Proportionality and the Military Targeting of Nuclear Plants

Abstract: Russia and Israel are challenging what might be considered proportionate when targeting civilian structures. Some legal experts now question if the international legal concept of proportionality or 'civil objects' any longer has standing. This presentation pushes back on that thought using the prospect of discriminate targeting of nuclear plants as a test case.

Bio: Henry Sokolski is executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center and teaches graduate classes on nuclear policy at the University of Utah and the Institute of World Politics. He was recently appointed Senior Fellow for Nuclear Security Studies at the University of California at San Diego. Previously, he worked in the Pentagon as Deputy for Nonproliferation Policy, as a consultant to the National Intelligence Council, as a member of the Central Intelligence Agency's Senior Advisory Group, as a Senate military legislative aide to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and as a special assistant on nuclear energy to the chairman of Senate's Tennessee Valley Authority oversight committee. He served on two congressional commissions on the prevention of WMD proliferation and has authored and edited numerous volumes on strategic weapons proliferation issues, including Best of Intentions: America's Campaign against Strategic Weapons Proliferation and Underestimated: Our Not So Peaceful Nuclear Future. Mr. Sokolski earned his graduate degree in political science from the University of Chicago.