Kristensen, Hans M.
Biography
Hans M. Kristensen is Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists where he provides the public with analysis and background information about the status of nuclear forces and the role of nuclear weapons. He specializes in using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in his research and is a frequent consultant to and is widely referenced in the news media on the role and status of nuclear weapons.
Kristensen is co-author of the Nuclear Notebook column in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the World Nuclear Forces overview in the SIPRI Yearbook. The Nuclear Notebook is, according to the publisher, “widely regarded as the most accurate source of information on nuclear weapons and weapons facilities available to the public.” His publications are available at http://www.nukestrat.com/pubs.htm
Between 2002 and 2005, Kristensen was a consultant to the nuclear program at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, D.C, where he researched nuclear weapons issues and wrote the report “U.S. Nuclear Weapons In Europe” (February 2005) and co-authored numerous articles including “What’s Behind Bush’s Nuclear Cuts” (Arms Control Today, October 2004) and “The Protection Paradox” (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March/April 2004). Between 1998 and 2002, Kristensen directed the Nuclear Strategy Project at the Nautilus Institute in Berkeley, CA, and he was a Special Advisor to the Danish Ministry of Defense in 1997-1998 as a member of the Danish Defense Commission. He was a Senior Researcher with the Nuclear Information Unit of Greenpeace International in Washington D.C from 1991 to 1996, prior to which he coordinated the Greenpeace Nuclear Free Seas Campaign in Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden.
Kristensen’s work on U.S. nuclear policy in 2005 led to the disclosure that preemptive nuclear strikes were being incorporated into U.S. post-Cold War joint nuclear doctrine for the first time. The disclosure triggered political reactions from Russia, Germany, and North Korea. In the United States the disclosure caused the Senate Armed Services Committee to request briefings from the Pentagon and 16 Senators to write President Bush asking him to intervene.
