A New Era for Nuclear Security

Nuclear security is one of the most important issues of modern times, as the 2016 nuclear security summit in Washington showed (Malin & Roth, 2016). As Malin and Roth (2016) note, the international community has embarked on a possibly dangerous post-summit era, “in which nuclear security will probably receive less-regular high-level political attention than it has in recent years.” This means there is likely to be less cooperation, less communication, and less sharing of important information that nations can use to help develop a world in which nuclear security is a top issue. After all, according to Malin and Roth (2016), “there is still critical work to be done to reduce the danger that nuclear weapons or the materials needed to make them could end up in the hands of a terrorist organization such as the Islamic State.” One of the purposes of nuclear security is “to protect people, property, society and the environment from harmful effects of ionizing radiation” (International Atomic Energy Agency, 2018). Cyber threats are a new issue to emerge in the field of nuclear security and for good reason: they represent an existential threat for the whole of the planet should nuclear weapons or technology be hacked by cyber terrorists. This paper will discuss the new era for nuclear security and what it means for the nations of the world going forward.

One of the biggest breakthroughs of the 2016 summit in Washington, D.C., was the agreement among the nations to support “a foundational and legally binding international nuclear security instrument” (Malin & Roth, 2016). This instrument would ensure that nuclear security principles, rules and regulations are put in place among all the signing nations. This support has been a long time coming: “after more than a decade, the 2005 amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) reached the required number of ratifications to enter into force in May,” as Malin and Roth (2016) observe. The Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and Nuclear Facilities, as the breakthrough amendment is now known, “could be a helpful tool for states to hold one another accountable for maintaining physical protection and strengthening norms” (Malin & Roth, 2016). In other words, it would provide the nations invested in nuclear security with a means of ensuring that all nations are adhering to the principles and regulations that will ensure security—and if they are not there will be ramifications and punishments. This is a big step forward for nuclear security.
However, there is still no universal standard for nuclear security, which means that countries like Russia and Pakistan are still not being held to any standard, even though other countries, such as China and India have agreed to adhere to a standard should it finally be developed. Additionally, technology remains a troublesome point, which is problematic since the Digital Age is here and information is stored in the cloud, where the potential risk of hacking is a present and going concern. New cyber technology has been developed that can allow foreign agencies to spy, snoop, monitor, and retrieve information that is maintained in hard drives or servers. The Digital Age has effectively transformed the way the world works today, which means yesterday’s solutions are no longer effective for dealing with today’s problems and challenges. Today’s laws must be updated to address the needs and concerns of people and nations in cyberspace, the U.S. no more or less than any other country.
One of the most problematic characteristics of the digital cyber space today is that the space is essentially considered a battlefield by intelligence communities and they themselves are trying to collect as much data as possible (Best, 2007). Thus in order for nuclear security to be adequately addressed the concerns of digital technology and cyber security also have to be addressed.
Ultimately success in terms of nuclear security will mean a much more protected and secure nation for all nations. It will mean a peace based on a universal understanding of what is expected of every country and a way to enforce that standard. Nuclear countries can no longer afford to risk having their nuclear weapons or technology fall into the wrong hands. They must have more secure cyber space and digital protections—a grid that is not weakened to the point where a situation like that in Venezuela right now could happen (Ten, Manimaran & Liu, 2010). The Latin American state has been suffering a severe black out period as its infrastructure has broken down and power outages have put the nation into darkness. If the nations of the world do not secure their nuclear technology with effective cyber systems, this could be every nation’s future, too. Thus, for all nuclear nations the importance of addressing cyber security issues along with nuclear security issues cannot be overstated. These issues moreover should be tested and validated by all nations as they work together to achieve security for one and all. Essentially this means that every nation will have to be working in agreement with one another, which means that on a political level a multipolar world is required so that nations can maintain the digital infrastructure that is used to protect their nuclear technology, their information, power grids, machines, and weapons. Success will be a group of nuclear powers that can withstand, monitor, and counter any threat from a rogue operator to its digital or nuclear infrastructure and make enemies think twice about attempting such an attack (Ten et al., 2010).
Machines are using algorithms and AI now to make them faster, more efficient and less dependent upon human operation—yet those machines are only as safe as the people who design them, and there has to be constant upkeep and updating so that new developments in cyber warfare do not make them and the all nuclear powers vulnerable. Cyber security is a field that must be constantly growing and assessing the latest threats all the time, especially alongside nuclear security.
And while a “legally binding set of international standards for nuclear security is unfortunately out of reach for the present,” there is hope among the nuclear powers of the world that such a standard may be reached because there are far too many going concerns, potential risks and threats and possible negative outcomes that could result should such a standard not be reached in the near future (Malin & Roth, 2016). The tension between the U.S. and Russia over the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which is set to be terminated this year, is an example of just how serious and out of hand the situation can get when nations do not agree to work together.
Thus, the new era of nuclear security demands that the nuclear powers come together as one body to hash out their differences and engage in respectful, trusting dialogue so that a security standard and a means of overseeing adherence can be developed. The nuclear nations of the world today are too powerful and too dangerous not to engage in such a dialogue. The sooner the standard is achieved, the sooner the threat of nuclear war, nuclear theft, or nuclear destruction can be put behind all nations. Nuclear power is something that can advance the world further into the future in a positive manner, but it requires the mutual agreement of nations working together in a multipolar world.
References
Best, R. (2007). Open Source Intelligence (OSINT): Issues for Congress. Washington,
DC.
International Atomic Energy Agency. (2018). Nuclear security series. Retrieved from
https://www.iaea.org/resources/nuclear-security-series
Malin, M. & Roth, N. (2016). A new era for nuclear security. Retrieved from
https://www.armscontrol.org/TAXONOMY/TERM/69
Ten, C. W., Manimaran, G., & Liu, C. C. (2010). Cybersecurity for critical
infrastructures: Attack and defense modeling. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics-Part A: Systems and Humans, 40(4), 853-865.