Discuss “Final results in weekly nuclear awareness column”

70 percent of Carnegie Mellon students who responded to my surveys agreed that the single most serious threat to U.S. national security is nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists. The remaining students were divided, with half concluding the largest threat was a nuclear attack by a rogue state, and the other half saying it was an accidental meltdown by a U.S. nuclear reactor.

Students were less decisive when asked to identify which nuclear nation would pose the biggest threat to national security over the next 10 years. Iran and North Korea were identified to be most likely threats (under the assumption that both will become nuclear nations), followed by China, Pakistan, and finally Russia.

In addition, roughly one-third did not believe...