Bruce G. Blair
Bruce Gentry Blair (November 16, 1947 – July 19, 2020) was an American nuclear security expert, research scholar, national security expert, the author of articles and books on nuclear topics, and a television show producer.
Education and background
Blair was born in
Prior to his position at Princeton, Blair was the president of the
Career
Blair was a nuclear security expert and a research scholar at the Program on Science and Global Security at
Blair was an expert on United States and Russian security policies, specializing in
Blair's expertise helped make nuclear and global affairs issues accessible to the public in various media outlets. He was an
He published the Washington ProFile (Russian), Washington Observer (Chinese), Washington Prism (Persian), Taqrir Washington (Arabic) and China Security.
He was the author of numerous books and articles on security issues in such publications as
Forcing the military to implement McNamara's "Permissive Action Links"
In 2002 Blair said he had told former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (1961-1968) the previous month that the secret codes (called "Permissive Action Links”) required to launch Minuteman missiles had all been set to OOOOOOOO. McNamara was shocked, because the top military leaders had assured him that those secret codes had been installed. In fact, the hardware had been installed. However, the secret codes had all been set to OOOOOOOO. Blair knew this, because one of his jobs while in the U.S. Air Force 1970 to 1974 had been as a Minuteman ICBM launch control officer. After he left the military, he began lobbying first the Department of Defense and then the U.S. Congress to change those codes to something different. They were officially "activated" in 1977. In discussing this, Blair concluded, "It is hard to know where to begin, and end, in recounting stories like this one that reveal how misinformed, misled, and misguided on critical nuclear matters our top leaders have been throughout the nuclear age."[25] For more, see Blair's other publications.[26]
Death
Blair died in Philadelphia after a stroke on July 19, 2020.[1][27]
Books
- Bruce G. Blair (1979). Progress in Arms Control? Selected Readings from Scientific American. San Francisco: Freeman.
- Bruce G. Blair (1985). Strategic Command and Control: Redefining the Nuclear Threat. Washington, D.C.: Brookings.
- Bruce G. Blair; Condoleezza Rice, eds. (1987). Crisis Stability and Nuclear War. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University.
- Bruce G. Blair; Kurt Gottfried, eds. (1988). Crisis Stability and Nuclear War. Oxford.
- Bruce G. Blair (1993). The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War. Washington, D.C.: Brookings. ISBN 9780815709848.
- Bruce G. Blair (1995). Global Zero Alert for Nuclear Forces. Washington, D.C.: Brookings. ISBN 9780815709411.
Publications
- "Can Disarmament Work?", Foreign Affairs, co-authored with Matt Brown and Richard Burt, Josef Joff and James W. Davis, July/August 2011.
- One Hundred Nuclear Wars: Stable Deterrence between the United States and Russia at Reduced Nuclear Force Levels Off Alert in the Presence of Limited Missile Defenses, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, co-authored with Victor Esin, Matthew McKinzie, Valery Yarynich and Pavel Zolotarev, August 9, 2011.
- "Bombs Away", The New York Times, co-authored with Damon Bosetti and Brian Weeden, December 6, 2010.
- "Could Terrorists Launch America's Nuclear Missiles?", Time, November 11, 2010.
- "Smaller and Safer: A New Plan For Nuclear Postures", Foreign Affairs, co-authored with Victor Esin, Matthew McKinzie, Valery Yarynich and Pavel Zolotarev, September/October 2010.
- "De-Alerting Strategic Forces", in Reykjavik Revisited: Steps Toward a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, George P. Shultz, Sidney D. Drell, and James E. Goodby, eds., (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2008).
- "Increasing warning and decision time ('De-Alerting')", (International Conference, Achieving the Vision of a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, Oslo, February 26–27, 2008).
- "A Rebuttal of the U.S. Statement on the Alert Status of U.S. Nuclear Forces", Bruce Blair's Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, November 6, 2007.
- "Primed and Ready", Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January/February 2007.
- "The Fallacy of Nuclear Primacy", China Security, co-authored with Chen Yali (Washington, D.C.: World Security Institute), Autumn 2006.
- "The Oil Weapon: Myth of China's Vulnerability", China Security, co-authored with Chen Yali and Eric Hagt (Washington, D.C.: World Security Institute, Summer 2006).
- "Editors' Notes: The Space Security Dilemma", China Security, co-authored with Chen Yali (Washington, D.C: World Security Institute, Issue No. 2 (2006).
- "General Zhu and Chinese Nuclear Preemption", China Security (Washington, D.C: World Security Institute, Issue No. 1(2005).
- "Iran and the Rogues: America's Nuclear Obsession," Bruce Blair's Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, September 19, 2005.
- "The Wrong Deterrence: The Threat of Loose Nukes Is One of Our Own Making", The Washington Post, September 19, 2004.
- "The Logic of Intelligence Failure," Forum on Physics and Society, American Physical Society, April 2004. (Also presented at the 10th International Castiglioncello Conference: "Unilateral Actions and Military Interventions: The Future of Nonproliferation," April 1, 2004.)
- "Keeping Presidents in the Nuclear Dark (Episode #2: The SIOP Option that Wasn't)", Bruce Blair's Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, February 17, 2004.
- "Keeping Presidents in the Nuclear Dark (Episode #1: The Case of the Missing Permissive Action Links)," Bruce Blair's Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, February 11, 2004.
- "Rogue States: Nuclear Red-Herrings," Bruce Blair's Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, December 5, 2003.
- "We Keep Building Nukes for All the Wrong Reasons", The Washington Post, May 25, 2003.
- "Nuclear Recollections", The Defense Monitor, April/May 2003.
- "The Folly of Nuclear War-Gaming for Korea and South Asia", Bruce Blair's Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, April 30, 2003.
- "Hair-Trigger Missiles Risk Catastrophic Nuclear Terrorism", Bruce Blair's Nuclear Column, Center for Defense Information, April 29, 2003.
- "Nuclear Time Warp", The Defense Monitor, May 2002.
- "The Ultimate Hatred is Nuclear", The New York Times, October 22, 2001.
- "Nukes: A Lesson from Russia", The Washington Post, July 11, 2001.
- Toward True Security: Ten Steps The Next President Should Take to Transform U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, with Richard L. Garwin, Frank von Hippel, et al. (Cambridge, MA: UCS Publications, February 2008).
- Toward True Security: A U.S. Nuclear Posture for the Decade, with Richard L. Garwin, Frank von Hippel, and others (Cambridge, MA: UCS Publications, June 2001).
- "Trapped in the Nuclear Math", The New York Times, June 13, 2000.
- "A Longer Nuclear Fuse", with Frank von Hippel, The Washington Post, June 6, 2000.
- "Some Sensible Options for U.S. Missile Defense", Moscow Times, June 3, 2000.
- "Russia's Aging War Machine: Economic Weakness and the Nuclear Threat", co-authored with Cliff Gaddy, The Brookings Review, June 22, 1999.
- The Nuclear Turning Point: A Blueprint for Deep Cuts and De-alerting of Nuclear Weapons, co-authored with Harold Feiveson, ed., Frank von Hippel, and others (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1999).
- "Loose Cannon", National Interest, Summer 1998.
- "The Plight of the Russian Military and Nuclear Control", in Report of the Commission To Assess The Ballistic Missile Threat To The United States, July 15, 1998.
- "From Nuclear Deterrence to Mutual Safety", with Sam Nunn, The Washington Post, June 22, 1997.
- "Accidental Nuclear War – A Post-Cold War Assessment", with L. Farrow and others, New England Journal of Medicine, April 30, 1998.
- "Redoubling Nuclear Weapons Reduction", with Harold Feiveson and Frank von Hippel, The Washington Post, November 12, 1997.
- "Dismantle Armageddon", with Henry W. Kendall, The New York Times, May 21, 1994.
- "Russia's Doomsday Machine", The New York Times, October 8, 1993.
- "Lighten Up on Ukraine", The New York Times, June 1, 1993.
References
- ^ a b Roberts, Sam (July 24, 2020). "Bruce Blair, Crusader for Nuclear Arms Control, Dies at 72". The New York Times. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- ^ "Bruce G. Blair". Princeton University. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
- ^ a b "World Security Institute: About Us". Archived from the original on June 25, 2012. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
- ^ "Interview - Bruce Blair". PBS Frontline. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ^ "More Missteps: Air Force official in charge of nukes left open blast door, sources say". Fox News. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ^ Gordon, Michael R. (1986-05-15). "Tug of War, With a Twist, On Secrets". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ^ Hoffman, David (2009). The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy. Random House LLC. pp. 365–66.
- ^ "VIAF: Bruce Blair". Retrieved 2013-12-09.
- ^ "Bruce G. Blair". Princeton University.
- ^ "Dr. Bruce Blair". Global Zero. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 20 Dec 2013.
- ^ Mintz, Morton (5 Dec 2002). "Hair-Raising Hair Triggers". The American Prospect. Retrieved 19 Dec 2013.
- ^ "Statement of Bruce Blair to the House National Security Subcommittee". 13 March 1997. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ^ "Testimony to the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces" (PDF). 19 March 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
- ^ Lynch, Colum (1 November 2007). "U.S. Official is Faulted for Nuclear Weapons Claim". The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ISBN 0805059601.
- ^ Broad, William J. (8 October 1993). "Russia Has 'Doomsday' Machine, U.S. Expert Says". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
- ^ "ISAB: Current Board Members". The Office of Web Management, Bureau of Public Affairs. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
- ^ "Brookings Senior Fellow Bruce Blair Wins 'No Strings Attached' MacArthur Award". Brookings Institution. 23 June 1999. Retrieved 19 Dec 2013.
- ^ "Bruce Blair - IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved 19 Dec 2013.
- ^ "Countdown to Zero" (PDF) (Press release). dogwoof. 2010. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
- ^ "Bruce Blair Biography". All American Speakers. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
- ^ "Deadlock: Russia's Forgotten War". CNN. 2005. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
- ^ "Missile Wars". Frontline: PBS. 10 October 2002. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
- ^ "Brookings Senior Fellow Bruce Blair Wins "No Strings Attached" MacArthur Award" (23 June 1999). Brookings Institution. 30 November 2001. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- Wikidata Q111619559.
- Wikidata Q111619228
- ^ "Global Zero Mourns the Loss of Dr. Bruce Blair". Global Zero. 2020-07-20. Retrieved 2020-07-20.