In "One nuclear disarmament", Sagan feels present and future leaders of the nuclear powers A) are not to be trusted. He quotes all of the advance made in weaponry, despite the changes of governments.
"This is the century of Hitler and Stalin, evidence—if any were needed—that madmen can seize the reins of power of modern industrial states", he says, meaning that despite the precautions, history teaches that madmen have become the leaders of countries and led the whole world to war. "We are gambling on their sanity and sobriety even in times of great personal and national crisis, all of them, for all times to come. I say this is asking too much of us. Because we make mistakes. We kill our own..."