To compete and thrive in the 21st century, democracies, and the United States in particular, must develop new national security and economic strategies that address the geopolitics of information. In the 20th century, market capitalist democracies geared infrastructure, energy, trade, and even social policy to protect and advance that era’s key source of power—manufacturing. In this century, democracies must better account for information geopolitics across all dimensions of domestic policy and national strategy.
The fourth in a series of global summit meetings focused on nuclear security — likely to be the last for some time — will occur in Washington March 31-April 1. Meanwhile, recent events — including extended monitoring of a senior official of a facility with substantial stocks of HEU by Islamic State operatives — highlight the ever-evolving threat. Will the summit participants agree on approaches that will “keep this process alive and effective” after the summits end, as President Obama put it at the last summit? Or will attention turn elsewhere, and nuclear security progress stall or even erode? In this MTA Seminar, Matthew Bunn will describe the ongoing threat, offer some previews of likely summit outcomes, and discuss some next steps to keep nuclear weapons and their essential ingredients out of terrorist hands.