Archive

Innovation and Catastrophic Risk

IST’s 2022: By the Numbers

IST’s 2022: By the Numbers

As we come to the end of this year of unprecedented productivity and growth, we at IST want to stop to thank you–our supporters–for helping us make 2022 such a success.

Future of Digital Security, Geopolitics of Technology, Innovation and Catastrophic Risk, NatSpecs, RTF

December 19, 2022

Philip Reiner on Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications

In the News, Podcasts

Philip Reiner on Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications

Philip Reiner joined Gus Docker, host of the Future of Life Institute podcast, to talk about how nuclear command and control systems work, how they might fail, and what can be done to improve them.

Innovation and Catastrophic Risk, NC3

October 6, 2022

Forecasting the AI and Nuclear Landscape

Forecasting the AI and Nuclear Landscape

This report, the product of a partnership between IST and Metaculus, aims to assess the risks of escalation between the U.S. and China, including by the integration of AI into NC3.

AI, China, command, communications, control, Innovation and Catastrophic Risk, nuclear

September 21, 2022

Playing Telephone: Hoax Calls and the Insecurity of Leader to Leader Communications

Playing Telephone: Hoax Calls and the Insecurity of Leader to Leader Communications

A database of hoax calls between leaders that illustrates the importance of secure, trusted crisis communications.

Innovation and Catastrophic Risk

July 20, 2022

Atlas of Crisis Communications: Nuclear States

Atlas of Crisis Communications: Nuclear States

Leah Walker and Andrew Facini present an atlas of hotlines between states with nuclear weapons, part of IST’s work efforts to reinvigorate broader nuclear crisis control through research and development aimed at identifying and solving practical nuclear risk reduction gaps.

atlas, CATALINK, crisis communications, hotline, Innovation and Catastrophic Risk, nuclear risk reduction

July 18, 2022

IST’s 2021 in Review

IST’s 2021 in Review

2021 has been a long year of unprecedented security dilemmas: from the proliferation of ransomware attacks to the contested information environment, to new issues like cognitive security. Through it all, IST has been there, working with you to help flip the script. Thank you.

Future of Digital Security, Geopolitics of Technology, Innovation and Catastrophic Risk

December 20, 2021

The CATALINK Brief

The CATALINK Brief

Learn more about the CATALINK initiative, which combines radical simplicity, open source design, formal methods for NC3, and international collaboration and outreach.

CATALINK, hotlines, Innovation and Catastrophic Risk, nuclear

August 1, 2021

Zoom Won’t Stop A Nuclear War

In the News, Op-ed

Zoom Won’t Stop A Nuclear War

In an article for Foreign Policy, Sahil Shah and Leah Walker make the case that although the red telephone is gone, a new generation of nuclear hotlines is sorely needed to manage international crises.

CATALINK, crisis communications, India, Innovation and Catastrophic Risk, nuclear hotlines, nuclear war, nuclear weapons, Pakistan, Soviet Union

April 19, 2021

Back Story with Dana Lewis: Nuclear Hotlines

In the News, Podcast

Back Story with Dana Lewis: Nuclear Hotlines

Philip Reiner joined the podcast Back Story with Dana Lewis to discuss a proposal for a nuclear hotline for nations with nuclear weapons.

CATALINK, crisis communications, hotline, Innovation and Catastrophic Risk, nuclear, nuclear weapons, Soviet Union

March 3, 2021

Hotline Between Two Koreas: Status, Limitations and Future Tasks

Hotline Between Two Koreas: Status, Limitations and Future Tasks

In this paper, Moon Chung-in and Boo Seung-Chan provide historical context on the hotlines linking South and North Korea and point to the lessons that can be learned from the decades-long effort.

CATALINK, communication, communication link, crisis, crisis management, escalation, history, hotlines, Innovation and Catastrophic Risk, NC3, nuclear, nuclear security, nuclear weapon, nuclear weapon states, nuclear weapons, nuclear-use, secure communications

December 17, 2020

Why We Study Accidents: Complex System Accidents and Their Broader Security Implications

Why We Study Accidents: Complex System Accidents and Their Broader Security Implications

Significant risk reduction can be achieved through understanding complexity and normal accidents. An increased understanding of these accidents will afford deeper insight into the vulnerabilities and risks that exist in the more technically advanced militaries of the 21st century and will give valuable foresight into the increasingly digitized, networked, and complicated systems of the future.

complex accidents, Innovation and Catastrophic Risk, mosaic warfare

November 13, 2020