Nuclear security

Summits end; nonproliferation challenges don't

In late March, just as representatives to the final Nuclear Security Summit were converging on Washington, Donald Trump was revealing to The New York Times his cavalier and irresponsible attitudes toward nuclear proliferation. Just last week, Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee for president. So perhaps now more than ever, it's important to impress on both publics and governments the indispensability of concrete nonproliferation action.

My roundtable colleagues Hubert Foy and Nilsu Goren don't agree with me that the Nuclear Security Summits should continue at the head-of-state level, but we all agree that the summits, as action-forcing events, have focused attention on key nonproliferation issues. Whether the summits continue or not, focusing attention on nonproliferation—and disarmament—will remain a perennial challenge.