Frank O'Donnell
LightNews LightNews
banner
frank11285.bsky.social
Frank O'Donnell
@frank11285.bsky.social
1.5K followers 1.9K following 1.2K posts
Senior Research Adviser, @apln.network
Nonresident Fellow, South Asia Program @stimsoncenter.bsky.social
Opinions my own, reposts ≠ endorsement.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-o-donnell-b84675158
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
frank11285.bsky.social
Frank O'Donnell @frank11285.bsky.social · Aug 13
Nuclear failsafe reviews - as conducted by 🇺🇸 in 1990-1992 and 2022-2024 - are important measures to safeguard against accidental or inadvertent nuclear use. Today, @apln.network, @nti.org & @theeln.bsky.social co-publish summaries from 🇨🇳 🇮🇳 🇵🇰 🇫🇷 🇬🇧 Track-II failsafe workshops over the last year.
Advancing Nuclear Fail-Safe in the Asia-Pacific | Asia-Pacific Leadership Network
APLN has worked with partners in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the United States to highlight the benefits of independent, internal “fail-safe” reviews in nuclear-armed states. Fail-safe reviews are...
apln.network
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
patham21.bsky.social
Oh no @heyratty.bsky.social
November 14, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
ewong.bsky.social
NEW: A Pentagon intelligence report raises concerns that China could acquire F-35 jet technology if the US sells the planes to Saudi Arabia. Trump and MBS could finalize the deal next week in DC. China and Saudi Arabia cooperate on missiles. Our story: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...
U.S. Officials Raise Concerns About Saudi Arabia’s Bid for F-35 Jets
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
moreperfectunion.bsky.social
The median age of all U.S. homebuyers is now 59 years old.

Just 15 years ago, it was 39 years old.
November 13, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
nukestrat.bsky.social
State Department deleted records about risk of inadvertent nuclear war from foreign relations publication - records that are still available in public. Trump fired independent committee tasked to oversee the records and seeks to replace it with loyalists. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
Analysis | State Department deleted records about risk of inadvertent nuclear war
Key historical records about the incident during the Regan administration, known as the Able Archer 83 War Scare, were removed without explanation.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:02 PM
frank11285.bsky.social
Xi’s Military Purges Show Unease About China’s Nuclear Forces
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
franticgoat.bsky.social
Strong Evidence That China’s Next Carrier Will Be Nuclear Emerges In Shipyard Photo www.twz.com/sea/strong-e...
Strong Evidence That China’s Next Carrier Will Be Nuclear Emerges In Shipyard Photo
Nuclear propulsion for China's 'Type 004' aircraft carrier would represent a leap in naval capability and another step toward parity with the U.S. Nuclear propulsion would make the so-called Type 004 ...
www.twz.com
November 12, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
nktpnd.bsky.social
Trump's deal with South Korea bogged down in details over submarine www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
www.reuters.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:04 PM
frank11285.bsky.social
How is the headline not "The Penny Drops"
November 12, 2025 at 7:13 PM
frank11285.bsky.social
Now up to 70 signatories!
frank11285.bsky.social Frank O'Donnell @frank11285.bsky.social · 6d
📢 Critical new @apln.network joint statement by 60 senior national security practitioners and experts, across 🇦🇺 🇨🇳 🇫🇯 🇮🇳 🇮🇩 🇯🇵 🇰🇮 🇲🇾 🇲🇭 🇲🇳 🇳🇵🇳🇿 🇵🇰 🇵🇭 🇰🇷 🇸🇬 🇱🇰 🇹🇭 -
apln.network Asia-Pacific Leadership Network @apln.network · 6d
🚨 APLN is deeply concerned about announcements to resume nuclear testing. This would end nearly 3 decades of global consensus against nuclear explosive testing + threaten the stability of our region & the world.
Here's why it's dangerous 🧵 (1/7)
www.apln.network/analysis/sta...
November 12, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
poni.csis.org
CLOSING NEXT WEEK: PONI's NSI applications are due on Monday, November 17 - don't forget to submit yours!

Apply here: nuclearnetwork.csis.org/programs/nuc...
Nuclear Scholars Initiative - Nuclear Network
The Nuclear Scholars Initiative aims to provide top graduate students and young professionals from around the country with a unique venue to interact and dialogue with senior experts on nuclear weapon...
nuclearnetwork.csis.org
November 12, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
frank11285.bsky.social
“The proposed amendment also creates the post of commander of the National Strategic Command (NSC), responsible, among other things, for the country’s nuclear command. The head of the NSC would be appointed only from the army in consultation with the army chief/CDF.”
How would Pakistan’s 27th Amendment reshape its military and courts?
New amendment would centralise power in the executive and military, prompting warnings of weakened judiciary.
www.aljazeera.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
scientistsorg.bsky.social
With the impending expiration of New START, it is vital to prevent arms control progress from backsliding.

If on-site inspections are impossible, then "Cooperative Technical Means" can fill that gap.

✍️ @mattkorda.bsky.social + Igor Morić
🔗 fas.org/publication/inspections-without-inspectors/
November 12, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
adamserwer.bsky.social
Great piece by Zadie Smith. When the right talks about classics or "Western" culture, these works are only important to the extent that it demonstrates their superiority, they have no interest in art in and of itself beyond that www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
You know a country by its values. By what a country values. And it turns out that what a country values can change over time. Sometimes, though, there’s a sort of cognitive delay between the country you think you are in, and the country you’ve actually become. For example, you can keep selling yourself, to foreigners, as the country of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, and luring busloads of tourists to Stratford-upon-Avon and Bath, and put a statue of George Orwell in front of the BBC, and imagine yourself a cultured and literate nation, which the rest of the world admires for its devotion to the written word – but if you then chronically underfund your cultural institutions, and treat your cultural workers with contempt, many people will suspect you of being full of it. And as the decades pass – and fewer and fewer Shakespeares and Austens and Orwells emerge from your little island – even more people will begin to suspect that in truth you do not value culture at all, and are in fact running a giant heritage museum in which the only cultural workers you respect are the dead ones.
November 12, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
hourlycosmos.bsky.social
Rumors of Aurorae - From Bill (ridingrobots.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2n1BGtL
Just a whisper of a rumor of aurorae in the north. Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah
November 12, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
nytimes.com
Breaking News: Pakistan’s army chief secured expanded powers over the military and lifelong immunity after lawmakers approved a constitutional reform.
Pakistan’s Army Chief Is Granted Sweeping Authority Over All Military Branches
A constitutional reform in the nuclear-armed country extends the chief’s power over all the military and brings Pakistan’s highest court under tighter political control.
nyti.ms
November 12, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
donmoyn.bsky.social
Three German universities offering post-docs for researchers "who cannot conduct or continue their work in the USA appropriately because of actual political pressure. "
www.uni-konstanz.de/zukunftskoll...
Early Career Rescue Fellowship
www.uni-konstanz.de
November 11, 2025 at 7:10 PM
frank11285.bsky.social
“The proposed amendment also creates the post of commander of the National Strategic Command (NSC), responsible, among other things, for the country’s nuclear command. The head of the NSC would be appointed only from the army in consultation with the army chief/CDF.”
How would Pakistan’s 27th Amendment reshape its military and courts?
New amendment would centralise power in the executive and military, prompting warnings of weakened judiciary.
www.aljazeera.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
cambup-polsci.cambridge.org
#OpenAccess from @ejisbisa.bsky.social -

Atomic responsiveness: How public opinion shapes elite beliefs and preferences on nuclear weapon use - https://cup.org/4nNXCtY

- Michal Smetana, @laurensukin.bsky.social, @herzogsm.bsky.social & @mvranka.bsky.social

#FirstView
Close-up of the cover of the "European Journal of International Security" with the hashtag #OpenAccess visible.
November 11, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
marisakabas.bsky.social
BREAKING update to my lawsuit against DC Metropolitan PD for body cam footage from USIP raid —

We've submitted our response, including sworn declarations from *six* USIP workers, 1 of whom says he "observed members of MPD giving each other high-fives and fist bumps" after removing staff from bldg.
Former USIP security chief says MPD gave 'high-fives and fist bumps' after raid
The latest on the lawsuit to get MPD's body cam footage released.
www.thehandbasket.co
November 11, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
pstaniland.bsky.social
huge sale on Cornell University Press books:
cornellupress.bsky.social Cornell University Press @cornellupress.bsky.social · 3d
❄️ Our Winter Sale is here!
Use the code 09WINTER and get 44% off from November 10 to December 5, 2025. 📚

🔗Access to US & Canada: www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/books/
🔗Access to the rest of the world: mngbookshop.co.uk/publisher/co...

Order your next favorite title now!
November 10, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
managingtheatom.bsky.social
Please join MTA on November 14 at 1pm Eastern Time if you are interested in learning more about MTA fellowships and the application process. More information (including the Zoom registration link) can be found here: x.com/managingthea...
November 7, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
frank11285.bsky.social
📢 Critical new @apln.network joint statement by 60 senior national security practitioners and experts, across 🇦🇺 🇨🇳 🇫🇯 🇮🇳 🇮🇩 🇯🇵 🇰🇮 🇲🇾 🇲🇭 🇲🇳 🇳🇵🇳🇿 🇵🇰 🇵🇭 🇰🇷 🇸🇬 🇱🇰 🇹🇭 -
apln.network Asia-Pacific Leadership Network @apln.network · 6d
🚨 APLN is deeply concerned about announcements to resume nuclear testing. This would end nearly 3 decades of global consensus against nuclear explosive testing + threaten the stability of our region & the world.
Here's why it's dangerous 🧵 (1/7)
www.apln.network/analysis/sta...
APLN Group Statement: A Return to Nuclear Testing Threatens Global Stability | Asia-Pacific Leadership Network
www.apln.network
November 7, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
nickkodama.bsky.social
Referring to a Taiwan scenario as a "survival-threatening situation" and not just something affecting/influencing Japan's security notably would allow for the use of force under the security legislation (the red box in the chart)

english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/6...
www.mofa.go.jp/files/000143...
TOKYO - Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Friday that a Taiwan emergency involving the use of military force could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan under the country's security legislation. Her remarks suggested Japan could exercise the right of collective self-defense if such a situation is recognized as "survival-threatening," even under the nation's war-renouncing Constitution, in a move that would provoke China, which claims the self-ruled island as its territory. She apparently acknowledged her government could, depending on the circumstances, authorize the Self-Defense Forces to take action if China were to impose a maritime blockade on Taiwan or engage in other coercive measures, even if Japan is not directly attacked. Response to an armed attack against Japan (Existing) Response to an armed attack against a foreign country resulting in threatening Japan’s survival (New) →“Use of Force” permitted under the “Three New Conditions”
November 7, 2025 at 7:33 PM
frank11285.bsky.social
Great Doonesbury today -
November 9, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by Frank O'Donnell
evansmithhist.bsky.social
My annual post about how the Morning Star reported the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989

hatfulofhistory.com/2014/11/07/h...
November 9, 2025 at 9:02 AM