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Kathleen Bailey

National Institute for Public Policy: Senior associate
Center for Security Policy: Adviser
Lawrence Livermore National Lab: Former fellow

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last updated: November 20, 2003

Highlights & Quotes

Bailey's National Institute for Public Policy (NIPP) was founded in the early 1980s by hawkish nuclear strategist and former Hudson Institute scholar Keith Payne, who was tapped to serve as a deputy assistant secretary of defense in the administration of George W. Bush.

Bailey was a member of the NIPP team -- headed by Payne -- that produced the January 2001 study, "Rationale and Requirements for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control," which many observers think served as a sort of blueprint for George W. Bush's controversial Nuclear Posture Review. (3) According to a report by the World Policy Institute, "The Bush Administration's Nuclear Posture Review" (NPR), released in January 2002, reflects the thinking of far-right conservative organizations and nuclear weapons contractors. The NPR drew many of its findings from a report released in January 2001 by the National Institute for Public Policy, entitled, "Rationale and Requirements for U.S. Nuclear Forces and Arms Control." In general, the NIPP report calls future security threats to the United States unknown and unpredictable. Therefore, the report concludes that the United States must maintain its nuclear arsenal, and the ability to design, build and test new nuclear weapons. The report asserts that conventional weapons are inadequate replacements for nuclear weapons because they do not have the same "destructive power." As a solution the report recommends the development of "low-yield, precision-guided nuclear weapons" -- in other words, a nuclear weapon the United States can actually use. The NIPP panel frowns on arms control treaties because, "U.S. policymakers today cannot know the strategic environment of 2005, let alone 2010 or 2020. There is no basis for expecting that the conditions that may permit deep nuclear reductions today will continue in the future." (10)

Bailey has been a rabid opponent of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In a statement before the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Bailey stated that the treaty "could actually promote the spread of nuclear weapons, as well as enable Russia and others to modernize their arsenals while the US arsenal remains static. . Thus, the limited political benefits of the CTBT are not worth the high cost to our national security." (7) Most observers think the CTBT, which the U.S. Senate refused to ratify during the Clinton administration, would have the opposite impact -- namely, that it would help prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

On the other hand, Bailey also opposes elements of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) because she thinks the treaty is not verifiable-- something the CTBT would help remedy. In a 1995 article for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , Bailey wrote: "Linking the extension of the NPT with a requirement for a timetable for nuclear disarmament is not constructive. Disarmament will not eliminate the risk of nuclear war, it will do little or nothing to prevent nuclear proliferation, and it will not cement the end of the Cold War. It will fulfill the Article VI NPT obligation and superficially end discrimination inherent in that treaty -- but at a very high price. Because there is now no effective verification for nuclear disarmament, potential proliferants [sic] might be inspired to pursue nuclear weapons, and those nations that already have them might decide to secretly retain them." (9)

Bailey is the author of four books: Death for Cause (1995), The UN Inspections in Iraq: Lessons for On-Site Verification (1995), Strengthening Nuclear Nonproliferation (1993), and Doomsday Weapons in the Hands of Many: The Arms Control Challenge of the 90s (1991). She also edited Weapons of Mass Destruction: Costs Versus Benefits (1994). (1)

Death for Cause is a fictional novel about eco-terrorists attempting to coerce the U.S. government to change its policies. It was self-published for friends and family. (1)

Institutional Affiliations

  • National Institute for Public Policy : Senior Associate; Board of Advisers
  • Center for Security Policy : National Security Advisory Council
  • George Mason University : Visiting Lecturer
  • Cato Institute : Wrote Cato Policy Analysis on CTBT, 1999
  • Government Service

  • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory : Senior Fellow of Center for Security and Technology Studies, 1992-1998; First social scientist hired at LLNL, 1976-1981
  • Arms Control and Disarmament Agency : Assistant Director for Nonproliferation, 1987-1990
  • State Department : Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research, 1985-1987
  • U.S. Information Agency : Research Director, 1983-1985
  • Education

  • University of Illinois : Ph.D

  • Sources

    (1) NIPP: Professional Staff http://www.nipp.org/bailey.php

    (2) NIPP: Board of Advisers http://www.nipp.org/boardofadvisors.php

    (3) Keith Payne et al, "Rationale and Requirements for U.S. Nuclear Forces and Arms Control," National Institute for Public Policy, January 2001

    (4) The Center for Security Policy http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/index.jsp?section=static&page=nsac

    (5) Kathleen Bailey, "The Next Step on Nuclear Testing?" Washington Times, April 11, 1990 , pp. F3

    (6) Kathleen Bailey, "The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: The Costs Outweigh the Benefits," Cato Policy Analysis No. 330 , Cato Institute http://www.cato.org/cgi-bin/scripts/printtech.cgi/pubs/pas/pa-330es.html

    (7) Kathleen Bailey, Statement before the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services, October 7, 1999

    (8) Kathleen Bailey, "So what?" Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , Vol. 52 No. 5, September-October 1996 http://www.thebulletin.org/issues/1996/so96/so96bailey.html

    (9) Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists http://www.thebulletin.org/issues/1995/jf95/jf95Bailey.html

    (10) "Axis of Influence," World Policy Institute Special Report, July 2002


     

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