Planning for Success at the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit

If a major nuclear security incident happens, no one can say we were not warned. Over the last two decades, there have been repeated breakdowns in our ability to protect weapons-grade highly enriched uranium and plutonium despite enormous efforts and genuine accomplishments.

The threat of nuclear terrorism remains urgent and real. Ambition is essential. And complacency will doom us to failure, writes William Tobey, a senior fellow at Harvard University and a former deputy administrator at the US National Nuclear Security Administration.

In a detailed analysis published on Monday, Tobey argues that world leaders need to act boldly at the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit in 2014 and offers detailed recommendations to ensure the process results in effective and sustainable improvements to the current system.