lead to an arms race between two countries with deep mutual suspicions.

Mark Fitzpatrick offers ways to make it more difficult for Iran to become a nuclear-weapon power and to lessen the risk of a regional nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Of fundamental importance, he argues, is finding ways to draw and enforce a clearer redline between Iran's legitimate civilian nuclear activities and illegitimate weapons efforts.

North Korea, alas, has already tested a nuclear explosive. Joel Wit contends that the Obama administration will have to engage in "diplomatic warfare" to persuade Pyongyang that it cannot attain its ultimate goal: retaining its nuclear arsenal while obtaining normal relations with the United States.

Last fall's terrorist attacks in Mumbai again raised the specter of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Zachary Davis argues that the Obama administration can support a number of steps to lower this risk significantly.

Our news section this month includes an extended map tied to December's signing of a convention to ban cluster munitions, an article by Peter Crail on a dispute over verification that has tied up talks on North Korea's nuclear program, and a piece by Daniel Arnaudo on a congressional commission's recommendations and controversial predictions involving "weapons of mass destruction" terrorism.