Nuclear security policy
This page lists resources about nuclear security policy, think tanks, and fellowships.
This article is a work in progress. You can recommend other resources for inclusion here.
Nuclear security policy resources
The following list is meant as a starting point for someone learning about the field and recent developments; there are many great resources we were not able to include, and recommend doing your own research into particular topics you’re interested in.
Introductory readings
- Nuclear Notebook and Status of World Nuclear Forces, Federation of American Scientists
- Nuclear Weapons, Our World in Data
Newsletters
- Nuclear Policy News, Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Proliferation News, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Books
- Negotiating the New START Treaty (2021)
- The Myth of the Nuclear Revolution: Power Politics in the Atomic Age (2020)
- Gambling with Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis (2020)
- The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner (2017)
- Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety (2013)
- The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy (2009)
Podcasts
- Arms Control Wonk, Jeffrey Lewis
- Press the Button, Ploughshares Fund
- The 80,000 Hours Podcast has in-depth interviews with nuclear policy professionals like Jeffrey Lewis, Joan Rohlfing, Andy Weber, Daniel Ellsberg, Samantha Pitts-Kiefer, Bonnie Jenkins, Luisa Rodriguez, and David Denkenberger
- National Security Science podcast, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Online courses
- IAEA Learning Management System
- Nuclear Threat Initiative Education Center
- Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non‑Proliferation Nuclear Security E-Learning Module
- EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament eLearning Course (modules 4 and 5 deal with nuclear weapons specifically, but the entire course could be useful)
Think tank reports and policy analysis
- Congressional Research Service reports (search term “nuclear”)
- Assessing the Dangers: Emerging Military Technologies and Nuclear (In)Stability (2023), Arms Control Association
- Artificial Intelligence in Nuclear Operations (2023), Center for Naval Analyses
- U.S. Nuclear Policies for a Safer World (2021), Nuclear Threat Initiative
- Publication pages of think tanks listed below
Government strategies
- Nuclear Posture Review (2022), Department of Defense
- National Security Strategy (2022), White House
- Strategic Concept (2022), NATO (see also NATO’s nuclear deterrence policy and forces)
International organizations and treaties
- Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1970)
- International Atomic Energy Agency
- Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization
- Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2021)
Conferences and seminars
- Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference
- CSIS PONI Fall Conference
- Arms Control Association Annual Meetings
- ISODARCO Courses
- LLNL-NSSC Nuclear Security and Nonproliferation Workshop
- Public Policy and Nuclear Threats Bootcamp, UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation
- Nuclear Nonproliferation, Safeguards, and Security in the 21st Century, Brookhaven National Laboratory
- Regular DC networking event: Gin & Atomics Happy Hour
Think tanks working on nuclear security policy
While the below list is not comprehensive, we hope it is a useful starting point if you are interested in working at a think tank on nuclear security policy.
- Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI): Nuclear
- Council on Strategic Risks (CSR): Nolan Center on Strategic Weapons
- RAND Corporation: Nuclear weapons and warfare
- Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation (CACNP): Nuclear weapons
- Federation for American Scientists (FAS): Nuclear weapons
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Nuclear Policy Program
- James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS): Nuclear
- Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS): Project on Nuclear Issues
- Brookings Institutions: Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative
- Stimson Center: Nonproliferation
- United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR): WMD program
- Ploughshares Fund
- Arms Control Association
- Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL): Center for Global Security Research
- Harvard University: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (Nuclear Issues)
- European Leadership Network (ELN)
- Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
Nuclear security policy fellowships
The following fellowship programs are especially relevant for biosecurity policy work (see also our full fellowship database for 50+ opportunities):
- Scoville Peace Fellowship – A 6-9 month full-time security policy fellowship with DC-based NGOs for early-career bachelor’s or master’s graduates.
- NNSA Graduate Fellowship (National Nuclear Security Administration) – A one-year, full-time nuclear security fellowship for graduate and postgraduate students or early-career individuals.
- Nuclear Scholars Initiative (Next Generation Nuclear Network, CSIS) – “Fellows are hosted once per month over the course of six months at CSIS in Washington, DC where they participate in daylong workshops…with senior experts on nuclear weapons issues”
- PONI Mid-Career Cadre (Next Generation Nuclear Network, CSIS) – a 3-year part-time networking and professional development program for nuclear professionals with at least 7 years of relevant experience in the field.
- New Voices on Nuclear Weapons Fellowship (Federation of American Scientists) – a 4-month research fellowship for people from diverse demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds.
- Fellowship for Reducing Nuclear Weapons Risks (Council on Strategic Risks) – A 6-month part-time networking and research program on nuclear risk reduction.
- Nuclear Futures Fellowship (Ploughshares Fund) – a six-month part-time program with an in-person workshop in Washington DC.
- Kendall Fellowship (Union of Concerned Scientists) – two-year full-time research fellowship for PhD-level scientists with technical/STEM backgrounds. The program prioritizes projects “that are primarily scientific, technical, or analytic in nature but also show interest in the application of science to policy.”
- Public Policy Fellowship (Nonproliferation Policy Education Center) – eleven lunchtime seminars “designed to give congressional, executive, and diplomatic staff and journalists the scientific, technological, legal, and historical background needed to gain a deeper understanding of civil and military nuclear policy.”
- Martin J. Sherwin Fellowship (Wilson Center) – a 3-6 month residential fellowship for junior scholars (post-doc/recent PhD/junior faculty) in the fields of nuclear policy and history research.
- Managing the Atom Fellowship & Stanton Nuclear Security Fellowship (Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School) – a 10-month academic research fellowships for current doctoral students in the dissertation-writing stage, post-doctoral scholars, and university faculty members and other mid-career professionals with relevant expertise
- Nuclear Security Fellowship (Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University) – an academic research fellowship for predoctoral and postdoctoral students, and junior faculty, for applicants from the US and abroad.
- Arms Control Negotiation Academy – a part-time “12-month, high-level professional development program for a competitively selected cohort of [16] rising international security experts and practitioners” involving three week-long workshops
- Editorial Fellows (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists) – a 1-year program for diverse authors with experience in nuclear risk, climate change, or disruptive technologies to produce a regular column, including financial compensation
General science and technology policy fellowships that could be relevant to nuclear weapons policy:
- Horizon Fellowship (Horizon Institute for Public Service) – a 6-24 month full-time US emerging technology policy fellowship facilitating job placements in the US executive branch, Congress, and think tanks for early- and mid-career individuals. (Note that the Horizon Fellowship and this website are both projects of the Horizon Institute for Public Service.)
- AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowships (American Association for the Advancement of Science) – a 12-month fellowship in DC with four separate tracks, that places fellows within the executive branch, judicial branch, legislative branch, or in a nonprofit. The fellowship is for individuals with a doctoral-level degree.
- Congressional Innovation Fellowship (TechCongress) – a 10-12 month full-time fellowship for early and mid-career professionals involving placements with a Member of Congress or a Congressional Committee.
- STPI Science Policy Fellowship (Institute for Defense Analyses) – a 24-month, full-time fellowship for recent bachelor’s or master’s graduates, in which fellows work with teams of researchers to support S&T policy-related tasks.
- Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program (National Academies) – a 12-week program for graduate students or recent PhD graduates.
- Science & Technology Policy Fellowship (Aspen Tech Policy Hub) – a full-time, paid, three-week program teaching science and technology professional about policy.