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\u003cp\u003eDr. Janne Nolan passed away last week. She was an expert on nuclear weapons and defense strategy who had an outsize effect on the national security field by establishing a long record of scholarship and then using her stature to broaden participation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNolan’s work shaped how we understand the politics of nuclear weapons\u003cbr /\u003e\n\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePolicymakers and academics alike will remember her scholarship, in particular her excellent book “Guardians of the Arsenal,” which argued that civilian and military experts who work on nuclear strategy and operate the nuclear weapons development complexes and systems of the U.S. military have been resistant to civilian-directed policy change.\u003cbr /\u003e\nNolan characterized a significant gap between the nation’s nuclear strategy, which existed in the minds and policy papers of civilian leaders, and its operational doctrine, which lay under the control of a small group of mainly military planners. She not only described the phenomenon but also concluded that the nuclear establishment purposely did not comply with civilian direction. To Nolan, this was an undemocratic approach.\u003cbr /\u003e\n\u003cbr /\u003e\nHer arguments contributed to debates about how nuclear weapons fit into U.S. strategy. Historian Marc Trachtenberg offered a challenging review of “Guardians of the Arsenal” in The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, arguing the malignity of intent Nolan ascribed to operational (and predominantly military) planners was unfair. In reality, any use of nuclear weapons would cause so much damage that fine-tuned strategies — what analysts call “flexible response,” or options designed to signal limited intent in war — would prove impossible.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRead the full article on \u003ca href=\u0022https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/03/janne-nolan-has-died-her-scholarship-helped-shape-debate-us-nuclear-strategy/?utm_term=.fc886a7e245e\u0022\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","className":"richtext reading--content font-secondary"}), document.getElementById("react_R0LophaMxEmBNd7UV737g"))});
\u003cspan style=\"text-align: left; color: rgb(90, 90, 90); letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003eThose lucky enough to work with Janne also will long remember her mentorship.\u003c/span\u003e
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