The dangers of nuclear catastrophe are still very real, according to Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) president and COO Joan Rohfing, and at a recent event at the University of Pennsylvania, she urged new ideas, new thinkers and new funding to address it.
The working theory of nuclear deterrence has been in place for nearly 80 years, and Rohlfing indicated it was time for new strategies. Young, fresh-faced thinkers are needed in the field, in her view, and governments need to help raise public awareness to give them the funding to operate.
Funding is at the heart of current issues. Its threat is existential, as Rohlfing noted that funding from the entire civil-society community for nuclear issues is, at best, $50 million per year. Funding for solutions to another threat – climate change – reach approximately $9 billion per year. For another contrast, the COO turned to sports giant Nike, which has an advertising budget alone of more than $3 billion annually.
For a danger that could end mankind, it seems a respectively low figure.
“This is really small compared to the nature of the challenge,” Rohlfing said. “It’s ironic and sad that, as the threat is growing, our capacity to manage it has been shrinking.”
In more immediate concerns, Rohlfing praised the leadership of the International Atomic Energy Agency as it deals with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while opining of the dangers Russia’s Vladimir Putin poses in terms of nuclear weapons usage.
“I worry very much about intentional use in the context of Ukraine, but I worry equally as much about a mistake, an accident, a technology failure, a misperception by a leader or a combination of leaders that leads to nuclear use,” Rohlfing said.
Currently, nine states are known to possess nuclear weapons, and decade after decade, those weapons only get more powerful and lethal. With war raging in Europe, risks of nuclear terrorism and ever increasing competition and spats between the U.S. and China, Rohlfing didn’t mince words. She declared this to be one of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous moment, of the nuclear age.