Be they social scientists or political pundits, academics and analysts are forever dividing history into epochs and eras that too often impart a false sense of clarity to the muddy course of human events. So it is with some modesty that we declare the United States and the world are on the verge of a "Third Atomic Age."

Senator Chambliss and others will discuss implications of Secretary Gates' proposed defense budget shifts.

AEI scholar Thomas Donnelly remarks on the Obama administration's Nuclear Posture Review.

Since its controversial withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty a few months after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, U.S. strategic thinking has turned toward developing ways to outflank rogue states that might decide that packing nuclear warheads into ballistic missiles provide a better vehicle for attacking the United States.