Bipartisan Task Force Calls for Revitalized U.S. Strategy to Prevent Nuclear Proliferation

Washington, D.C. — The Task Force on Nuclear Proliferation and U.S. National Security, a high-level bipartisan group of former senior government officials and experts with deep national security experience, today is releasing a comprehensive framework for how the United States can strengthen its strategy to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and safeguard national security.

Its final report, Preventing an Era of Nuclear Anarchy, comes amid a confluence of geopolitical shifts and technological changes that are increasing the likelihood that more countries will pursue nuclear weapons and eroding the effectiveness of the tools that the United States has traditionally used to counter proliferation. Task Force members concluded that preventing nuclear proliferation must remain a top U.S. national security priority, and their report offers actionable solutions to shore up national and global security.

“We are at a pivotal moment,” said Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) Co-Chair and CEO Ernest J. Moniz. “Nuclear proliferation dangers are rising, and the regime that has helped hold these dangers at bay is badly frayed. This report provides a realistic, bipartisan strategy for how the United States can navigate this dangerous time and enhance U.S. and global security.”

The report recommends a revitalized strategy for preventing nuclear proliferation that is built on five pillars: bolstering and modernizing extended deterrence with allies; pursuing pragmatic diplomacy with China and Russia; strengthening the foundations of the global nonproliferation regime; revitalizing the United States’ position in the global nuclear energy market; and investing in the diplomatic, economic, military, and technological tools that underpin the United States as a global leader.

"The world's increasingly fractured geopolitics and fast evolving technologies are growing the risk that more states will acquire nuclear weapons—with severe consequences for Americans and countries around the world,” cautioned Carnegie Endowment for International Peace President Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar. “What the Task Force lays out is a blueprint for how America’s leaders can respond: by taking this new reality seriously and lowering the dangers of nuclear proliferation. In this report, lawmakers and policy leaders will find a resource for years to come as they work to protect American security by stopping the spread of nuclear weapons."

Convened by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and NTI in October 2024, the bipartisan Task Force was co-chaired by Belfer Center Director Meghan L. O’Sullivan, Cuéllar, and Moniz. It comprised more than a dozen former senior government officials and experts with deep national security experience. 

“This report draws on the expertise of an extraordinary group of leaders and thinkers from across the political spectrum, demonstrating what can be achieved—and what is needed—to confront a problem as complex and consequential as nuclear proliferation,” said Meghan L. O’Sullivan. “Moreover, our partnership with Carnegie and NTI underscores the value in pooling our collective expertise to offer actionable ideas to strengthen U.S. security and global stability.”

Task Force Members                                                        

• Matthew Bunn, James R. Schlesinger Professor of the Practice of Energy, National Security, and Foreign Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government
• Bob Corker, former U.S. Senator from Tennessee and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
• Francis J. Gavin, Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and inaugural Director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS
• Rose Gottemoeller, former Deputy Secretary General of NATO and William J. Perry Lecturer at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
• Stephen Hadley, former U.S. National Security Advisor and Principal of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC
• Jessica Tuchman Mathews, former President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• Michael Morell, former Acting Director and Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
• Sam Nunn, former U.S. Senator from Georgia and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee
• Daniel B. Poneman, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
• Susan E. Rice, former U.S. National Security Advisor and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
• Kori Schake, Senior Fellow and Director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute
• Wendy Sherman, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
• Admiral Sandy Winnefeld, former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Distinguished Professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech