Addressing Military Nuclear Materials Beyond the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit

Non-civilian or military nuclear materials comprise the vast majority of the world’s nuclear material stocks – yet they remain outside the scope of much of the existing global nuclear security architecture. Policymakers will need to consider ways to address this “military materials gap” by advancing new mechanisms and strategies in order to develop and sustain a comprehensive global nuclear security architecture. Particular attention should be placed on developing confidence building measures and other transparency tools to build international assurance in the security of military materials. This paper will discuss the various strategies for addressing military materials security and propose recommendations for how the international community can address the concept of comprehensiveness in the global nuclear security architecture going forward.