News + Media

	précis January 19, 2021 End Notes End Notes features the professional achievements of our scholars, students, and staff. This includes recent awards, speaking engagements, and publications.
	In the News January 19, 2021 How Trump will hand off the 'nuclear football' to Biden Zachary CohenCNN Vipin Narang quoted: “The easiest way to think about it is there is a seamless cutover as to which ‘biscuit’ is valid at noon Wednesday,” according to Vipin Narang, a nuclear policy expert and professor at MIT. “Biden's biscuit would not be valid at 11:59 am, and Trump's would not be valid at 12:01 pm.”
	In the News January 18, 2021 Taylor Fravel on China Power Project Podcast This special episode of the ChinaPower podcast is the fourth of five featuring the audio from the China Power Project's fifth annual conference, which comprises five live online debates. The fourth debate took place on December 9, 2020 and featured two experts debating the following proposition: Within the next five years, China will use significant military force against a country on its periphery.
	In the News January 18, 2021 North Korea’s Kim could be planning missile launch to welcome Biden administration Simon Denyer and Joby WarrickThe Washington Post Vipin Narang quoted: Narang would not rule out a provocative test but said it is equally possible that Kim, already struggling to keep the coronavirus at bay, maintain food production and prop up the economy, could bide his time. “Time is on Kim’s side, so why rock the boat, especially given potentially serious domestic problems?” he asked. “Kim doesn’t need to be the new kid screaming for attention, especially if he can quietly improve and expand his force, as he’s doing.”
	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.”