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New keeper of atomic Doomsday Clock is an EHHS grad from Tuxedo

Alexandra Bell on Monday became president and chief executive of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the keeper of the Doomsday Clock.

By Lightning Reports, Published: February 3, 2025

If the world makes progress in stopping or reversing the atomic Doomsday Clock, it may be in part because of the influence of Alexandra Bell, a 1997 graduate of East Henderson High School.

"Alex" Bell, who had been a deputy assistant secretary at the State Department since 2021, on Monday was named president and chief executive of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, an organization founded by American physicists at the dawn of the nuclear age, the New York Times reported. The keeper of the Doomsday Clock, the Bulletin works to reduce the threat of a worldwide nuclear holocaust.

In a staff profile on the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation website in March 2020, Bell described her education background.

“For undergrad, I went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Go Tar Heels!" she said. "I double-majored in Peace, War and Defense, and History. For graduate school, I got a master’s in International Affairs from The New School in New York City. In between, I served in the Peace Corps.”

In a Q&A in the New York Times published Monday — headline: "It’s 89 Seconds Until Doomsday and Her First Day on the Job" — Bell described the current atmosphere globally as "an overload of crisis with a compounding nature of threats."

"Hopefully, the Doomsday Clock pulls people in to help them understand the urgency of the moment," she said. "There’s no single, neat solution. But there are things we can do to pull ourselves away from the edge."

Already a strong believer in climate change, Bell, the daughter of Ed and Sinikka Bell, had her view reinforced dramatically on Sept. 27.

"I am from Tuxedo, N.C. — a place with no stoplights," she told the Times. "My folks’ house got 40 inches of rain in two days from Hurricane Helene. The havoc caused by a changing climate has now happened in a place like my hometown. How do we connect those people into the conversation about preventing this? It’s our job to make sure they are a part of it just as much as people in the Beltway are."

She also said: "I hope there is an acknowledgment that climate change isn’t a matter of belief. This is happening. You can choose not to believe in it, but I guarantee that your insurance company believes in it. When that starts financially impacting people across the country, they will be looking to their leaders to do something about it."