WASHINGTON, D.C. – Amid increasingly tense geopolitics, growing nuclear threats, and risks posed by rapidly evolving technologies, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) announce the creation of a new high-level Task Force on Nuclear Proliferation and U.S. National Security. The bipartisan group, comprised of over a dozen former senior government officials and experts with deep national security experience, first met in October and will convene multiple times over the coming months to confront these pressing challenges. Members will address critical questions about how the changing geopolitical landscape could affect the proliferation of nuclear weapons and will issue a report with policy recommendations to guide the future of U.S. national security policy in a changing and challenging geopolitical environment.
Sixty years ago, the Gilpatric Committee, a blue-ribbon panel, reported on the urgent need to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons around the globe. Since then, the U.S. has viewed nuclear weapons proliferation as a dangerous, even existential, risk to national security. Accordingly, preventing nuclear proliferation has been a central, non-partisan tenet of U.S. national security policy across multiple administrations. The U.S. has led multilateral efforts to reverse nuclear weapons programs in other countries and to erect an international architecture of regimes and treaties to control nuclear technology and monitor nuclear programs. The U.S. also has stemmed proliferation through unilateral measures, including extended deterrence commitments and economic sanctions. Together, these approaches have been remarkably successful in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons in all but a few cases.
“Despite notable successes of the last 60 years, the nuclear non-proliferation regime is under strain, much as are other elements of the international order. We are excited to bring together this extraordinary group and have all agreed to leave advocacy at the door and go where our collective analysis takes us to come up with fresh policy prescriptions as warranted,” said Harvard’s Belfer Center Director Meghan L. O’Sullivan.
When President-elect Donald Trump takes office, his administration will face nuclear threats from Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and others; interest in nuclear weapons from several allies and partners; and steady expansion in the global nuclear energy sector. Addressing proliferation in this environment will require sustained and focused U.S. leadership, which necessitates a clear and strong consensus among policymakers across the political spectrum on the central principles and policies best suited to U.S. national security.
"At a time of heightened geopolitical risk and technological change, the threat of nuclear proliferation is increasing—raising the danger that the wrong strategies and policies could trigger enormous long-term consequences. This task force will examine the nuclear threat landscape and key proliferation drivers to develop a policy roadmap that mitigates risks for the world and protects American security. Leveraging Carnegie's extensive expertise on nuclear policy, and in collaboration with our partners at Belfer and NTI, we strive for a world free from the dangers of nuclear conflict," said Carnegie’s President Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar.
The task force, co-chaired by O’Sullivan, Cuéllar, and NTI Co-Chair and CEO Ernest J. Moniz, aims to produce a consensus report by mid-2025 that characterizes the emerging nuclear proliferation landscape; evaluates the relative importance of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons as a strategic objective in U.S. national security policy; examines the various policy options and their implications; and offers recommendations to help guide U.S. national security policy going forward.
“We’ve gathered some of the top minds in the national security space for a necessary stocktaking of the key proliferation challenges of today,” Moniz said. “Working together, I’m confident that we can chart a course through an incredibly fraught moment in our history, to a safer future for all.” Task Force members include:
- Matthew Bunn, James R. Schlesinger Professor of the Practice of Energy, National Security, and Foreign Policy at Harvard Kennedy School
- Bob Corker, former U.S. Senator from Tennessee
- Francis J. Gavin, Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and Director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS
- Rose Gottemoeller, former Deputy Secretary General of NATO
- Stephen Hadley, former U.S. National Security Advisor
- Jessica Tuchman Mathews, Distinguished Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Michael Morell, former Acting Director and Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
- Sam Nunn, former U.S. Senator from Georgia
- Daniel B. Poneman, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy
- Susan E. Rice, former U.S. National Security Advisor
- Kori Schake, Senior Fellow and Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute
- Wendy Sherman, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
- Admiral Sandy Winnefeld, former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
About the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Based at Harvard Kennedy School, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs brings together leading thinkers and practitioners from across disciplines to advance understanding on the most important challenges in international security and to train the next generation of leaders in this field.
About the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace generates strategic ideas and independent analysis, supports diplomacy, and trains the next generation of scholar-practitioners to help countries and institutions take on the most difficult global problems and advance peace.
About the Nuclear Threat Initiative
The Nuclear Threat Initiative is a nonprofit, nonpartisan global security organization focused on reducing nuclear, biological, and emerging technology threats imperiling humanity.
Contact:
Sharmeen Aly
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
sharmeen.aly@ceip.org