22 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

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. 

Amb. Marjolijn van Deelen

European External Action Service

Seminar - Open to the Public

A Conversation with Amb. Marjolijn van Deelen, EU Special Envoy for Non-proliferation and Disarmament

Wed., Mar. 17, 2021 | 2:00pm - 3:30pm

Online

Amb. Marjolijn van Deelen, EU Special Envoy for Non-proliferation and Disarmament, in conversation with Matthew Bunn, James R. Schlesinger Professor of the Practice of Energy, National Security, and Foreign Policy.

Sponsored by the Project on Managing the Atom.

Please register to receive the Zoom link.

Seminar - Open to the Public

Agency, Africa, and the Atom

Wed., Feb. 10, 2021 | 2:00pm - 3:30pm

Online

A Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) seminar with Olamide Samuel, Coordinator of SCRAP Weapons and Senior Teaching Fellow at SOAS University of London.

Please RSVP to receive the Zoom link.

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

Cascade of gas centrifuges used to produce enriched uranium in the U.S. gas centrifuge plant in Piketon, Ohio, 1984.

DOE Photo

Seminar - Open to the Public

A-Bomb for the People: Domestic Drivers of Nuclear Latency

Thu., June 4, 2020 | 12:15pm - 2:00pm

Online

Speakers: Rebecca Davis Gibbons, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom; Ariel Petrovics, Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

Though only nine states in the world today are believed to possess their own nuclear weapons, many more states have the capability to pursue a nuclear bomb if they choose. This capability – or nuclear latency – has recently drawn attention in international relations scholarship, which largely focuses on the effects of latency on international deterrence, compellence, and bargaining. While this research helps explain the security benefits and motives that may drive states to pursue nuclear capabilities short of the bomb, it has yet to determine how domestic politics play into these considerations. This project explores how public opinion factors into state decisions to pursue or forgo latent nuclear capabilities. In doing so, it seeks to offer new insight into when and why latency can become a salient topic to domestic audiences, and the implications of these domestic drivers for the future of nonproliferation.

Everyone is welcome to join us online via Zoom! Please register in advance for this seminar:
https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwuc-qrqj4pG90vSX2_VoG35zaE6L6mkPQt

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visits the Bushehr nuclear power plant just outside the port city of Bushehr, southern Iran.

AP Photo/Iranian Presidency Office, Mohammad Berno

Seminar - Open to the Public

Does the Middle East Really Need Nuclear Power?

Thu., Feb. 8, 2018 | 4:10pm - 5:30pm

Littauer Building - Fainsod Room, 324

A seminar with Ali Ahmad, Scholar In-Residence and Director, Energy Policy and Security in the Middle East Program, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut.

Co-sponsored by the Project on Managing the Atom and the Geopolitics of Energy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

The World Forum Convention Center during the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit, March 21, 2014.

Creative Commons

Seminar - Open to the Public

The Determinants of Effective Nuclear Governance

Thu., Dec. 3, 2015 | 12:15pm - 2:00pm

Littauer Building - Belfer Center Library, Room 369

Why do some efforts by the international community to manage and mitigate nuclear risks succeed while others fail? This seminar develops an analytical framework that moves beyond extant explanations focused on self-interest and explores how cognitive beliefs, implementation practices, and their interplay inform interests, thereby shaping institutional effectiveness. Evidence is drawn from three cases of multilateral cooperative engagement in nuclear security and counterterrorism.

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