At the Brink
18 episodes - English - Latest episode: 29 days ago - ★★★★★ - 201 ratingsA podcast about the dangers we face from nuclear weapons, and the stories of those who are fighting to protect us.
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Episodes
Scaling the Mountain: The Quest for a Nuclear-free World
April 09, 2024 11:00 - 53 minutesAt the start of the 21st century, several groups began efforts aiming not just to control nuclear weapons but to eliminate them altogether. The so-called Gang of Four, William Perry, George Shultz, Sam Nunn and Henry Kissinger, wrote numerous powerful op-eds, urging us to work towards a world without nuclear weapons. Bruce Blair turned from academics to founding Global Zero, dedicated to the same goal. And a coalition of activist groups formed the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Wea...
Nuclear Freeze: A Walk in the Park
March 05, 2024 12:00 - 47 minutesAgainst the backdrop of heightened Cold War anxieties, the 1980s bore witness to a remarkable phenomenon: the Nuclear Freeze protest movement. From bustling city streets to rural communities, voices united in defiance against the specter of nuclear proliferation. This groundswell of grassroots activism would pressure policymakers and trigger unprecedented advances in arms control, ultimately reshaping the trajectory of the Cold War.
Marshall Islands: Paradise Interrupted
December 05, 2023 12:00 - 49 minutesFrom 1946 through 1958, the US detonated 67 nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands, with an explosive force equal to 1.6 Hiroshima bombs every day for 10 years. The Marshallese are still dealing with the consequences to this day. Lingering radiation has caused numerous health problems and wiped out much of the traditional lifestyle of fishing and farming, leading to a dependence on unhealthy imported food and an epidemic of obesity and diabetes. Many Marshallese emigrated to America, where ...
Atomic Veterans: Training for the Final War
August 29, 2023 18:10 - 55 minutesDuring the era of atmospheric nuclear testing, hundreds of thousands of American servicemen were made to participate in nuclear tests to prepare for fighting an atomic war. Thousands more were exposed to deadly radiation while cleaning up after nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands. These men were prevented from talking about their experiences for decades after, even to their doctor.
Downwinders Part 2: Fatal Harvest
August 08, 2023 11:00 - 47 minutesIn this episode, we look at the long-term impact of nuclear testing on the American citizens it was supposed to protect, and the efforts of victims to fight for recognition and compensation.
Downwinders Part 1: The Ultimate Patriots
July 25, 2023 10:00 - 50 minutesIn the race to develop the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer's Trinity test inadvertently exposed thousands of unsuspecting American citizens to toxic radioactive fallout. This test marked the beginning of a decade-long, top-secret campaign of above-ground nuclear testing in the United States. Delve into the firsthand accounts of Downwinders, the earliest casualties of the atomic age. (Part 1 of 2)
Introducing Season 2
July 18, 2023 11:00 - 3 minutesWith the Trinity Test, J. Robert Oppenheimer ushered in the atomic age, and a decade-long campaign of U.S. atmospheric nuclear testing. In Season 2 of AT THE BRINK, discover the hidden history and the human fallout of the development of the atomic bomb, as told by those who lived through it. Launching July 25th.
From Hope to Hostility: US Relations With Putin's Russia [Special Episode]
April 13, 2022 20:00 - 24 minutesWhen the Cold War ended in 1992, there was great hope for the newly formed Russian Federation. But following a series of major economic problems, and missteps by the West, an obscure ex-KGB agent named Vladimir Putin began to turn the nation in a different direction. In this episode, former US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, and former US Secretary of Defense, William Perry talk about their insider experiences with the Russian government through the 1990s and the 2000s, and try to make ...
Did Ukraine Make a Mistake Giving Up Nuclear Weapons? [Special Episode]
March 30, 2022 09:00 - 37 minutesIn the 90s, Ukraine made the decision to dismantle the thousands of former Soviet nuclear weapons left on its territory. Nearly 3 decades later, Russia has invaded Ukraine using their own nuclear arsenal to bully other nations from interceding. In this special episode of AT THE BRINK, we explore whether Ukrainian denuclearization was a fateful mistake, and if a nuclear Ukraine could have prevented the Russian invasion.
Hibakusha: Survivors of the Bomb
October 27, 2020 09:00 - 54 minutesIn this episode, we hear the wrenching stories of two survivors of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima. These two women, known as “Hibakusha” or “explosion affected persons”, both suffered injury and radiation sickness, but unlike the more than 200,000 who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, survived to bear witness to the horrors of nuclear weapons. One, Setsuko Thurlow, culminated a life-long effort at nuclear awareness and activism, when she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for ICAN, alo...
Ask the Brink: A quick update
September 23, 2020 09:00 - 2 minutesDear listener, We wanted to pause in the midst of this series and share our heartfelt thanks with you. This is an important, timely topic, and your engagement and interest is giving us real hope. You have the power to create change and make this world a better, safer place. We also want to extend an important invitation to you! As you’ve been listening to At the Brink, what are some of the questions about nuclear history, policy, protocols, or disarmament that have crossed your mind? Send t...
Fire and Fury in the Hermit Kingdom: North Korea’s Nuclear Program
September 10, 2020 09:00 - 45 minutesThe history of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions has see-sawed between crisis and hope. Bill Perry tells how close we came to war in 1994, and he and Philip Yun tell their story of negotiating directly with North Korea in the 1999 crisis. But their hopes were dashed as the deal they crafted was rejected by the new Bush administration. Dr. Siegfried Hecker describes his historic trips during the early 2000s to view the North Korean nuclear program up close, and Dr. Jeffrey Lewis describes what w...
The Iran Deal: Blocking a Persian Bomb
August 26, 2020 09:00 - 48 minutesWas the Iran nuclear deal really “the worst deal ever negotiated”, as Donald Trump claimed? We’ll hear from Ambassador Wendy Sherman, the lead U.S. negotiator, former Obama advisor Ben Rhodes, Iranian diplomat Seyed Mousavian, and others in U.S. politics and diplomacy who supported the deal, explain what the deal actually did, why Trump was wrong, and what might happen now that the United States has walked away from it.
Project Sapphire: A Secret Mission to Thwart Nuclear Terrorism
August 12, 2020 09:00 - 45 minutesIn 1994, Andy Weber was serving at the U.S. embassy in Kazakhstan when his auto mechanic asked if he wanted to buy some uranium. This was the beginning of a story straight out of spy novels, as the U.S. executed a complicated plan to smuggle out over 600 kg of bomb-grade uranium, to avoid its seizure by terrorists bent on creating their own nuclear weapon. We learn how devastating such a result would have been, and how Andy and the team at the Pentagon implemented this daring scheme to preven...
Modernizing Doomsday: The True Cost of Our Nuclear Arsenal
July 29, 2020 09:00 - 44 minutesIn January 2020, the Doomsday Clock was set at 100 seconds to midnight, telling us that the world is the closest to catastrophe it has ever been during the nuclear age. A big reason is that both the U.S. and Russia are embarking upon an unprecedented expansion of nuclear arsenals, which will cost American taxpayers upwards of two trillion dollars, under the misleading heading of “modernization.” Learn about what is being planned, and why it is decreasing our security, not enhancing it.
Loose Nukes: A Nuclear Success Story
July 15, 2020 09:00 - 43 minutesMost Americans cheered when the Soviet Union broke apart into 15 independent countries in 1991, but a few had a sobering concern: the break-up created three new nuclear states overnight: Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. They had no resources or infrastructure to deal with their inherited nuclear weapons and fissile material, and security was woefully inadequate. Listen to the remarkable story of how a group of dedicated individuals conceived and implemented the Nunn-Lugar program, which remov...
The Biscuit and the Football: Presidential Nuclear Authority
July 02, 2020 08:00 - 35 minutesIs there anything more quintessentially American that naming the briefcase that the President uses to authorize a nuclear attack, “the football”? The authority to single-handedly decide the fate of the world with a deadly weapon is possibly one of the most important responsibilities to understand about the President’s role. In this episode, we unpack the history of this power, how it came to be, and what it is like to carry the weight of that decision according to Bill Clinton. We further dis...
Seek Immediate Shelter: Nuclear False Alarms
July 01, 2020 08:00 - 32 minutesThere is an urgent, specific danger facing our world today: nuclear weapons. In our first episode, producer and filmmaker Cynthia Lazaroff recounts the 40 minutes of terror she experienced during Hawaii’s nuclear missile false alarm in 2018. We also explore the history of nuclear false alarms with former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry, historian Taylor Downing, and writer Peter Anthony. Understanding why we are still at risk for these false alarms that could potentially trigger World War III...