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 / CommentaryICYMI: 2020 U.S. Strategic Command Deterrence SymposiumByRebecca HersmanPublished Dec 21, 2020View the PONI panel and poster presentation from the 2020 STRATCOM Deterrence Symposium.
Analysis / Commentary, Next Gen CommunityLeft of Launch: Artificial Intelligence at the Nuclear NexusByLindsey SheppardPublished Dec 17, 2020The areas of AI application into the nuclear enterprise are far left of an operational decision or decision to launch and include four priority sectors: (1) security and defense; (2) intelligence activities and indications and warning; (3) modeling and simulation, optimization, and data analytics; and (4) logistics and maintenance. Series Nuclear Nexus
Analysis / ReportDeep Dive Debrief: U.S. Nuclear Warhead Modernization and “New” Nuclear WeaponsByRebecca Hersman and Joseph RodgersPublished Dec 11, 2020The brief examines the debate surrounding the development of U.S. nuclear warheads and whether the United States is creating “new” nuclear weapons. Series Deep Dive Debrief
Analysis / Commentary, Next Gen CommunityNuclear Command and Civilian Control: Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Nuclear WeaponsByAlice Hunt Friend and Reja YounisPublished Nov 20, 2020In the nuclear realm, the challenge of civilian control is solved with presidential authority. Understanding and addressing the concessions that presidents might make to military expertise surfaces the precarious nature of civilian nuclear command and control. Series Nuclear Nexus
Analysis / Commentary, Next Gen CommunityModernizing the Nuclear Enterprise in the Era of Rapid PrototypingByAndrew HunterPublished Nov 11, 2020The U.S. nuclear enterprise is going through a cycle of modernization that touches practically every system in the arsenal. This modernization push requires the nuclear enterprise to engage deeply with the defense acquisition system in a way it has not since its last major modernization cycle in the 1980s. Series Nuclear Nexus
Analysis / Commentary, Next Gen CommunityNuclear South Asia at 22ByAnkit KPublished Nov 10, 2020It has been 22 years since India and Pakistan conducted their first nuclear weapons tests, igniting one of the worlds’ most dynamic nuclear deterrence relationships.[1] The series of tests that were conducted at the turn of the century marked the beginning of an unconventional security competition between India and Pakistan which continues till today. Over…
Analysis / Commentary, Next Gen CommunityAdapting to the Hypersonic EraByIan WilliamsPublished Nov 2, 2020Conventional hypersonic strike weapons may undermine deterrence by complicating early-warning and increasing the vulnerability of forward-based forces to surprise attack below the nuclear threshold. Nevertheless, history shows that adaptation to strategically disruptive technologies is possible. Series Nuclear Nexus
Analysis / Commentary, Next Gen CommunityA Balance of Instability: Effects of a Direct-Ascent Anti-Satellite Weapons Ban on Nuclear StabilityByKaitlyn JohnsonPublished Oct 21, 2020How would new norms for testing space weapons affect nuclear stability and traditional deterrence? Would a direct-ascent ASAT limit or ban create stability or further destabilize the space and nuclear domains? Series Nuclear Nexus
Analysis / Commentary, Next Gen CommunityCross-domain Competition: How Organizational Stovepipes Create Risks for Shared MissionsByMorgan DwyerPublished Oct 15, 2020Today, traditional nuclear missions increasingly intersect with emerging technical domains such as space and cyber. How can policymakers mitigate the risks that bureaucratic competition can pose to the shared mission of defending the nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) system? Series Nuclear Nexus
Analysis / Commentary, Next Gen CommunityThe Conventional Force Perspective: Nuclear Integration in Doctrine, Concepts, and ExercisesByAdam Saxton and Mark CancianPublished Oct 8, 2020What would detailed conventional nuclear integration in doctrine, concepts, and large-scale exercises look like? Joint concepts inform high-level military doctrine, which in turn provides guidance on what the military should aim to achieve through planning and training in large-scale exercises. Series Nuclear Nexus