News + Media

	In the News January 15, 2021 North Korea shows off new submarine-launched missile at military parade William GalloVOA Vipin Narang quoted: “The only thing that makes sense to me is that these developments are setting the stage for a solid fuel ICBM. To me that has to be the end game here,” tweeted Vipin Narang, a nuclear specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
	In the News January 15, 2021 North Korea unveils new submarine-launched missile at parade Jesse JohnsonThe Japan Times Vipin Narang quoted: “I’m struggling to understand the logic of this rapid SLBM development and evolution with no real survivable submarine and the only thing that makes sense to me is that these developments are setting the stage for a solid fuel ICBM,” Vipin Narang, a North Korea expert and professor of international relations at MIT, wrote on Twitter. “To me that has to be the end game here.”
	In the News January 14, 2021 ‘A more general anxiety’: Gun sales soared nationwide in 2020 Anissa GardizyThe Boston Globe John Tirman quoted: John Tirman, executive director of MIT’s Center for International Studies, said he believes US gun sales were up in 2020 due to a “general instability of society.” “It does relate to the election, and Trump, and the possibility that Biden could try to enact gun control, but I think it is a more general anxiety,” he said.
	In the News January 12, 2021 Questions of national security arise amid uncertainty in DC WBUR Here and Now There are questions about national security in the aftermath of what happened at the US Capitol last Wednesday when President Trump's supporters stormed the building. Jim Walsh weighs in.
	Analysis + Opinion January 8, 2021 There is no legal way to stop Trump from ordering a nuclear strike if he wants to, expert says Elizabeth N SaundersThe Washington Post Vipin Narang comments on Speaker Pelosi's conversation with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and discusses the protocol for launching a nuclear strike. “The United States is one of the only countries to have sole launch authority — even Russia does not. It is striking that the Russian system requires an additional vote to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s, but America’s does not.”
	In the News January 8, 2021 Trump has the authority to launch nuclear weapons — whether Pelosi likes it or not Jennifer Williams and Alex WardVox Vipin Narang quoted: “So long as Trump remains in office, he retains the legal authority to solely launch some or all of America’s nuclear weapons until 12:01 pm on January 20, or until he is removed from office,” Vipin Narang, a nuclear security expert at MIT, told Vox. “Any ‘safeguards’ that could effectively prevent POTUS from exercising sole authority to launch nuclear weapons are either illegal or illusory.”
	In the News January 5, 2021 Chinese President Xi Jinping wrests greater control over China's military; revises National Defense Law ANIThe Free Press Journal M Taylor Fravel heavily quoted: “This marks only the fifth time that the PLA has changed its operational doctrine since 1949.”... Fravel added: “The promulgation of a high-level doctrinal document suggests that the PLA is consolidating the changes to improve joint operations that were part of the unprecedented reforms that began in late 2015. In fact, it likely signals confidence that the reforms have been successful.”
	In the News January 4, 2021 Iran eyes Biden but could conflict still erupt with Trump? Shaun TandonAFP News Vipin Narang quoted: “We have a new form of deterrence now -- schizophrenic deterrence. We don't know what we're doing,” said Vipin Narang. Instead of looking tough by reversing the Nimitz's return, “it may send the wrong signal – which is that it's total chaos in Washington right now and if you're going to take a shot, maybe this is the time you want to do it.”
	In the News December 20, 2020 Taiwan's planned submarine fleet could forestall a potential Chinese invasion for decades CNN Owen Cote quoted: Owen Cote, associate director of the Security Studies Program at MIT and an expert on submarine warfare, stated that “Chinese ASW capabilities are weak and the acoustic conditions in these very shallow, noisy waters are very difficult even for advanced ASW capabilities like those deployed by Japan and the US.”
	In the News December 20, 2020 A new approach to studying religion and politics Peter DizikesMIT News Associate professor Richard Nielsen is an MIT political scientist with an innovative research program: He studies clerics in the Islamic world, combining textual analysis, ethnographic insights, on-the-ground research in the Middle East, and a big-data approach to charting online tracts.