Nuclear weapons and climate change present very different but very significant global risks. Dan Poneman is one of the few who has worked at and contributed to mitigation of both risks and now has shared this experience through insightful analysis and commonsense recommendations. Double Jeopardy should be required reading for policymakers.
Ernest J. Moniz, former U.S. Secretary of Energy and CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative
Double Jeopardy is a must-read for anyone who cares about the world our grandchildren will inherit. Dan Poneman shows us how we can address the two greatest threats to our long-term future—at the same time. Brilliant!
Susan Eisenhower, member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future
Dan Poneman has done what very few have even tried, and what no one has actually succeeded in doing—to persuade almost everyone along the long ideological spectrum that the issues of climate change and nuclear power are inextricably connected. There will be no addressing the former without the latter. Read this book. If it will not change your mind, then at least it will change your approach. Very few authors can do that. Poneman has.
Hugh Hewitt, host, The Hugh Hewitt Show, and Professor, Chapman University School of Law
In this insightful and useful book, Dan Poneman explores the two great existential threats that we face: nuclear annihilation and climate change. He provides not just convincing analysis but also some clear and crisp proposed solutions. In a time of muddled thinking, this book is urgently needed.
Walter Isaacson, Professor of History, Tulane University, and former president and CEO, Aspen Institute
Presidents of both parties have relied upon Dan Poneman's wise counsel on matters of global nuclear and energy security. In this important book, Dan outlines a rationale and a roadmap for reinvigorating America's nuclear leadership, which is indispensable to protecting our planet and all who live here.
Sam Nunn, former U.S. Senator and Co-Chair, Nuclear Threat Initiative
In Double Jeopardy, Dan Poneman draws on his extensive experience as both a policymaker and a businessman to make a compelling case for how nuclear energy can help address one of the world's most pressing problems—climate change—without inviting nuclear catastrophe. This thoughtful, well-researched, and highly readable book is a cry for, and a roadmap to, the reestablishment of American leadership in a key industry that has implications far beyond the realm of energy.
Meghan O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
Nuclear proliferation and climate change are two of the most vexing challenges facing humanity. Dan Poneman is an expert on both subjects. His clearly written, urgent call to action brings these two vitally important issues together in a novel and highly informative way.
Henry Paulson, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and Chairman, Paulson Institute
In clear and simple prose, Double Jeopardy tackles two of the toughest challenges of our time: nuclear proliferation and climate change. Poneman has served his nation well under both Republican and Democrat presidents, and the solutions he recommends have the staying power that only bipartisanship can produce.
Brent Scowcroft, former U.S. National Security Advisor
Daniel Poneman draws upon his great knowledge of and experience with nuclear power—as a policymaker and scholar and in the private sector—to demonstrate the key role it can play in meeting energy and environmental objectives and how, at the same time, to assure nuclear security on a global basis.
Daniel Yergin, Vice Chairman of IHS Markit and author of The Prize and The Quest
Poneman says that there are two existential threats to human existence: climate change and nuclear proliferation and terrorism. The first, he argues, requires a greater investment in nuclear energy to reduce humanity's dependence on carbon fuels—but this, he notes, risks aggravating the second threat. So his recommendations address both threats together. He proposes shifting to lower-carbon energy sources, including nuclear power; fully implementing the Paris climate agreement; and, among other nonproliferation moves, eliminating the North Korean nuclear threat. It's a daunting list.
Foreign Affairs
