Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, founded in 1945, announced on Jan. 20 that for the third year in a row, their Doomsday Clock remains fixed at 100 seconds to midnight. “Steady is not good news,” said Sharon Squassoni, a professor at George Washington University and a member of the group. “We are stuck in a perilous moment—one that brings neither stability nor security. Positive developments in 2021 failed to counteract negative, long-term trends,” she said.

The clock was originally only concerned with the threat of nuclear war, but has recently included the politically correct issues of climate change, disruptive technologies and biological hazards, including sections of their report on these issues. They even bring up Jan. 6.

The organization’s website says: “Founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock two years later, using the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the contemporary idiom of nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to humanity and the planet.”

This year’s report begins by saying the new administration in the U.S. raised hopes of decreasing the danger, with the extension of New START, talks between the U.S. and Russia, and revived talks on the JCPOA. However: “U.S. relations with Russia and China remain tense, with all three countries engaged in an array of nuclear modernization and expansion efforts—including China’s apparent large-scale program to increase its deployment of silo-based long-range nuclear missiles; the push by Russia, China, and the United States to develop hypersonic missiles; and the continued testing of anti-satellite weapons by many nations. If not restrained, these efforts could mark the start of a dangerous new nuclear arms race.”

They express hope that the upcoming Nuclear Posture Review will reduce the danger of a nuclear war. They would not be pleased by the new reports by William Arkin and others elsewhere in this briefing.