A group of bipartisan experts, including faculty member Vipin Narang, offer basic guideposts for the Pentagon to take into account as it proceeds with its close hold mini review of U.S. nuclear strategy in a new article in Real Clear Defense. www.realcleardefense.com/articles/202...

In a new paper, Stanton Nuclear Fellow Beenish Pervaiz examines the May 2025 crisis between India and Pakistan “to provide a comparative analysis of why and how variations in crisis narratives matter for what could come next.” Via @stimsoncenter.bsky.social southasianvoices.org/sec-f-pk-r-c...

On April 15, SSP had the honor of presenting former Commander, US Cyber Command and Director, National Security Agency/Chief, Central Security Service General Timothy D. Haugh with the General James Doolittle Award. Learn more about the Doolittle Award: https://bit.ly/4eV4bdL

SSP Senior Fellow Charles Glaser speaks to Amherst College Professor Eleonora Mattiacci about his latest book “Retrench, Defend, Compete: Securing America’s Future Against a Rising China”. 🔖Bookmark now, 🎧listen later via @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social: https://bit.ly/3R8egtU

In a new paper, @mbudjeryn.bsky.social examines the global nuclear order after the Cold War, specifically asking why “did only Russia emerge as the only possessor of Soviet nuclear weapons in the post-Soviet space?” Read the full article via Journal of Strategic Studies: https://bit.ly/4dkt3Jr

SSP Director @fravel.bsky.social speaks with @npr.org about China’s expanding nuclear program. “What [China] worried about was that the U.S. was developing what's known as conventional long-range strike weapons that could be used to attack China's nuclear forces,” Fravel says.

On Hegseth’s ongoing, high-profile military shakeup, SSP’s Barry Posen asks, “Is he purging not just perfectly competent people, but highly competent people, the people you would want in your foxhole?” www.salon.com/2026/05/01/r... Read more via @salon.com

⏰Reminder: @mbudjeryn.bsky.social, Center for Nuclear Security Policy Senior Researcher, joins a panel of experts to explore Chernobyl’s enduring legacy. Hosted by @carnegieendowment.org. In person and online: https://bit.ly/4cVdzLw 🗓️May 7, 2026 🕘9:00-10:15am ET 📍1779 Mass Ave, DC

Thank you, Heidi Urben, for your important discussion on assessing internal accountability in the US military during this week’s Wednesday Seminar. Seminars will return in the fall. Meanwhile, catch up on the conversation with our archived seminars: https://bit.ly/4dl4yvN @heidiurben.bsky.social

Center for Nuclear Security Policy Senior Researcher @mbudjeryn.bsky.social joins a panel of experts to explore Chernobyl’s enduring legacy. Hosted by @carnegieendowment.org. Register now for this in-person and online discussion. 🗓️5/7/26 🕘9-10:15am ET 📍1779 Mass Ave, DC https://bit.ly/4cVdzLw

Join us tomorrow for the final Wednesday Seminar of the semester, in which @heidiurben.bsky.social will discuss internal accountability in the US military. 📡Bookmark the livestream* https://youtube.com/live/yegx7ekZT8A?feature=share *this livestream will not be recorded

Congratulations to the Security Studies Program Phd students Kathryn Dura, Christine Liu, and Tyler Sagerstrom on receiving MIT Center for International Studies PhD Student Research Grants! Learn more about their grants and research topics: cis.mit.edu/news/cis-awa...

40 years after the Chornobyl disaster, Center for Nuclear Security Policy Senior Researcher @mbudjeryn.bsky.social reflects on the impact of peaceful and weaponized nuclear energy in Ukraine’s history in “Atoms for Peace and Atoms for War”. Via Baltic Worlds balticworlds.com/atoms-for-pe...

Join us for the final Wednesday Seminar of the semester, in which @heidiurben.bsky.social will discuss internal accountability in the US military. 📡Bookmark the livestream https://youtube.com/live/yegx7ekZT8A?feature=share

Thank you, Joshua Kertzer, for your lively discussion “Advisers in Foreign Policy” during this week’s Wednesday Seminar.
There are only two seminars left in the semester! @jkertzer.bsky.social

In the penultimate Wednesday Seminar of the semester, Caleb Pomeroy will discuss how rising power increases leaders' expectations of security. 🗓️4/22 at noon ET 📍MIT community can join in person at E40-496 📡Bookmark the livestream https://youtube.com/live/jrqCTSDsVTQ?feature=share

🥗Spend your lunchtime with us! In tomorrow’s Wednesday Seminar, @jkertzer.bsky.social explores the role of advisers in foreign policy, highlighting the systematically different counsel offered by hawkish and dovish advisers. Livestreaming: https://bit.ly/4dXZaAH *This talk will not be recorded.

SSP Senior Research Associate Jim Walsh thinks that the US may be ready to walk away from the war, despite not having met its strategic goals. 🎧Listen to the full interview with @wbur.org https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2026/04/08/trump-iran-ceasefire

Center for Nuclear Security Policy Senior Researcher @mbudjeryn.bsky.social discusses the impasse in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in this @tvpworld.bsky.social interview. Full interview: https://youtu.be/UdLTd_dwjJU?si=aY8Y-KfTEzUTQ6XD

In our upcoming Wednesday Seminar, @jkertzer.bsky.social explores the role of advisers in foreign policy, highlighting the systematically different counsel offered by hawkish and dovish advisers. 📡Bookmark the livestream* https://bit.ly/4dXZaAH *This talk will be livestreamed but not recorded.

“AI is an extraordinary tool—but it’s not a genie to which humans can delegate judgment,” writes Joel Brenner, SSP Senior Research Fellow. Read Brenner’s full commentary, “Myth of the AI Oracle” via @lawfaremedia.org https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/myth-of-the-ai-oracle

Thank you, Rachel Myrick, for your informative discussion “Polarization and International Politics” at last week’s Wednesday Seminar. And special thanks to Caitlin Talmadge for guest hosting. Only three more seminars remaining for the semester! @rachelmyrick.bsky.social @proftalmadge.bsky.social

Congratulations to SSP PhD student Daniel Cebul on receiving the Smith Richardson Foundation’s World Politics and Statecraft Fellowship!

Mariana Budjeryn’s 2022 book, “Inheriting the Bomb: The Collapse of the USSR and the Nuclear Disarmament of Ukraine”, is now available in a Polish translation. @mbudjeryn.bsky.social, a senior researcher at the MIT’s Center for Nuclear Security Policy, examines the nuclear legacy...

SSP Senior Research Associate Jim Walsh says this is the biggest use of oil as a weapon, even more so than previous wars in the Middle East. Watch the full discussion via @aljazeera.com: www.aljazeera.com/video/inside...

“New Delhi still counts the United States as its most important—if less reliable—partner, motivating it to play the best hand it is dealt while placing smaller bets elsewhere,” writes SSP Affiliate Sameer Lalwani for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Read more: https://bit.ly/4shioEJ

Congratulations to SSP Affiliate Francis Gavin for receiving the 2026 Lionel Gelber Prize for his book “Thinking Historically: A Guide to Statecraft and Strategy”!

One month into the war with Iran, both sides are losing, says Jim Walsh, SSP Senior Research Associate, speaking to @wbur.org Here & Now’s Indira Lakshmanan. 🎧Listen to the full segment: https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2026/03/27/iran-war-one-month

🥪Spend your lunchtime with us! In tomorrow’s Wednesday Seminar, Rachel Myrick will discuss her research, arguing that polarization reshapes the nature of constraints on democratic leaders. Livestream*: https://bit.ly/4tbWL9A *This livestream will not be recorded. @rachelmyrick.bsky.social

In their latest paper published by American Political Science Review, Stanton Fellow Joshua Byun and co-author Hyunku Kwon asks, “How can governments in racially divided societies protect vulnerable populations from political violence after large-scale internal conflict?” https://bit.ly/4bIcebS

n our upcoming Wednesday Seminar, @rachelmyrick.bsky.social will discuss her research, arguing that polarization reshapes the nature of constraints on democratic leaders, which in turn erodes the advantages democracies have in foreign affairs. Learn more: ssp.mit.edu/events/2026/...

@proftalmadge.bsky.social says that Iran is probably already thinking about deterring the next war, "part of the way you deter the next round is to teach more powerful adversaries that they don’t control when the dance stops, once the music starts.” @brookings.edu www.brookings.edu/articles/why...

Thank you, Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of @thebulletin.org, for your lively discussion on “The Third Nuclear Age” at last week’s Wednesday Seminar. 📼ICYMI catch up with the conversation with the recorded stream: https://youtube.com/live/ohOSv5unJiE?feature=share

@mbudjeryn.bsky.social, CNSP Senior Researcher, joins a panel of experts to discuss Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant’s status and what support Ukraine needs to maintain and secure its nuclear sites. Watch the Helsinki Commission briefing: https://bit.ly/4bGHmag

“When you calculate what munitions to use, there is a strong tendency to optimise on reducing risk to your own forces in the present context,” says Eric Heginbotham, Wargaming Lab Co-director. via @financialtimes.com: https://bit.ly/4dDZ2G3

"Choosing to fight can lead to all the normal costs of war—death, destruction, and a shift in resources from butter to guns—but not bring the expected benefits in terms of enhanced reputation for resolve,” writes @joshschwartz.bsky.social, SSP visiting scholar. Read more: https://bit.ly/3NkrsdJ

Mariana Budjeryn, Center for Nuclear Security Policy Research Associate, joins an international panel on @france24.com to discuss the next possible phase of the war in Iran. Full debate: https://bit.ly/47g9gIN @mbudjeryn.bsky.social

MIT professor of political science Caitlin Talmadge (@proftalmadge.bsky.social) speaks to the @nytimes.com and @wsj.com this week about Iran.

“It is hard to imagine effective or safe mine clearance operations while the larger war is going on,” says @proftalmadge.bsky.social in @financialtimes.com. “This is not a mission you want to be doing in the middle of a shooting war.” Read the full article: https://bit.ly/47QvKAg

🥗Spend your lunchtime with us! In tomorrow’s Wednesday Seminar, Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of @thebulletin.org, will discuss recent developments in nuclear proliferation, arms control, and strategy. 📡Bookmark the livestream https://bit.ly/410Baoz

SSP’s Barry Posen comments on General McChrystal’s comparison of Trump’s second-term foreign policy to Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”. Read on, from @theatlantic.com: https://bit.ly/3Nrvv7Y

“Politicians often leverage the public’s fascination with hostages and captives for political advantage, weaponising the drama of kidnapping incidents to criticise opponents, win elections, and pursue other political objectives,” write MIT professor @rjsamuels.bsky.social and SSP alum Nick Ackert.

Thank you, Kari Bingen, Senior Fellow @csis.org, for your engaging discussion “Invisible Frontlines: Security and Competition in the Space Domain” at this week’s Wednesday Seminar. 📼ICYMI catch up with the conversation with the recorded stream: https://youtube.com/live/B6ek7j3lCpk?feature=share

MIT professor of political science Caitlin Talmadge (@proftalmadge.bsky.social ) contributes a piece to today's @foreignaffairs.com with “The Hormuz Minefield”. Read the full article: https://fam.ag/41249Iy Talmadge also talks to @nytimes.com about the Strait: https://nyti.ms/4cFIqgO

In our upcoming Wednesday Seminar, Alexandra Bell will discuss recent developments in nuclear proliferation, arms control, and strategy. Bell is the president and CEO of @thebulletin.org. 🗓️3/18 at noon ET 📍MIT community can join in person at E40-496 📡Bookmark the livestream https://bit.ly/410Baoz

SSP professor of political science Caitlin Talmadge (@proftalmadge.bsky.social) talks to a number of outlets this week regarding the possible risks to naval escorts in the Strait of Hormuz.

Mariana Budjeryn (@mbudjeryn.bsky.social ), Center for Nuclear Security Policy Research Associate, joins a panel of experts to discuss Russia’s occupation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. 🗓️3/16/26 10:30am ET 📡Bookmark the Helsinki Commission livestream briefing: https://bit.ly/4sElMdo

🥪Spend your lunchtime with us! In tomorrow’s Wednesday Seminar, Kari Bingen, Senior Fellow @csis.org, will discuss the landscape of space security and competition. 🗓️3/11 at noon ET 📍MIT community can join in person at E40-496 📡Bookmark the livestream https://bit.ly/4svYaru

SSP Senior Research Associate Jim Walsh speaks with the @hankyoreh.bsky.social about the wider ramifications of the US and Israel’s ongoing war with Iran. 📰Read the full interview: https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/1248443.html

Thank you, Paul DeLuca, for sharing your work at RAND with us at this week’s Wednesday Seminar! ICYM you can catch up with the recorded stream🎞️ https://youtube.com/live/BFP38r5RpIY?feature=share