Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety

Since the dawn of the nuclear age, a dilemma has been left unresolved. How can we possess and deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? 

In his book Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, Eric Schlosser casts light on the largely hidden world of America’s atomic arsenal, combining the thrilling, unsettling accounts of real-life nuclear accidents and near-misses with the stories of the officers, scientists, and policymakers who have devoted their lives to averting a nuclear holocaust—and in the process raises grave doubts about how much control we actually have.

Even after years of scientific breakthroughs, Schlosser shows, human fallibility and technological complexity still pose risks, with horrific consequences, that have largely eluded national debate.

So the question remains—have we, as Americans, made a mistake when we stopped worrying and learned to love the bomb?

Please join the New America Foundation for a conversation with Eric Schlosser, moderated by New America Fellow J. Peter Scoblic.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase.                                                               

Participants

Eric Schlosser
Author, Command and Control

Moderator
J. Peter Scoblic
Fellow, New America Foundation
Executive Editor, Foreign Policy