Virtual Library

Our research repositories present a collection of open-source resources that showcase research and analysis that has directly influenced our initiatives. Non-IST publications are copyrighted by external authors not affiliated with IST.

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Reports

Cyber Incident Reporting Framework: Global Edition

Cyber Threat Alliance, Institute for Security and Technology

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Reports

AI-NC3 Integration in an Adversarial Context: Strategic Stability Risks and Confidence Building Measures

Alexa Wehsener, Andrew W. Reddie, Leah Walker, Philip Reiner

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Op-ed

The Nuclear Risk Reduction Approach: A Useful Path Forward for Crisis Mitigation

Sylvia Mishra

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Reports

Nuclear Crisis Communications: Mapping Risk Reduction Implementation Pathways

Sylvia Mishra

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Reports

Towards a Stronger Ukrainian Media Ecosystem

Leah Walker, Alexa Wehsener, Natalia Antonova

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Op-ed

Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital must win over Silicon Valley

Leah Walker and Alexa Wehsener

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Fact Sheet

DOD Establishes the Office of Strategic Capital

Strategic Balancing Initiative

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We also welcome additional suggestions from readers, and will consider adding further resources as so much of our work has come through crowd-sourced collaboration already. If, for any chance you are an author whose work is listed here and you do not wish it to be listed in our repository, please, let us know.

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Nuclear Hotlines: Origins, Evolution, Applications

Steven E. Miller

SUMMARY

Hotlines can serve as essential firebreaks between accident, miscalculation, miscommunication, and the outbreak of nuclear war. They enable timely, direct, and confidential communication between adversaries so that states can avoid conflict and de-escalate crises.

In the nearly sixty years since the establishment of a nuclear hotline between Washington and Moscow, hotlines have proliferated to connect many states, at many levels of government, and for a variety of political-military purposes. Hotlines figure prominently in risk reduction strategies today. Yet for hotlines to serve their purposes in the 21st century, stakeholders need to better understand what hotlines do, their effectiveness, and how they can keep pace with modern information and communication technologies.

This paper by Dr. Steven E. Miller gives an overview of experiences to-date with nuclear hotlines. It reviews the history of the US-Russia hotline, describes the ways that hotlines can be used or misused, and charts how the hotline concept has evolved and propagated to help states manage international crises. The paper shows hotlines as important, if imperfect, tools for avoiding nuclear conflict.

KEY FINDINGS

  • The hotline concept has evolved to a variety of forms and settings, suggesting a broad utility.
  • Hotlines can enable nuclear-armed rivals to communicate directly and effectively at the highest levels in all circumstances, whether crisis or war, in order to minimize escalation, retain control of dangerous situations, and inoculate against potentially disastrous miscommunication or misunderstanding.
  • The impact of hotlines will depend on how they are used, whether to minimize risks and de-escalate crises or to promote coercive pressure and play diplomatic games.

This paper was commissioned by the Stanley Center, in partnership with the Institute for Security and Technology (IST) and the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, as a part of a workshop on “Nuclear Hotlines: Practice and Contemporary Considerations.”

To dive deeper into this discussion, listen to our accompanying The Fourth Leg podcast with Steve E. Miller: Communication Over Escalation.

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