CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues

@CSIS's Project on Nuclear Issues hopes to sustain a community of next-gen nuclear experts & generate new ideas & debate on nuclear issues. RT≠endorsement

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

✨Nuclear Scholars Initiative Spotlight ✨

Paige MacKinnon is a MA candidate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, and graduate research assistant at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies where she works on the open-source intelligence team. Her research largely centers on nuclear nonproliferation and defense policy with a specific focus on North Korea, China, and Russia. Paige is a fellow of the IAEA’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme. Previously, she was a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Semey, Kazakhstan. Paige graduated with honors from Smith College with a B.A. in Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian studies, and government.

Learn more about the 2026 Nuclear Scholars Initiative: https://t.co/I2cyCEgmcF

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

In On The Horizon Vol 8, 2025, CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) Nuclear Scholar Artur Honich explores why the core logic of damage limitation could be relevant to the European theater and what key changes would be required to adapt the concept to the strategic needs of European NATO allies.

Read the full analysis here: Scoping a European Approach to Damage Limitation https://t.co/6DcqXi5pnz

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

Can America maintain credible nuclear deterrence against two nuclear peers at once?
A new analysis by Alexander Richter examines whether re-MIRVing U.S. ICBMs could provide a near-term answer to growing Russian and Chinese nuclear capabilities.

Read his analysis here: https://t.co/xa97sVnSRz

[CSIS @CSIS]

WATCH NOW: @csisponi, @Missile_Defense, and @CSISAerospace experts discuss the future of space warfare and how the United States can prepare for a future in which space weapons are central to military planning.

Tune in: https://t.co/asl6OYiKbK

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

Delve into Baltic countries’ views on the United Kingdom’s commitment to their defense within NATO against the Russia threat in The United Kingdom’s Contribution to the Reassurance of Baltic Allies, On The Horizon Vol 8, 2025, with CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) Nuclear Scholar Mar Casas Cachinero

Read the full analysis here: https://t.co/6DcqXi5Xd7

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

To offset quantitative increases in adversary arsenals in a two-peer nuclear environment, U.S. policymakers should re-deploy multiple-independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) on the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). New Analysis by Alexander Richter on The Case for Re-MIRVing America’s ICBMs

Read his full analysis here:
https://t.co/xa97sVnl21

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

✨Nuclear Scholars Initiative Spotlight ✨

@Laura_m_Luca is a PhD candidate in Political Science at UCLA, a Hans J. Morgenthau Predoctoral Fellow at the O'Brien Notre Dame International Security Center, and an incoming postdoc at Harvard's Managing the Atom project and Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Center for National Security and International Studies (CNSIS). Her research examines how states use strategic communication to manage the core trade-offs of international security: inducing burden-sharing from allies without weakening deterrence, regulating new weapons while preserving strategic advantage, and advancing technologically without triggering arms races. Her three-paper dissertation combines formal game-theoretic modeling, archival research, and computational text analysis including machine learning and large language models.
Previously, Laura worked at the European External Action Service in Brussels on multilateral affairs, served as a diplomat at the European Union Delegation to Iceland, and covered disarmament affairs at Romania's Mission to the UN Office in Geneva, including the Conference on Disarmament (CD) and the CCW’s Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS).
Laura holds a master’s in International Relations/Political Science from the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) and a bachelor’s in Economics and Political Science from UCLA. Her policy writing includes a co-authored Foreign Policy commentary on autonomous weapons regulation.

Learn more about the 2026 Nuclear Scholars Initiative: https://t.co/I2cyCEgmcF

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

✨Nuclear Scholars Initiative Spotlight ✨

@shafaqhkhan is an analyst supporting the Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Nuclear Deterrence and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Policy and an incoming U.S. Foreign Service Officer. She is also a graduate student in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. In summer 2025, she served as a Political Fellow at the U.S Mission to NATO. Previously, she was the Roger L. Hale Fellow at Ploughshares and a Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow at the Stimson Center. She has presented her research and spoken about her career on panels hosted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues, Princeton University, and the Leonard D. Schaeffer Fellows Program. Shafaq received her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.
Learn more about the 2026 Nuclear Scholars Initiative: https://t.co/I2cyCEgU2d

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

How are Tabletop Exercises are filling the gap in nuclear sufficiency?

In On The Horizon Vol 8, 2025, @CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) Nuclear Scholar Sarah Stevenson examines how U.S. planners might respond to limited Chinese nuclear use in a Taiwan contingency through a tabletop exercise on theater nuclear capabilities and escalation management.

Read the full analysis here: https://t.co/6DcqXi5Xd7

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

How Russia Signals Nuclear Resolve with Civilian Nuclear Energy Infrastructure. New analysis by CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) Scoville Fellow Elena Tiedens for @BulletinAtomic

Read the full analysis here: https://t.co/5BFYOp7vU3

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

✨Nuclear Scholars Initiative Spotlight ✨

Caitlin Listek is a Treaty Analyst with the U.S. Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs, where she supports arms control notifications under the New START treaty. She previously served as a contractor for both the Navy and the U.S. Department of State, specializing in submarine direct commercial sales and nuclear energy export control. Caitlin holds a B.A. in International Affairs (Europe and Eurasia) from George Washington University and a Master’s degree in Security Policy, Science and Technology Policy, with a focus on nuclear security.

Learn more about the 2026 Nuclear Scholars Initiative: https://t.co/I2cyCEgU2d

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

We are now accepting applications for the Mid-Career Cadre Class of 2027. The Mid-Career Cadre is a select group of nuclear professionals that have been in the field for 7 or more years and demonstrate promise for moving into leadership positions or bringing new ideas and perspectives to the field. Cadre members come from technical, policy, academic, and military backgrounds. Applications are due by 11:59 PM EST on June 30, 2026.

Learn More Here!
https://t.co/1m4HNFx4n2

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

In On The Horizon Vol 8, 2025, @CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) Nuclear Scholar Clara Sherwood explores what a crisis with a Nuclear capable Iran would look like and Saudi Arabia’s Courses of Action and U.S. Response Strategies.

Read the full analysis here: https://t.co/6DcqXi5pnz

[Scoville Fellowship @ScovillePF]

Scoville Fellow '25 Elena Tiedens @csisponi attended the 2026 NPT Review Conference, where she got to hear from international delegates about the state of the global nuclear order.

[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists @BulletinAtomic]

This year's NPT Review Conference risks producing a hollow consensus on disarmament, in part because China has learned to leverage the treaty's multilateral dynamics to avoid nuclear accountability, writes @diyaashtakala of @csisponi.
https://t.co/50P400E98d

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

How China uses the Non-Aligned Movement to avoid nuclear accountability. New analysis by PONI Research Associate @diyaashtakala for @BulletinAtomic

Read the full analysis here: https://t.co/kaAXe1DrtJ

[CSIS Missile Defense @Missile_Defense]

The recently announced FY27 $1.5 trillion topline for DOW could provide meaningful funding increases for nuclear modernization and munitions resupply. Is it enough as the U.S. races to catch up?

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

✨Nuclear Scholars Initiative Spotlight ✨

Shreya Lad is research assistant to Scott D. Sagan at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). Here, she supports research on nuclear security and deterrence, international law, and non-proliferation. Her research interests include alliance dynamics, targeting in U.S. nuclear strategy, space policy and security, and the role of emerging technologies on nuclear deterrence and escalation. Shreya has a Master of Arts in International Affairs, with a focus on International Security and Science and Technology, from George Washington University (2024). Before she joined CISAC, she worked as a Research Assistant with the Cyber program at the Stimson Center. Shreya speaks French, Japanese, Hindi, and Marathi.

Learn more about the 2026 Nuclear Scholars Initiative: https://t.co/I2cyCEgU2d

[CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues @csisponi]

In On The Horizon Vol 8, 2025, CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) Nuclear Scholar Yashar Parsie outlines Illusory Assurance and how the United States maintains assurance as an explicit objective for its nuclear forces.

Read the full analysis here: https://t.co/jHYTHxK4gO