Analysis / Next Gen CommunityAverting ‘Day Zero’: Preventing a Space Arms RaceByLauren ChoPublished Aug 6, 2025In response to emerging threats like Russia’s suspected development of nuclear anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons, international attention has turned to the broader implications such systems may have for military stability, diplomatic relations, as well as legal frameworks governing space. Recent efforts reflect a growing push to reinforce norms through coordinated diplomatic engagement and renewed commitments to space security.
Analysis / CommentaryRevising Missile Controls Is Necessary to Help Allies and Prevent New Nuclear StatesByPranay Vaddi and Ola CraftPublished May 6, 2025Trump’s defense agenda could benefit from the Biden administration’s final MTCR reforms, which align with Trump’s goals to strengthen the U.S. industrial base while building allied capabilities, deterring adversaries, and preventing nuclear proliferation.
Analysis / Next Gen CommunityThe GIUK Gap: A New Age of A2/AD in Contested Strategic Maritime Spaces ByShane WardPublished Sep 12, 2024The global strategic environment is ripe for technology-driven great power competition once more. Russia’s war in Ukraine and pursuit of novel nuclear weapon delivery vehicles, coupled with China’s expanding nuclear arsenal and capabilities, mean the United States must assess its capabilities and posture in more theaters simultaneously than ever before. Among them, contested maritime spaces…
Analysis / Next Gen CommunityPart 2: Challenges and Solutions for Combating Nuclear Mis- and Disinformation ByBrian CookPublished Sep 6, 2024There is no catchall solution for completely stopping mis- and disinformation. It might be impossible to untangle the technology, psychology, and politics and social issues that all contribute to the spread and believability of false information. This is true for nuclear mis- and disinformation as well. But recognizing the challenges and thinking about possible solutions is an important start, especially for such an impactful and increasingly salient topic like nuclear weapons.
Analysis / Next Gen CommunityPart 2: How to Target Cancer and Security with Safe and Secure Radiation TechnologiesByPallabi Mitra, C. Norman Coleman and Manjit DosanjhPublished Jul 21, 2022Security and health have often been considered separate disciplines, but the rise in global terrorism has created an unintended intersection between both areas. Progress is being made by the international community in raising awareness of non-source-based technology options such as LINACs but there is more to be done in making non-source based technologies available to “cancer patients in LMICs and other geographically underserved regions.”
Analysis / ReportIntegrated Arms Control in an Era of Strategic CompetitionByRebecca Hersman, Suzanne Claeys and Heather WilliamsPublished Jan 25, 2022Can contemporary arms control keep pace with the rapid rate of change in both geopolitics and technology? This study examines the implication and prospects for the future of arms control in a highly competitive security environment in which challenges from advanced technologies and diminished state control over processes of verification become increasingly prominent features, even as the scope and modalities of arms control grow more complex and multifaceted.
Analysis / Next Gen CommunityRussia’s New Nuclear Weapons: Understanding Avangard, Kinzhal, and TsirkonByAkshai VikramPublished Aug 2, 2021The primary driver of Russia’s hypersonic build-up seems to be missile defense. President Putin said the development of these weapons was directly caused by the U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002.
Analysis / Next Gen CommunityLessons from a Real-Life Insider: The Case of Leonid SmirnoByNoelle CampPublished Jun 30, 2021In the Smirnov case, the irretrievable loss limit for the facility was set unusually high at 3% of the facility’s nuclear material. In total, Smirnov siphoned off 1.5 kg of HEU, representing only 1% of the facility’s material.
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 CommunityOSINT Ethics: Applications in the Nuclear LandscapeByCatherine HaslamPublished Jun 24, 2020Capstone presenter Catherine Haslam presents a case for OSINT ethics in the nuclear landscape.