TAKE ACTION 

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Call on your elected representatives to continue and expand cooperation with Russia and other states to prevent nuclear and cyber terrorism. 

 

BACKGROUND  

 

The issue of U.S.-Russian cooperation on counter-terrorism was reportedly considered during the consultations between Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton in Geneva in August 2018.  And there have been reports in the press regarding information exchanges at various times, including the 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon and a reported December 2017 attempted terror attack in St. Petersburg.   

 

Some critics argue that we cannot trust Russia as a partner in sensitive intelligence-sharing, that we are not fighting the same enemy in Syria. SEE ARTICLE But our shared interests in preventing nuclear terrorism go well beyond this conflict.

 

Furthermore, we need bilateral U.S.-Russia discussions on how to insulate nuclear systems from terrorist cyberattack and other new risks, which could be expanded to include the other nuclear powers, looking to draw in China.  Given the current state of U.S.-Russian relations, it would be very hard to have such a dialogue, but it is necessary. The gravity of new threats could push the United States, Russia and China to unite to combat non-state actors and start a dialogue on the full range of new risks.