CNS News & Views: December 2022

Middlebury Institute of International Studies

December 2022

Arms Control and Regional Security Oral History Project

On December 6, 2022, VCDNP Senior Research Associate, Dr. Hanna Notte and CNS Director of the Middle East Nonproliferation Program, Dr. Chen Zak Kane launched the Arms Control and Regional Security (ACRS) Oral History Project, the culmination of a multi-year partnership between CNS and the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

Dr. Notte and Dr. Kane conducted and compiled dozens of oral history interviews with diplomats and officials who participated in the ACRS multilateral meetings in the early 1990s, following on the heels of the Madrid Conference of 1991. Transcripts of these oral history interviews, the transcript of a critical oral history roundtable on ACRS, and previously unpublished documents on ACRS from US Presidential archives and private collections of American diplomats, are all freely available in a new digital archive, ACRS Oral History Project.

LGBT+ Identity in the Nuclear Weapons Space

The Vienna Center for Disarmament and Nonproliferation (VCDNP) hosted a panel discussion on queer identity in the nuclear weapons space on December 6, 2022. VCDNP Research Associate Louis Reitmann moderated the panel and was joined by VCDNP Executive Director, Elena K. Sokova; US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Policy, Richard Johnson; Policy Fellow and Programme Manager, British American Security Information Council (BASIC), Anuradha Damale-Day; US Ambassador to International Organizations in Vienna, Laura S.H. Holgate; and Director, Reaching Critical Will, Ray Acheson.

The panel discussion reflected on progress made towards prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the nuclear security field, current challenges, and how we can move forward. Panelist Ray Acheson noted that the more events and the more space that's shared with non-normative voices and perspectives the more we can elevate creative organizing and solutions to a wide range of problems in the nuclear expert community and international organizations.

Watch the recording

CIF Teachers Retreat

CNS hosted the Critical Issues Forum (CIF) Teachers Retreat on December 3, 2022, where high school teachers, college professors, and nuclear experts met in Monterey, CA to discuss disarmament and nonproliferation education. Topics addressed during the retreat included the intersection of nuclear disarmament and racial justice, the role educators can play in nuclear disarmament, the impacts of nuclear weapons from various scientific perspectives, environmental and human impacts of nuclear weapon tests, new approaches to bring intercultural communication to the work of social change, conflict transformation, and nuclear disarmament education, and how teachers can teach nuclear disarmament to high school students.

The CIF aims to promote disarmament and nonproliferation education to high school students around the world, including those in the United States, Japan, and Russia while helping students develop critical thinking and cross-cultural communication skills. The CIF Teachers Retreat expanded and solidified the disarmament and nonproliferation educator network in the United States.

Conversations Before Midnight: ICBMs are Ridiculous

Noah Mayhew, Research Associate at the VCDNP spoke at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ annual event, Conversations Before Midnight as the recipient of the Bulletin’s Leonard M. Rieser Award in 2021. Mayhew was selected as the recipient of this prestigious award for his July 8, 2021, article “A millennial’s view: ICBMs are ridiculous.” Conversations Before Midnight is the Bulletin’s signature annual event that provides the opportunity for nuclear experts to connect to a global audience.

In his remarks, Mayhew reminded participants that ICBMs are a particularly dangerous leg of the nuclear triad and noted that the exorbitant cost of the nuclear modernization project is unjustifiable and unnecessary for the United States to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent. Mayhew articulated that the first step towards mitigating the threat of nuclear war is through diplomacy, rather than aggressive posturing.

Securing Innovation Event Series

Over the last year, CNS in partnership with CRDF Global and the Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction, completed a series of webinars for government officials and industry experts from Kenya and Nigeria on dual-use emerging technologies and the risks associated with potential misuse for weapon of mass destruction (WMD) development. This two-part webinar series was structured to bring together representatives from both countries for sector specific sessions, followed by country specific multi-sectoral sessions.

CNS experts presented case studies on dual uses associated with genetic editing, artificial intelligence, and additive manufacturing and experts in Kenya and Nigeria undertook and presented research on tools and mechanisms used in both countries to secure innovation. These events brought awareness to different security challenges that innovators and governments face. As a result, government and industry leaders in Kenya and Nigeria are better positioned to tackle innovation risks when deciding how best to secure innovation domestically.