Steven Aoki

Retired civil servant, worked on nuclear proliferation and terrorism. Still here, but also at the other apps

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

@ArmsControlWonk Nicely put from both of you

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

@curiouswavefn E. M. Purcell, Life at low Reynolds number; Hans Bethe’s explanation f the Lamb shift

[NNSA @NNSANews]

.@LosAlamosNatLab’s Off-site Source Recovery Program has been retrieving #radioactive sources for more than 20 years, collecting and securing more than 40,000 unwanted or disused “hot” objects from all 50 states and 26 countries. https://t.co/wSlbqfZ2ZG

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

@JBWolfsthal @nukestrat @mattkorda Great news! Right guy, right place.

[Mark Fitzpatrick @MarkTFitz]

When Western-based researchers interact with Iranian officials, both sides naturally seek to understand and to influence the other. Twisting such conversations to imply collusion is a form of McCarthyism.

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

@JBWolfsthal Must have been a precocious fourth grader.

[Zena Hitz @zenahitz]

I think the WVU situation is actually much more serious than we think. I would like to articulate this, because (as others say) it is of national and international import, bearing on upcoming changes at Florida by @BenSasse and in the UK. (1/x)

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

Perhaps some of this could translate into a follow-on meeting hosted at one of the usual Washington venues (anywhere but Twitter Spaces) to come up with actionable recommendations directed at potential funders and long-term sponsors.

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

Greatly appreciated yesterday’s discussion on maintaining nuclear expertise hosted by @JBWofsthal, @BrianDBender, and @AmyWoolf8. Agree that this deserves more attention. Just when nuclear linkages are popping up around the globe, our knowledge base may be hollowed out.

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

There’s also hard-won experience that should be passed on - how to construct inspections, confidence-building exercises, or cooperative threat reduction activities - as well as nuts-and-bolts knowledge of nuclear weapons technologies, effects, and signatures.

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

@JBWolfsthal @russianforces Indians have such fond memories of the last time they bought a nuclear reactor from the US.

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

@JBWolfsthal Great discussion touching succinctly on deterrence credibility, nonproliferation, ROK politics and public perception, and follow-up agenda. Do another one!

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

@philipcball @dschwa8059 Looking forward to reading your new book - currently greatly enjoying one of your older ones (Critical Mass). It’s a small world - @dschwa8059, Josh Epstein, and I all served in the same office at the US State Dept many years ago.

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

@james_acton32 Shipyard capacity and fuel cycle practicalities aside, negotiating the trilateral arrangements to share needed classified and proprietary nuclear design information will provide lifetime employment for legions of lawyers and lobbyists.

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

@JBWolfsthal @DrRadchenko Depends who’s notetaking.

[Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) @WHOI]

Our #1 video of 2022 takes you behind the scenes as we splash down on a coral reef where #WHOI biologists, chemists, physicists, engineers, and students, are tackling the problems facing reefs. https://t.co/mGTJFX8AC1 #givereefsachance! #BestOf2022

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

@PerkovichG Agree. Too many in US assume we have an inherent superiority in technology and financial capacity that leaves us free to employ all the sticks. Times are changing, and we need a more nuanced examination of mutual dependency and our own vulnerabilities.

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

@BrunoTertrais @i_montaigne Sobering analysis. Interesting that the fate of the nuclear arsenal that so preoccupied Western policy in the ‘90s, is not the headline. But this future Russia may be less realistic about nuclear risk and thus harder to deter or negotiate with.

[Steven Aoki @SemiNonPro]

@dschwa8059 Powell’s on 57th St in Chicago (only genealogically related to the store in Portland). Moe’s on Telegraph Ave in Berkeley. Foyles in London used to have second-hand stock, but I think they’re no longer doing that since they moved.