27 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.

Seminar - Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

Book Talk: Inheriting the Bomb: Ukraine’s Nuclear Disarmament and Why It Matters

Fri., Apr. 7, 2023 | 11:00am - 12:30pm

Taubman Building - Allison Dining Room, 5th Floor

The Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) invites you to attend a discussion of MTA Senior Research Associate Mariana Budjeryn’s bookInheriting the Bomb: The Collapse of the USSR and the Nuclear Disarmament of Ukraine (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023). Matthew Bunn will provide introductory remarks and Steve Miller will serve as a discussant during the session. For those attending in-person, light breakfast and refreshments will be served at 10:30am. The talk and webinar will begin at 11:00am EDT.

While this event is on the record, the event organizers prohibit any attendees, including journalists, from audio/visual recording or distributing parts or all of the event program without prior written authorization. 

Mariana Budjeryn Comments during Panel Discussion

Benn Craig/ HKS

Seminar - Open to the Public

From Nuclear Energy to Nuclear Deterrence: Update on Ukraine

Wed., Mar. 9, 2022 | 10:00am - 11:15am

Wexner Building - Room 434 A-B

Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) hosts a timely discussion focused on the nuclear implications of the evolving conflict in Ukraine. Our panelists will discuss the Budapest Memorandum, security of Ukrainian nuclear facilities, and the risks of nuclear escalation.

For members of the public (HUID and non-HUID holders), please register for the Zoom webinar event here. You will be able to watch the event live through Zoom.

For those who wish to attend in-person (HUID holders only), please register for a seat in the conference room here. Seating is limited.

While this virtual event is on the record, the event organizers prohibit any attendees, including journalists, from audio/visual recording or distributing parts or all of the event program without prior written authorization. 

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.

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.

A Russian Delta IV submarine.

Wikimedia Commons/RIA Novosti archive, image #895550 / Mikhail Fomichev / CC-BY-SA 3.0

Seminar - Open to the Public

Explaining Change in Russian Nuclear Strategy After the Cold War

Wed., June 3, 2020 | 9:30am - 11:00am

Online

A Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) seminar with Kristin Ven Bruusgaard, Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Oslo.

RSVP to receive Zoom link. Please note that this event will begin at 9:30 and end at 11:00 a.m., half an hour earlier than previous MTA seminars.

The USS Pennsylvania, a nuclear-armed Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine

U.S. Navy Photo

Seminar - Open to the Public

Nuclear Platform Diversification: A New Dataset

Thu., May 7, 2020 | 12:15pm - 2:00pm

Online

Speakers: Giles David Arceneaux, Postdoctoral Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

Kyungwon Suh, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Political Science, Syracuse University

The deterrent capacity of a state's nuclear forces is dependent upon the platforms and delivery systems that constitute the arsenal. The mere possession of nuclear weapons does not provide a robust deterrent and nuclear states cannot credibly deter potential adversaries with nuclear threats in the absence of adequate delivery capabilities. The project presents a new dataset that measures the possession of seven nuclear delivery platforms across all nuclear powers from 1945–2019, including: submarine-launched missiles, strategic land-mobile missiles, strategic solid-fuel missiles, nuclear cruise missiles, multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, long-range ballistic missiles, and tactical nuclear weapons.

Everyone is welcome to join us online via Zoom! Please register in advance for this seminar: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcsf-6uqTwoHdZZJ3qqoP1Ohy78rsXBc5en