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 CommunityMissile Defense of the ICBM Leg: A Step Towards a More Robust Strategic PostureByEli GlickmanPublished Jan 24, 2025Eli Glickman argues that advances in the Russian and Chinese ICBM forces (MIRVing, CEP reduction, etc.) are increasing the vulnerability of U.S. ICBMs. I draw on historical case studies to illustrate how point missile defense of ICBM fields is a feasible option to offset this challenge, as opposed to more expensive, controversial systems like a road-mobile Sentinel ICBM.
Analysis / MultimediaThe Negotiator Files: A Conversation with Susan KochByCSIS PONIPublished Jan 21, 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. Series The Negotiator Files
Analysis / CommentaryUpdating Nuclear Command, Control, and CommunicationByHeather WilliamsPublished Jan 3, 2025Nuclear command and control will be an essential piece of nuclear modernization plans. To confront two-peer competition, the United States should stay apace with modernization plans and will require constant innovation.
Analysis / CommentaryEscalation as a Path to Peace: Risk Tolerance and Negotiations in UkraineByLachlan MackenziePublished Jan 3, 2025The incoming President Donald Trump has made achieving a rapid, negotiated settlement to the war in Ukraine a cornerstone of his foreign policy agenda. It is not clear, however, that the Kremlin sees a need to offer concessions.
Analysis / CommentaryWhat Does India’s Hypersonic Missile Test Mean?ByDiya AshtakalaPublished Jan 3, 2025On December 16, India announced the test of its first long-range hypersonic missile. This missile makes India one of the few nuclear-armed countries to possess this technology, highlighting the intensifying global race for hypersonic technology.
Analysis / Next Gen CommunityOn the Horizon Vol. 7ByDoreen HorschigPublished Jan 3, 2025The Nuclear Scholars Initiative is a signature program run by the Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) to engage emerging nuclear experts in thoughtful and informed debate over how to best address the nuclear community’s most pressing problems. The papers included in this volume comprise research from participants in the 2024 Nuclear Scholars Initiative. These papers explore a range of crucial debates across deterrence, arms control, and non-proliferation communities. Series On The Horizon
Analysis / MultimediaThe Negotiator Files: A Conversation with Linton BrooksByCSIS PONIPublished Dec 10, 2024This 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. Series The Negotiator Files
Analysis / CommentaryReviving Chemical Weapons Accountability in a Multipolar WorldByDoreen Horschig and Natasha HallPublished Nov 25, 2024Next week’s 29th Session of the Conference of States Parties of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is an opportunity to revitalize accountability and global cooperation in an age of impunity.
Analysis / Next Gen CommunityHezbollah’s Fall: Implications for Iran’s Nuclear AspirationsByBailey SchiffPublished Nov 8, 2024In ten days, Israel decapitated Hezbollah as an organization, leaving behind only fighters previously deemed not important enough to have a beeper. Beyond a tactical operation, by electing to conduct all three operations in daylight, civilians in Lebanon and Iran were forced to confront Hezbollah’s weakness. Although these operations were transformative, this crippling of Hezbollah will likely send nuclear shockwaves through the region by incentivizing both Tehran’s nuclear weaponization and Israeli targeting of Iranian nuclear facilities. As the region braces for continued conflict between Israel and Iran after the U.S. election, rather than striking nuclear facilities, Israel should target economic centers of gravity, bolster influence operations, and leverage domestic unrest in Iran and Lebanon to destabilize the regime. At the same time, the U.S. should raise the political and economic costs of maintaining a nuclear program. This approach can foster democracy, enhance Mossad intelligence operations, and compel Iran to reallocate military financing, laying the groundwork for lasting peace.
Analysis / CommentaryWhy Striking Iranian Nuclear Facilities Is a Bad IdeaByDoreen HorschigPublished Oct 31, 2024Israeli military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities could escalate tensions and push Tehran further towards nuclear weapons development. Diplomacy, although slow, remains the only viable way to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.