Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, December 18th 2025
Posted: 19th December 2025
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December 18, 2025
Inside the control room of the Global Operations Center of the US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska as depicted in A House of Dynamite by Kathryn Bigelow. (Eros Hoagland/Netflix © 2025)
A house of mistakes: what Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘A House of Dynamite’ gets radically right—and dangerously wrong—about nuclear war
A House of Dynamite gets so many details wrong that the lessons viewers take from the film will likely be counterproductive, even dangerous, argue Scott D. Sagan and Shreya Lad. “If it is a wake-up call, the audience will wake up on the wrong side of the bed.” Read more.
A decade of chemical and biological disinformation, mapped
A new tool allows us to visualize how disinformation campaigns originating in places like the halls of the Russian Ministry of Defence can end up circulating on Fox News or in international diplomatic meetings, writes Filippa Lentzos. Read more.
Fentanyl is no WMD, but Trump’s Venezuela claims are eerily similar to Bush’s arguments for invading Iraq
Both the 2002 and 2025 drumbeats to war have included amplifying the threat of chemical weapons against US national security interests, writes Al Mauroni. “The biggest difference between 2002 and 2025 is that the Trump administration doesn’t seem to be really trying all that hard to make a convincing argument.” Read more.
What happens when seeing is no longer believing?
If members of a society cannot understand and agree upon core facts about their history then there is no basis for holding politicians responsible for their actions, write Jacob N. Shapiro and Vestal McIntyre. And, as George Orwell noted decades ago, terrible things follow when leaders can create their own facts. This magazine article is available to all readers for a limited time.
Looming climate doomsday demands creativity, ambition, and societal transformation
Youth climate strikes have dissipated. A climate change denialist is back in the White House. And the public is as apathetic as ever to the threat of climate crisis. As the climate movement hits a crossroads, activist Zanagee Artisshares a possible path forward. This magazine article is available to all readers for a limited time.
WHAT’S NEW AT THE BULLETIN
Alex Wellerstein joins the Bulletin
The Bulletin is proud to welcome Alex Wellerstein as a new Senior Fellow. Wellerstein is a prominent nuclear historian and author as well as the creator of NUKEMAP, an online nuclear effects simulation tool. Read more.
Recent articles
- Catholic bishops remind political leaders that nuclear weapons are immoral
- How nuclear submarines could pave the way for nuclear weapons in South Korea
- Nuclear power’s role in Japan is fading. The myths of reactor safety and energy needs can’t change that reality
- Curing a chemical hangover
- A National Security Strategy with no strategy for managing existential risks
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“[I]t is tempting to say the Paris Agreement was a failure. The planet has crossed 1.5°C. Wildfires, floods, and heat extremes are becoming routine. The losses and damages from extreme weather events are mounting to the point that major reinsurers now warn that entire economic models may become unviable if climate risks continue to rise unchecked. The countries calling for an end to fossil fuel expansion now need to translate ambition into faster, deeper action over the next decade. It can be done.”
— Sir David King, founder and chair of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group and former U.K. Chief Scientific Advisor, “10 Years After the Paris Climate Deal: What The World Got Right, Wrong, And What Comes Next,” TIME