Today on Planet Erstwild, James will feature a talk given just last night at MIT by Joseph Cirincione, compliments of David Goodman of the Independent Broadcast Information Service. Cirincione describes why some nations have nukes and others do not and what can be done to impede or stop proliferation.

Following the talk, James will be joined by BBC filmmaker Stuart Tanner to discuss the issues raised and other current events.

Joseph Cirincione is Senior Vice President for National Security and International Policy. Prior to joining the Center for American Progress in May 2006, he served as director for nonproliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace for eight years.

He is the author of Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons (Columbia University Press, Spring 2007), Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Threats (Second Edition, 2005), and co-author of Universal Compliance: A Strategy for Nuclear Security (March 2005). He teaches at the graduate School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Mr. Cirincione worked for nine years in the U.S. House of Representatives on the professional staff of the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Government Operations, and served as staff director of the Military Reform Caucus. He is the author of numerous articles on nuclear weapons issues, the producer of two DVDs on proliferation, and is a frequent commentator on these issues in the media. He has held positions at the Henry L. Stimson Center, the U.S. Information Agency, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He is an honors graduate of Boston College and holds a Masters of Science with highest honors from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service.