New technologies and nuclear Strategy.

Dear Madam/Sir,

As you may know, IDN is acting in favour of a multilateral, gradual, and verified nuclear disarmament as well as the urgent reduction of risks of use of nuclear weapons. Our organization is, like many others, currently concerned by the increasing arms race between great powers and the dangerous lowering of the threshold of use of nuclear weapons that threatens humanity and the environment. This situation is aggravated by the emergence of new technologies, sometimes qualified as ‘disruptive’, that contribute both to a heightened nuclear risk and to the obsolescence of nuclear weapons. IDN thus asked its experts to address the impact on the strategy of nuclear terror of eight technologies (hypersonic missiles, directed energy weapons, cyber threats, space warfare, artificial intelligence, biotechnologies, nanotechnologies, and quantum technologies) that seem to us crucial due to their innovative and prospective aspects. We hope that this contribution will allow dialogue and reflections on the proper response to such threats. The only effective one in our view would be to eliminate the cause of the risk, the nuclear weapon.

This study is published as a tribute to Paul Quilès, president-founder of IDN, and Michel Drain, Bureau member, who passed away after contributing to this initiative and its elaboration.

Best regards

Le texte en français a été publié un peu antérieurement.