Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September 23, 2024

LAWRENCE DOUGLAS
Constitutional mistakes of the past can tyrannize the present—but we can fix them

The United States lacks an electoral court to protect the integrity of the electoral process—in fact, our electoral system is organized in such a way that it invites attacks on its integrity. This article is part of our September magazine, and is available to all readers for a limited time. Read more.

JESSICA MCKENZIE
‘We’re not going fast enough’: Sherri Goodman on climate change as security threat

“No part of society is accelerating into climate action at the pace of the climate risks that are mounting every day,” says a pioneer in the developing fields of environmental and climate security. Read more.

FRANÇOIS DIAZ-MAURIN, JOHN MECKLIN
The experts comment: Key nuclear questions that the US presidential candidates should answer

The Bulletin asked nuclear policy experts to suggest questions that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates. Read more of the submissions below, and stay tuned for further entries.

STEVEN PIFER
What will you do to avoid a nuclear arms race with Russia and China?

Former US ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer suggests that the 2024 US presidential candidates should be asked about their plan to avoid a nuclear arms race with Russia and China. Read more.

MACKENZIE KNIGHT
Should the president retain the sole authority to order the use of nuclear weapons?

Mackenzie Knight, a senior research associate at the Federation of American Scientists and co-author of the Bulletin’s Nuclear Notebook, proposes a series of seven questions on presidential launch authority, modernization of nuclear weapons, and arms control. Read more.

DARYL G. KIMBALL
Do you agree with other world leaders that the use of—or threat to use—nuclear weapons is “inadmissible”?

Daryl Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association, suggests four questions about the use of nuclear weapons, US-Russia arms control, and Iran that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates. Read more.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
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“As long as one or two organisms survive, there will always be life. I’m not concerned about that [...] My concern is what human life looks like. What it means to survive.”

— Emily Judd, climate researcher at the University of Arizona and the Smithsonian, “Scientists have captured Earth’s climate over the last 485 million years. Here’s the surprising place we stand now,” The Washington Post

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