Foreign Affairs LIVE: Do Nuclear Weapons Matter?

Every year, world powers spend vast sums to upgrade and maintain nuclear arsenals and to prevent their spread to other nations—notably, to North Korea and Iran. Such weapons could unleash unimaginable destruction and remain an ever-present specter in the public eye, yet they have not been used since World War II and feared disasters have not materialized. Nuclear armament and proliferation recently returned to foreign policy agendas in ways that are reminiscent of the Cold War, however. Three quarters of a century into the atomic age, are they still the danger we once thought they were, and how do they stack up against other threats to national security, global peace and prosperity?

Join Foreign Affairs and Scientific American for a panel discussion exploring these questions. The discussion will be followed by a cocktail reception.