The global security environment is experiencing monumental strains, including from the weakening of long-held norms, worsening relations among many nations, clear violations of the rules-based international order as exemplified by Russia’s second, and devastating, invasion of a sovereign Ukraine, and mounting strains from a multiyear pandemic, economic strains, the worsening effects of climate change, and more. 

In recent years these issues have shaped and been shaped by severe setbacks to nuclear arms control and the world stepping toward a new nuclear arms race. The danger is rising that nuclear weapons will be used, and that their use at so-called “lower levels” is becoming more palatable. This risk is being fueled by multiple nations seeking to expand the types of nuclear weapons they possess and design new capabilities into their nuclear arsenals that are likely to increase tensions and opportunities for miscalculation.  

As such, the Janne E. Nolan Center on Strategic Weapons (the Nolan Center) is working to help revert this global growth in nuclear weapons risks. For the United States, the Nolan Center is advancing ideas for a smarter path on nuclear policy and plans that should strengthen deterrence while reducing the risks of nuclear war. The Nolan Center team is also working in cooperation with other nations and international organizations to advance shared definitions of nuclear strategic stability in the multipolar world and common understandings of the responsibilities of nuclear weapons-capable states.

Since 2018, The Nolan Center staff have also conducted analysis and Track 1.5 dialogues to develop specific new steps to drive the future of arms control—-and details regarding how they might be implemented in the years ahead. As the international landscape continues to evolve, successful arms control in the 21st Century will require new approaches grounded in the mutual security interests of countries involved. Working in collaboration with governments and other think tanks from around the world, the Nolan Center is developing new arms control concepts that countries may pursue together with special attention to classes of nuclear weapons that carry the highest risks of ambiguity, escalation, and altering strategic calculations.

CSR’s continued work is grounded in a strategic vision for nuclear-armed nations to strengthen nuclear strategic stability while pursuing decreasing reliance on and possession of nuclear weapons over time.