At the just-concluded summit on nuclear security, representatives from 47 nations — 38 of them heads of state — joined with host U.S. President Barack Obama to rally support for the goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear materials within four years. Coming on the heels of publication of the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review and the signing of a bilateral strategic arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia, the summit was a unique opportunity to build international consensus on one of the most dangerous and misunderstood security threats. It also keeps the pressure on leaders to ensure that the Nuclear Nonproliferation Review Conference, to be hosted by the United Nations in May, will also be a success.

It is tempting to think that the threat posed by nuclear weapons and materials has diminished since the end of the Cold War. While the prospect of a superpower confrontation that ends in planetary destruction has receded, ironically, the end of that standoff in many ways increased the chances that nuclear weapons might be used in other circumstances.

The end of the bipolar world order loosened the grip the two superpowers had over client states, raised doubts about the value of those ties and emboldened some governments to develop their own nuclear arsenals, either for security or status. Nuclear facilities and specialists in the former Soviet Union have lost their former high status. Their knowhow and the materials and technologies they once safeguarded are now available on the open market.