Center for Nonproliferation Studies - CNS

10/12/2026

Author Talk: Hanna Notte —We Shall Outlast Them: Putin’s Global Campaign to Defeat the West
The chilling and revelatory story of how Russia’s confrontation with the West went global.
https://nonproliferation.org/author-talk-hanna-notte-we-shall-outlast-them-putins-global-campaign-to-defeat-the-west/

10/12/2026

Is Nuclear Cooperation with China Possible? Is It Desirable? Revisited.
Dr. Siegfried Hecker revisits the history of US-China cooperation in nuclear security.
https://nonproliferation.org/is-nuclear-cooperation-with-china-possible-is-it-desirable-revisited/

10/06/2026

Last month, CNS Research Associate Yanliang Pan examined how machine learning could transform open-source monitoring of nuclear and missile proliferation in The Nonproliferation Review.

His article looked specifically at how machine learning could make OSINT analysis faster and more accessible, while also raising new concerns about bias, transparency, and strategic stability.

Read more: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10736700.2026.2648105

10/05/2026

Talks in September between the U.S. and Chinese leaders set a tone of constructive stability amidst bounded competition. Important understandings were reached, inter alia, on questions of regional nuclear nonproliferation and AI governance. The present moment invites renewed assessments of previous bilateral engagement in the governance and advancement of sensitive dual-use technologies. The latest CNS report, Partners in Rivalry: U.S.-China Civil Nuclear Ties in Historical Perspective, consolidates more than a year of research led by Yanliang Pan, Dr. Siegfried Hecker, and Dr. William Potter, to review the history and lessons of U.S.-China cooperation in nuclear science, energy technology, and governance. It outlines nuclear-adjacent areas in which a carefully bounded resumption of engagement can lead to mutual benefits while underlining a historical precedent in which the United States and China navigated dual-use mistrust and competition to jointly promote the safety, security, nonproliferation, and peaceful uses of a technology with immense potential for both harm and benefit.
https://nonproliferation.org/partners-in-rivalry/

09/21/2026

The implications of AI for weapons of mass destruction are expansive. They require close scrutiny of actors' intentions, technology characteristics, and potential governance architecture.

This is the terrain explored in the new special issue of The Nonproliferation Review, the flagship CNS peer-reviewed journal. Edited by CNS/Middlebury College Professor of the Practice Stephen Herzog, this collection examines how AI is changing established WMD problems. It offers a wide view of the AI–WMD nexus, with implications for how scholars and policymakers think about risk, monitoring, technological convergence, and opportunities for restraint.

All articles are currently available for free online access!

Read them here: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rnpr20/33/1-3

09/15/2026

Remembering Ambassador Thomas Graham: A Perspective from a Former South African Diplomat
He will rightly be remembered as a central figure in nuclear nonproliferation diplomacy.

He will rightly be remembered as a central figure in nuclear nonproliferation diplomacy.

09/10/2026

In his welcome message to the Middlebury College community, CNS Director Dr. William C. Potter highlights how the new CNS Vermont Office will help to expand the College's global reach.

Through new course offerings and on-campus programming, students and faculty can connect with our work on WMD nonproliferation and AI and other emerging technologies. There will also be many opportunities to engage with our offices in Monterey, Washington, DC, and Vienna, Austria.

Read his message:

On behalf of CNS, we look forward to welcoming you into our classrooms and speaker events.

09/09/2026

Spooky Action, Real Stakes: The 2nd Quantum Revolution and What’s Ahead for the Nuclear Field
A video seminar with Dr. Sarah Case Lackner.

A video seminar with Dr. Sarah Case Lackner.

08/21/2026

New analysis from CNS Professor of the Practice Stephen Herzog and colleagues examines how public attitudes toward different weapons can shape the political limits of military force.

Across various WMD and conventional weapons systems, the piece shows how perceptions of weapon type and civilian harm can matter even more than battlefield effectiveness.

Read the analysis in the Irregular Warfare Initiative: https://www.irregularwarfare.org/what-makes-a-weapon-too-horrific-to-use/

06/18/2026

New in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: CNS researchers introduce the Asilomar Principles for Governing AI Applications in Nuclear and Biological Security.
The principles build on our April 2026 conference and mark the beginning of a new Asilomar Process. It aims to bring policymakers, weapons experts, and AI developers into early and sustained dialogue.
Read the article by Stephen Herzog, Allison Berke, Yanliang Pan, William C. Potter, and Douglas B. Shaw:

Seven principles from a recent Asilomar conference address how AI will affect nuclear and biological threats.