63 Events

U.S. President Gerald Ford and Soviet Communist Party Chief Leonid Brezhnev sign the joint communiqué at the conclusion of their two days meeting near Vladivostok, Nov. 24, 1974.

AP/CB

Seminar - Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

Escaping MAD: Technology, Politics, and U.S. Nuclear Strategy

Thu., Mar. 14, 2024 | 12:15pm - 1:45pm

One Brattle Square - Room 350

Speaker: David Kearn, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

The book project seeks to explain the divergence of views of within the strategic community after the signing of the SALT I Accords and the subsequent shift in U.S. strategic nuclear policy away from "assured destruction" to "nuclear warfighting" throughout the 1970s and culminating in the Reagan administrations "prevailing strategy."

Open to Harvard ID Holders Only: Admittance will be on a first come–first served basis. Coffee &Tea Provided.

President Jimmy Carter along with George M. Seignious, right, director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency briefs community leaders on SALT II at the White House in Washington, Oct. 12, 1979.

AP/Charles Tasnadi

Seminar - Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

A Strange Arms Debate: Legitimation, Essential Equivalence, and Carter's Nuclear Strategy

Thu., Feb. 1, 2024 | 12:15pm - 1:45pm

One Brattle Square - Room 350

Speaker: Colleen Larkin, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

President Jimmy Carter entered office committed to reducing the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. foreign policy. He espoused the logic of mutually assured destruction and hoped for major arms control progress. Yet by the end of his presidency, he had embraced a competitive nuclear posture and accelerated the arms race. What explains this shift in Carter’s strategy? 

Open to Harvard ID Holders Only: Admittance will be on a first come–first served basis. Coffee &Tea Provided.

Close-up of the brick apartment building, which was outfitted with a fallout shelter in the middle of the last century, 28 February 2016.

Wikimedia CC/Andre Carrotflower

Seminar - Open to the Public

Insurance or Strategy: When Does Population Protection Constitute Deterrence?

Thu., Mar. 9, 2023 | 12:15pm - 2:00pm

Online

Speaker: Matthew Hartwell, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

When and why is population protection considered an element of U.S. nuclear deterrence? While civil defense played a negligible role in nuclear strategy throughout the early part of the Cold War, beginning in the late 1950s, the limits to the program materialized twice as a potential gap in the U.S.-Soviet nuclear balance. Examining the public and congressional reaction to the programs, this seminar will demonstrate how domestic political barriers undermined the Kennedy and Reagan administrations' attempts to alter the role of population protection in U.S. nuclear strategy.

Everyone is welcome to join us online via Zoom! Please register in advance for this seminar:
https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0ld-qrrzkpHtGKfE1mVLLIZ2s8dLCBcSp1

Russian President Borys Yeltsin and U.S. President Bill Clinton bump elbows after the signature of the Budapest Memorandum on security assurances to Ukraine in connection with its accession to the NPT on December 6, 1994 with Ukraine’s President Leonid Kuchma (far right), and British Prime Minister John Major (not in the photo).

Greg Gibson/AP Photo

Seminar - Open to the Public

A Nuclear Dimension of the Ukraine Crisis

Wed., Jan. 26, 2022 | 2:00pm - 3:30pm

Online

A Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) seminar with Mariana Budjeryn, Research Associate with MTA, and Amb. Steven Pifer, William J. Perry Fellow, CISAC, Stanford University, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine.

"Safe Enough? A History of Nuclear Power and Accident Risk" by Thomas R. Wellock

University of California Press

Seminar - Open to the Public

Safe Enough? A History of Nuclear Power and Accident Risk

Wed., Apr. 28, 2021 | 2:00pm - 3:30pm

Online

A Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) seminar with Thomas Wellock, historian at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). 

Please RSVP to receive the Zoom link.

Seminar - Open to the Public

Follow-on to New START: Problems and Dilemmas

Thu., Apr. 8, 2021 | 9:00am - 10:30am

Online

A Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) seminar with Dr. Alexei Arbatov, head of the Center for International Security at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations.

Please RSVP to receive the Zoom link.

The St. Anthony uranium mine in northwest New Mexico, as seen in 2007.

Doc Searls/Wikimedia Commons

Seminar - Open to the Public

Living with Uranium: The Impact of Uranium Mining on Indigenous Communities

Thu., Dec. 10, 2020 | 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Online

On Dec. 10, the Project on Managing the Atom hosted a panel discussion on the impact of uranium mining on indigenous communities as part of its ongoing series on Diversity and Inclusion in the Nuclear Field. A full recording of the event is viewable at the link below.

A deserted classroom in Pripyat, Ukraine, three decades after the Chernobyl disaster, 10 March 2013.

Wikimedia CC/DmytroChapman

Seminar - Open to the Public

Recent Lessons for the Recovery from Acts of Radiological and Nuclear Terrorism

Thu., Oct. 29, 2020 | 12:15pm - 2:00pm

Online

Speaker: Julius Weitzdörfer, Junior Professor of East Asian Law, Hagen University, Germany

Risks stemming from CBRN-terrorism (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear) are characterized by relatively low frequency, yet extraordinary potential impact. To help reduce the enormous potential costs associated with radiological and nuclear terrorism, drawing on cases from Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, this seminar seeks to derive and improve recovery policies towards a well-rounded, holistic approach to mitigating the risks of nuclear and radiological terrorism.

Everyone is welcome to join us online via Zoom! Register in advance for this meeting: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAoc-yhrjwrEtEXOUTdHqGhMvLscB5VO38u