William Tobey is a senior fellow at Harvard
Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs was most recently deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation at the National
Nuclear Security Administration.
Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during the Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries on the sidelines of the 2017 BRICS Summit in Xiamen, southeastern China's Fujian Province on September 5, 2017.
Xi opened the annual summit of BRICS leaders that already has been upstaged by North Korea's latest nuclear weapons provocation. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / WU HONG (Photo credit should read WU HONG/AFP/Getty Images)
US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) expresses his condolences over the death the of the mother of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (unseen) before a negotiation session with Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (R) over Iran's nuclear program in Lausanne March 20, 2015, as European Union Political Director Helga Schmid (4-L) looks on. Marathon talks towards an Iran nuclear deal picked up pace as US President Barack Obama appealed to Tehran to seize an "historic" opportunity and begin a "brighter future". AFP PHOTO / POOL /Brian Snyder (Photo credit should read BRIAN SNYDER/AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 17: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (2ndR), Defense Secretary James Mattis (R), shake hands with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono (2ndL) and Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera (L), during a meeting of the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee at the State Department, on August 17, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani gives a press conference in Tehran on Jaunary 17, 2017, to mark the first anniversary of the implementation of a historic nuclear deal. / AFP / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
This picture taken and released on July 4, 2017 by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows the test-fire of the intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 at an undisclosed location.
North Korea declared on July 4 it had successfully tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile -- a watershed moment in its push to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the mainland United States. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / STR / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY AFP.
/ (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) shakes hands with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after a press conference in Moscow on April 12, 2017.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 11, 2017 met US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after complaining of worsening ties with Donald Trump's administration as the two sides spar over Syria. Putin received Tillerson at the Kremlin along with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after the top diplomats held several hours of talks dominated by the fallout of an alleged chemical attack in Syria.
/ AFP PHOTO / Alexander NEMENOV (Photo credit should read ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images)
This undated picture released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on March 7, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un waving to North Korean officers during the launch of four ballistic missiles by Korean People's Army (KPA) during a military drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea.
Nuclear-armed North Korea launched four ballistic missiles on March 6 in another challenge to President Donald Trump, with three landing provocatively close to America's ally Japan. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / STR / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY AFP. / (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 28: President Donald Trump signs three executive actions in the Oval Office on January 28, 2017 in Washington, DC. The actions outline a reorganization of the National Security Council, implement a five year lobbying ban on administration officials and a lifetime ban on administration officials lobbying for a foreign country and calls on military leaders to present a report to the president in 30 days that outlines a strategy for defeating ISIS. (Photo by Pete Marovich - Pool/Getty Images)
