Avner Cohen

Senior Fellow ⋅ Professor

[email protected]
Monterey, CA
831.647.6437

Background

Dr. Avner Cohen, widely known for his path-breaking history of the Israeli nuclear program, is an internationally recognized author and expert on nonproliferation issues, focusing on the Middle East. A consultant to a range of NGOs and governmental agencies, Dr. Cohen joins CNS after serving as a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2009-10) and following a ten-year affiliation with the Center for International and Security Studies (CISSM) at the University of Maryland.

Dr. Cohen is a two-time winner of prestigious MacArthur Foundation research and writing awards, in 1990 and 2004, and in 1997-98 and 2007-08, was a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). In addition, Dr. Cohen was co-director of the Project on Nuclear Arms Control in the Middle East at the Security Studies Program at MIT from 1990 to 1995. He has been a visiting professor at a number of U.S. universities, and in 2005, was Forchheimer Visiting Professor at the Hebrew University.

Education

Dr. Cohen holds a B.A. in Philosophy and History from Tel Aviv University, an M.A. in Philosophy from York University, and a Ph.D. from the Committee on History of Culture of the University of Chicago (1981).

CNS Work

• Duplicity and Self-Deception: Israel, the United States, and the Dimona Inspections
  Avner Cohen’s new publication for the Nuclear Vault.
• New Research Examines the Nuclear Dimensions of the 1967 Middle East War
  Israeli, Egyptian, US scholars examine unresolved questions about the role of Dimona in the Six-Day War.
• Time for Israel to Drop Nuclear Ambiguity
  Fifty years is long enough for Israel’s policy of nuclear ambiguity, writes Avner Cohen.
• The Future of the Iran Nuclear Deal: Implications of US Withdrawal
  VIDEO: Seminar with CNS & MIIS experts took place on May 22, 2018, at CNS of MIIS in Monterey.
• A Countdown to War
  American threats could convince Iran it has no choice but to develop a nuclear bomb.
• Yes, Iran Lied About Its Nuclear Capabilities. But So Did Israel
  Netanyahu’s “theater” powerpoint demonstrated that even the almighty Mossad has no evidence of post-JCPOA violations.
• The Six-Day War (1967) Revisited: The Nuclear Dimension
  MAY 31, 2018: A half-day panel discussion co-hosted with the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project.
• NC3: Is There a Ghost in the Machine?
  VIDEO: Dr. Peter Hayes, Nautilus Institute, speaks in Dr. Avner Cohen’s seminar “The President and the Bomb.”
• If Trump Wants to Use Nuclear Weapons, Whether It’s ‘Legal’ Won’t Matter
  With virtually every other aspect of handling our nuclear weapons, there is a “two-man rule.”
• Subjecting Israel’s Nuclear Program to the Rule of Law
  The time has come for Israel to handle its most open secret differently.

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Bibliography

Dr. Cohen is the co-editor of Nuclear Weapons and the Future of Humanity (1986, Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Inc.) and The Institution of Philosophy (1989, Open Court), and author of The Nuclear Age as Moral History (in Hebrew, 1989). His most acclaimed book, Israel and the Bomb, was published by Columbia University Press in 1998 in English and in 2000 in Hebrew. His latest work, The Worst Kept Secret: Israel’s Bargain with the Bomb, was published in October 2010 by Columbia University Press.

Book Chapters & Journal Articles

• “Israel,” a chapter in Hans Born, Reiner Hangi, and Bates Gill (eds.), Governing of Nuclear Weapons, Oxford (and SIPRI) University Press, (2010).
• “Bringing Israel’s Bomb Out of the Basement: Has Nuclear Ambiguity Outlived Its Shelf Life,” (with Marvin Miller), Foreign Affairs, Vol. 89. No. 5 (September/October 2010): 30-44, www.foreignaffairs.com.
• “Israel’s Nuclear Future: Iran, Opacity and the Vision of Global Zero,” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Vol. 16. No. 3/4 (March 2010): 6-19, www.pij.org.
• “Nuclear Legislation for Israel,” Strategic Assessment, Vol. 12. No. 1, (June 2009): 7-18, www.inss.org.il.
• An author of the Israel chapter in International Institute of Strategic Studies dossier, Nuclear Programmes in the Middle East: In the Shadow of Iran (London: IISS, 2008), 119-140.
• “Israel,” with Marvin Miller, in Country Perspectives on the Challenges to a Fissile Material (Cutoff) Treaty, a companion volume to Global Fissile Material Report 2008, produced by the International Panel on Fissile Material (IPFM): 27-34.
• “Israel as a Benign Proliferator: Continuity versus Change,” in Muthiah Alagappa (ed.), Nuclear Weapons in Asia, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008): 241-268.
• “Israel’s Airstrike on Syria’s Reactor: Implications for the Nonproliferation Regime,” Arms Control Today, Vol. 38. No. 6 (July-August 2008): 15-21 (with Leonard Spector), www.armscontrol.org.
• “Crossing the Threshold: The Untold Nuclear Dimension of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and Its Contemporary Lessons,” Arms Control Today, Vol. 37. No. 5, (June 2007): 12-17. A shorter version appeared as an op-ed in Ha’aretz on May 22, 2007 and in The International Herald Tribune on May 28, 2007, www.armscontrol.org.
• “Secrecy Republic within a Democratic State: On Nuclear Decision-Making and Control in Israel,” in Gabi Shaffer (ed.), An Army that had a State: A New View on Israel’s Security and the Security Sector, Van Leer Press, 2007: 43-54.
• “Israel Crosses the Threshold,” (With William Burr), Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Vol. 62, No. 3. (May-June 2006): 22-30. www.thebulletin.org.

Recent Op-eds

• “Israel’s Iran Dilemma,” Ha’artez, December 12, 2011, www.haaretz.com.
• “A New Nuclear Reaction,” Ha’artez, November 13, 2011, www.haaretz.com.
• “Dagan did Israel a favor by warning against Iran strike,” Ha’artez, June 17, 2011, www.haaretz.com.
• “Israel missing a chance at nuclear global legitimacy,” Ha’artez, April 11, 2010, www.haaretz.com.
• “We look at Iran and See Ourselves,” Ha’aretz, April 02, 2010, www.haaretz.com.
• “Iranian Threat to Destroy Israel doesn’t hold up,” Ha’aretz, February 25, 2010, www.haaretz.com.

Citations

• “Newsweek/Daily Beast Writers’ Favorite Books 2011,” The Daily Beast, December 11, 2011, www.thedailybeast.com.
• “Avner Cohen: Israel’s Iran Dilemma,” Australian Observer, December 08, 2011, by Paul Barratt, http://aussieobserver.blogspot.com.
• “Despite Downed U.S. Drone Claims, Iran War Talk May be Overblown,” TIME Global Spin Blog, December 05, 2011, by Tony Karon, http://globalspin.blogs.time.com.
• “The Real Lesson of Iraq,” The New York Times, November 28, 2011, by Malfrid Braut-Hegghammer, www.nytimes.com.
• “Western Allies Running Out of Options to Stop Iran Nuke Program,” Deutsche Welle, November 11, 2011, www.dw-world.de.
• “Worldview: What Not to do About Iran,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 10, 2011, by Trudy Rubin, http://articles.philly.com.
• “Engaging Iran’s Nuclear Peril,” The Hindu, November 10, 2011, by Praveen Swami, www.thehindu.com.

The Israel-Argentina Yellowcake Connection

Previously secret documents tell the story of an Argentine sale of yellowcake to Israel during 1963-1964.

Avner Cohen and William Burr Co-authored Books

• The Israel-Argentina Yellowcake Connection, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 432, July 3, 2013 by William Burr and Avner Cohen, editors.
• Israel’s Secret Uranium Buy, ForeignPolicy, Jul 3, 2013 by William Burr and Avner Cohen.
• Israel’s Quest for Yellowcake: The Secret Argentina-Israel Connection, 1963-1966, The Wilson Center, Jul 1, 2013 by William Burr and Avner Cohen.

Quotes in International Press

• When Argentina Sold Uranium Oxide to Israel, The Times of Israel, July 3, 2013 by The Times of Israel staff.
• Israel’s Invisible Nukes-Chapter 16, The Huffington Post, July 3, 2013 by Barry Lando.
• Argentina Sold Yellowcake to Israel for Nuclear Program, Israel Hayom, July 3, 2013 by Eli Leon.
• Argentina Sold Israel Yellowcake Uranium in 1960s, The Jerusalem Post, July 2, 2013 by The Jerusalem Post staff.
• Secret Reveled: Argentina Helped Israel on the Nuclear Project, YNet, July 2, 2013 by Ynet staff. (In Hebrew)
• Israel Bought between 80-100 Tons of Uranium from Argentina in the 1960s, LaJornada, July 2, 2013 by David Brooks. (In Spanish)