Analysis / ReportGame On: Opportunities for Euro-Atlantic Strategic Stability and Arms ControlByHeather Williams, Nicholas Adamopoulos, Lachlan Mackenzie and Catherine MurphyPublished Apr 23, 2025Europe is likely to remain a theater of instability despite pressure for a peace settlement in Ukraine. As the United States shifts toward the Indo-Pacific and Russia continues to pursue its territorial ambitions, what might arms control look like after the war in Ukraine?
Analysis / ReportWhat Allies Want: European Priorities in a Contested Security EnvironmentByNicholas AdamopoulosPublished May 13, 2025While the United States remains committed to NATO, it its placing growing pressure on its allies to shoulder more of the burden for European defense. As allies shoulder a growing conventional burden, they want to ensure US extended deterrence commitments remain.
Analysis / Next Gen CommunityAll Military Means? Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the Risks of Nuclear AmbiguityBySameer Ali KhanPublished Dec 1, 2025The new Pakistan–Saudi defense pact invokes ‘all military means’—but leaving nuclear commitments ambiguous risks overstretching the Pakistani nuclear deterrent and fueling speculation abroad.
Analysis / CommentaryGolden Dome for America: Assessing Chinese and Russian ReactionsByRaymond Wang and Lachlan MackenziePublished Nov 20, 2025This article surveys Chinese and Russian reactions to Golden Dome and develops an initial assessment of its potential impact on arms racing and strategic stability.
Analysis / ReportStrategic Trends 2025ByNicholas Adamopoulos, Diya Ashtakala, Doreen Horschig, Lachlan Mackenzie, Catherine Murphy, Joseph Rodgers, Bailey Schiff, Pranay Vaddi, Heather Williams and Reja YounisPublished Nov 18, 2025In a world where old nuclear guardrails are eroding and new rivalries are converging, Strategic Trends 2025 charts how the United States and its allies must navigate a disorderly, multi-adversary nuclear landscape and rethink deterrence for an unpredictable era.
Analysis / MultimediaThe Negotiator Files: A Conversation with Monte MallinByCSIS PONIPublished Nov 17, 2025This interview is a part of CSIS PONI’s Arms Control Knowledge Transfer Initiative (ACKTI), a program designed to preserve knowledge through senior expert interviews and primary source archival research, to educate the next generation of arms control experts on all aspects of arms control, including negotiation, implementation, inspection, and more. The full transcript and more information on the project can be found here: https://ackti-archive.csis.org/. Series The Negotiator Files
Analysis / ReportA Sobering Duty: U.S. Presidents Grapple with the Sole Authority to Launch Nuclear WeaponsByElizabeth Kos and Rebecca Davis GibbonsPublished Nov 12, 2025In the United States, only the president possesses the legal authority to launch nuclear weapons. How did this come to be, and what are the implications of presidential sole authority?
Analysis Russia’s Latest Nuclear Saber-Rattling: Nuclear Testing?ByHeather Williams and Lachlan MackenziePublished Nov 5, 2025President Putin’s instruction for Russian military and political leaders to begin “preparations for nuclear weapons tests” follows President Trump’s similar order last week, but also fits a wider pattern of nuclear saber-rattling tied to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Analysis Can the United States Immediately Return to Nuclear Testing?ByHeather WilliamsPublished Oct 30, 2025President Trump’s post raises technical questions about how and if the United States could “immediately” return to nuclear testing, and political considerations about the signaling behind nuclear testing and who would benefit most from a return to testing.
Analysis / CommentaryCSIS Satellite Imagery Analysis Reveals Possible Signs of Renewed Nuclear Activity in IranByJoseph Rodgers and Joseph S. Bermudez Jr.Published Oct 27, 2025The Iran deal is over. Strikes forced a nuclear slowdown, but Iran is ramping up construction at the secretive Pickaxe Mountain facility while banning IAEA access, pushing its program into a new, dangerous era.
Analysis / CommentaryPitting Nuclear Modernization Against Powering AI: Trump’s Plans for the U.S. Plutonium StockpileByHeather WilliamsPublished Oct 14, 2025The Trump administration plans to redirect plutonium from the national stockpile to civilian nuclear energy projects, including to power AI data centers. How will this plan impact U.S. nuclear modernization plans and national security?
Analysis / CommentaryCould the Pakistani-Saudi Defense Pact Be the First Step Toward a NATO-Style Alliance?ByDoreen Horschig, Diya Ashtakala and Bailey SchiffPublished Oct 6, 2025The pact reshaped regional dynamics by deepening Pakistani-Saudi ties, straining India’s balancing act, and raising questions about Israel’s air access. Despite its NATO-style language, it lacks the nuclear and political basis for true collective defense.