Some books are solitary journeys; this one was a collective enterprise from start to finish. Anne Routon, senior editor at Columbia University Press, made possible the production and publication of my first book, Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons. Her faith in me and her persistence also yielded this second book, though several years after she initially suggested I write it. Rebecca Remy, my special assistant at Ploughshares Fund, did an amazing job of managing the production of this work, organizing, cajoling, correcting, and encouraging me every step of the way.
I could not have written this book without the dedicated support of several gifted researchers. Benjamin Loehrke, our senior analyst at Ploughshares Fund, helped draft the very first chapter of this book several years ago then looked on in bemusement as I postponed again and again the writing of the other chapters. His patient research underpins the analysis in chapter 6 on budgets and the original article in the Brown Journal of World Affairs upon which it is based.
Mary Kaszynski, now with ReThink Media, worked as my research intern for many months and proved absolutely brilliant at budgets and the arcana of nuclear weapons policy. Leah Fae Cochran followed ably in Mary’s footsteps and drafted major sections in this book, particularly on Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea. Marianne Fisher helped bring the book into the final lap, and Alyssa Demus, with her keen eye and intellect, was absolutely essential to carrying us over the finish line. I must also thank Rizwan Ladha for his excellent research on Pakistan during his summer internship. I am also grateful to all the publishers who gave me permission to adapt for this book chapters and articles I wrote originally for them.
During this entire, lengthy process, I am very grateful for the support and understanding of my colleagues at Ploughshares Fund. They did not choose me to be their president so that I could write books. But I never doubted that the foundation could spare my weeks of diverted attention as long as we had Philip Yun smoothly steering us as our executive director and chief operating officer, Samara Dun sustaining us as our development director, Paul Carroll judiciously guiding our grants as our program director, Joel Rubin masterfully maneuvering us through the Washington currents as our policy and government affairs director, Margaret Swink ensuring we effectively deliver our message as our communications director, and Cathy Kalin making sure the ship is water tight as our operations director. They, with Lorely Bunoan, Peter Fedewa, and Elizabeth Rogers, form the most effective, innovative, smoothly running operation I have ever had the privilege to join. I thank the board of directors, led by our indefatigable previous chairman, Roger Hale, and our dynamic current chairwoman, Mary Estrin, for its support and encouragement and our generous donors, without whom none of our work would be possible, including this book. Finally, I must thank our program officer, Kelly Bronk, who started helping me with this book four years ago when I hired her to be my assistant and to this day does not believe that I will ever finish it.
While I am honored to serve on the International Security Advisory Board to the secretary of state, the views I express in this book and elsewhere are mine alone and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Department of State or of the U.S. government.
Books and jobs come and go, but my family is my rock. I have an amazing wife, Priscilla Labovitz, and two grown and incredibly talented children, Amy and Peter Cirincione, and now a son-in-law, Jon O’Conner. I am not sure if they will read any of this book beyond this page, or have read any of my other books, but their love sustains me, their humor lifts me, and a great deal of what I do, I do for them and their futures.