The Project on Managing the Atom and International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs will host a discussion on the future of arms control, as part of a new HKS series on The Future World Order.  The participants will be Emma Belcher (Ploughshares Fund), Matthew Bunn (Belfer Center/Managing the Atom) and Steven E. Miller (Belfer Center/International Security Program).  Professor Stephen Walt (Belfer Center/ISP) will moderate.

High-security organizations around the world face devastating threats from insiders—trusted employees with access to sensitive information, facilities, and materials. From Edward Snowden to the Fort Hood shooter to the theft of nuclear materials, the threat from insiders is on the front page and at the top of the policy agenda. Insider Threats offers detailed case studies of insider disasters across a range of different types of institutions, from biological research laboratories, to nuclear power plants, to the U.S. Army. Matthew Bunn and Scott D. Sagan outline cognitive and organizational biases that lead organizations to downplay the insider threat, and they synthesize "worst practices" from these past mistakes, offering lessons that will be valuable for any organization with high security and a lot to lose.

In this “Nuclear 101” session, Professor of Practice Matthew Bunn will provide a basic overview of the how to produce highly enriched uranium and plutonium—the key ingredients for nuclear weapons. Prior to the session, please watch thisvideo lecture by Prof. Bunn on this topic. 

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.

In this Nuclear 101 Managing the Atom Seminar, Professor of Practice Matthew Bunn will provide an introduction to nuclear power plants and some of the key nuclear safety issues, including a brief discussion of what happened in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.

The Belfer Center's Executive Director for Research Gary Samore will moderate a discussion with Professor of Practice Matthew Bunn and Senior Fellow William H. Tobey on take-aways from the recent Nuclear Security Summit in the Hague and on priorities for strengthening nuclear security in the summit’s aftermath.

What are the most important technologies and approaches used to protect weapons-usable nuclear materials from theft? What are the major international agreements and initiatives focused on improving nuclear security? What are the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches? This seminar will provide a brief introduction to each of these topics.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis. Note the new date of this event, postponed from February 5th, 2014.

Matthew Bunn, Professor of Practice, will present a seminar entitled "How Nuclear Weapons Work" on Wednesday, September 25th at 10:00am in the Belfer Center Library.

All are welcome and invited to attend.

What are the most important technologies and approaches used to protect weapons-usable nuclear materials from theft? What are the major international agreements and initiatives focused on improving nuclear security? What are the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches? This seminar will provide a brief introduction to each of these topics.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

The Project on Managing the Atom's Nuclear 101 series presents overviews of key issues affecting the future of nuclear weapons, energy, and nonproliferation policies. In this seminar, Prof. Matthew Bunn will provide an overview of how nuclear weapons work, and the implications for nuclear policy.