As Oppenheimer reminds us, the bomb itself was the creation of a relatively small number of geniuses assigned to the New Mexico desert in the waning days of World War II. This summer, as the public is treated to a rare thriller about the development of the atomic bomb in director Christopher Nolan’s biopic Oppenheimer, the nation’s leading nuclear policy wonks like Geist are more concerned than ever about the specter of a nuclear war - and warn that we are far less prepared than during the Cold War to deal with a more expansive threat. “During the Cold War, a lot of people learned on the job, so a lot of it isn’t written down anywhere - or at least isn’t easily accessible.” “Part of it is just trying to get people up to speed,” explained Geist, 39. He cited a backlog of requests from military commanders and Pentagon policy chiefs for advice on how to contend with a resurgent nuclear threat from Russia, China’s massive nuclear buildup and the increasingly likely prospect that more outlaw states like Iran will soon have the bomb.
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