In the run-up to the 2026 announcement, Bulletin experts noted the move of the clock to 89 seconds to midnight last year and said, “In every area, we have failed to take steps to reduce risks.”
In the world of nuclear weapons (the clock considers nuclear weapons, climate change, bio-threats, and Artificial Intelligence), the Bulletin noted that leaders are explicitly talking about
• new nuclear weapons development
• arms racing
• the resumption of full-scale nuclear testing
• deployment of new types of nuclear capable weapons
• heavy investment in modernizing weapons and production capabilities
• leaders talking about using nuclear weapons on the battlefield
• arms race instability
Noting that the last existing arms control treaty (New START) will expire on February 6, and no steps are being taken to renew the Treaty, the Bulletin’s panel said the decline in nucler weapons stockpiles around the globe has stopped, and we are now seeing the potential for increases.
Bell noted that the movement of the clock toward destruction is not preordained. “It is time to act,” she said. “Every time we have been able to reduce the risks, it has been because of public pressure, people coming together to say ‘We do not accept this.’”
The panel also cited the rise of autocracies and the undermining of the rules-based social and political order as factors in the 2026 clock decision, citing the current Administration action in Minneapolis as an example of the result of the undermining of democractic systems.
