***** Nuclear Safeguards, Security and Nonproliferation. James E. Doyle, editor; published by Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann; available from ASIS, item #1796, 703/519-6200 (phone), www.asisonline.org [1] (Web); 624 pages; $99 (ASIS members), $109 (nonmembers).

 

In this rich text, some of the world’s top nuclear scientists and experts in related fields provide the information needed to understand the complex and critical challenge of nuclear security. Editor James E. Doyle has painstakingly assembled essays that emphasize the importance of balancing the risks posed by nuclear technology against its benefits. For example, the contributors profess that a significant expansion of nuclear power globally could counter climate change, but that also increases the risks of nuclear proliferation. Therefore, policy discussions on the expansion of nuclear power must be informed by credible risk assessments.

 

The book is encyclopedic in scope, with chapters that touch on timely discussions of global nuclear security concerns, including case studies of nations with nuclear aspirations, each at a different stage in its pursuit of the capability. The book further provides a comprehensive over­view of international law and policy issues regarding both nuclear technologies and those used to protect, secure, detect, and track them.

 

This book should appeal to a vast spectrum of readers. Seasoned security professionals as well as many younger professionals in our ever-expanding sector should find this work extremely informative and useful. Those with a stake in nuclear security will deem it a must-have item on their bookshelves. It certainly lives up to its own theme of “Achieving Security with Technology and Policy.”

 

Reviewer: Col. Kuljeet Singh (Indian Army, retired), CPP, is director of business development and planning for Command International Security Services, Inc. He is a member of ASIS International.