Recent and upcoming nonproliferation activities, events, and announcements involving the CNS center, staff, and programs.

Updated: May 24, 2011

Center for Nonproliferation Studies Launches WMD Junction

MONTEREY, CA; WASHINGTON, DC; VIENNA AUSTRIA—The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) is pleased to announce the launching a new online publication, WMD Junction, for short-form articles (750-1,500 words) and short videos (3-6 minutes) dedicated to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) nonproliferation issues and developments. The first issue of WMD Junction is now available.

The publication, produced under the aegis of the CNS journal The Nonproliferation Review, and edited by Stephen Schwartz and Catherine Auer, is designed to bridge the gap between informal blogs and formal academic journals. In particular, WMD Junction hopes to provide a respected outlet for timely and thoughtful commentary and reports from a wide range of perspectives that cannot await the publication cycles of the peer-reviewed journals. Reader comments are encouraged and can be posted online. Although WMD Junction will not accept unsolicited submissions, inquiries are always welcome.

"We are very excited about this new initiative," said Schwartz. "Given the limited opportunities for publishing quick-turnaround, short-form articles on crucial and timely nonproliferation issues, we believe WMD Junction will fill a critical need and make an important contribution to the nonproliferation community, as well as to the broader public."

WMD Junction will feature articles by nonproliferation specialists from around the world, such as the current lead article by Jean Pascal Zanders of the EU Institute of Strategic Studies on the unfounded fears that Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi could use chemical weapons against his own people.

With so much scholarly activity today coming in the form of briefings and visual presentations, WMD Junction also hopes to provide an outlet for condensed versions of such contributions, in the form of short videos. Leonard Spector, director of the CNS Washington, DC, office, has condensed a recent presentation on mapping the nonproliferation landscape into a two-part video, with part one appearing in the current issue. Short videos may also feature timely interviews of key nonproliferation diplomats and specialists on breaking developments.

Lengthier analytic pieces produced by CNS will continue to be published on the CNS website and as Articles on the Nuclear Threat Initiative website; full-length videos of many CNS events and presentations by CNS staff will continue to be made available on NukeTube.

New articles will be posted to WMD Junction on a regular basis. The first several editions will be promoted widely; thereafter, notifications of new articles will be sent to readers who opt to receive this important new online resource. Readers are also encouraged to bookmark the site and visit it several times a month.