The prospect of nuclear war continues to threaten the existence of humanity and the long-term viability of our societies. Today’s evolving security landscape begs novel approaches to both new and long-standing challenges. 

Rapid adaptation of immensely powerful technology-driven techniques and platforms by governments and militaries reveals not only the need for novel discussion to be engendered around nuclear risk reduction and emerging technologies, but also the need to cultivate an entirely new global technical and policy community to devise the necessary frameworks to reduce catastrophic risks and prevent the outbreak of nuclear war. 

Our initiatives focus on creating venues and work streams where current nuclear experts and decision-makers can step out of their existing domains and place themselves side-by-side with deep technical experts in otherwise disparate practice areas. Our initiatives focus on creating novel approaches to nuclear crisis control, rethinking nuclear deterrence, and assessing the impacts of emerging and disruptive technologies on nuclear strategy and policy.

IST Nuclear Experts

Philip Reiner

Chief Executive Officer

Alexa Wehsener

Deputy Director for Defense Strategy and Partnerships

Leah Walker

Senior Defense Associate

Sahil Shah

Policy Advisor, CATALINK

Peter Henderson

Technical Advisor, ML and U.S. NC3

IST Initiatives

CATALINK

Preventing the onset or escalation of conflict by building a resilient global communications system.

• Machine Learning and US Nuclear Command Control and Communications
  Ramifications of novel AI technique integration into United States Nuclear Command, Control and Communications systems.
  
• How Nations Respond to Accidents in Complex Systems
  Complex system accidents and the implications for nuclear weapons infrastructure.
  
• NC3 Systems and Strategic Stability
  Outlining the global effects of nuclear modernization and advanced technologies.
  
• Last Chance: Communicating at the Nuclear Brink
  Nuclear war threatens the existence of humanity.
  
• Nuclear Early Warning Systems and Social Media Storms
  What are the risks of social media interacting with the early warning systems of nuclear-armed states?
  
  

Selected Highlights

• May 18, 2022: The Role of Crisis Communications in the Russo-Ukrainian War – IST Blog
• Spring 2022: Nuclear Proliferation in the 2020s – IST Event Series
• April 19, 2021: Zoom Won’t Stop a Nuclear War. The World Needs Hotlines – Foreign Policy