event

The Legality of Nuclear Deterrence

Mon. July 15th, 2019
Washington, DC

A video of this event is available on CSPAN. 

The legality of nuclear weapons, nuclear war, and nuclear deterrence have been much debated over the years and a 1996 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice did little to settle the issue. What if the ICJ were to take up the issue again? Would the result be any different, especially in light of the negotiation of the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons? Please join us for a discussion of these issues. Our speaker will be Newell Highsmith, who supervised the Arms Control and Nonproliferation section of the Legal Office at the Department of State from 2001 to 2017. He will summarize the main lines of argument and conclusions from a new monograph on the subject, produced by the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

George Perkovich, a Carnegie vice president for studies and co-editor of Abolishing Nuclear Weapons: A Debate will respond to Highsmith’s presentation and facilitate subsequent discussion with the audience.

Newell Highsmith

Newell Highsmith served for thirty years as an attorney at the U.S. Department of State, with primary responsibility for legal issues related to arms control and the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missiles.

George Perkovich

George Perkovich is the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Chair and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, overseeing the Technology and International Affairs Program and Nuclear Policy Program.

Nuclear PolicyArms Control
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Newell Highsmith

Newell Highsmith served in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State for thirty years prior to his retirement in 2017. He was responsible for legal issues related to nuclear nonproliferation for twenty-eight years as a staff attorney, assistant legal adviser, and deputy legal adviser. He worked directly on numerous sanctions cases, including the sanctions imposed on India and Pakistan after their nuclear tests in 1998. This article expresses his views and not those of the United States government.

George Perkovich

Japan Chair for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, Vice President for Studies

George Perkovich is the Japan chair for a world without nuclear weapons and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, overseeing the Nuclear Policy Program and the Technology and International Affairs Program. He works primarily on nuclear strategy and nonproliferation issues, and security dilemmas among the United States, its allies, and their nuclear-armed adversaries.