Nuclear Threat Initiative

Biological Policy and Programs (BIO). NTI | bio advanced multiple initiatives to support our goal of safeguarding modern bioscience and biotechnology to prevent deliberate or accidental misuse that could otherwise lead to a global catastrophe. At the 2023 Munich Security Conference, we hosted an event on "Preventing Bioweapons and Catastrophic Accidents: Safeguarding Bioscience and Biotech" featuring a discussion on the role of the International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS), an international organization incubated by NTI with the mission of reducing emerging biological risks associated with rapid technological advances. NTI | bio continued to build international support for IBBIS through outreach and socialization, and the June 2023 UK Biological Security Strategy recognized the significant role that IBBIS will play globally and the importance of its work on DNA synthesis screening. NTI | bio advanced our work to bolster biosecurity practices throughout the bioscience research and development lifecycle, through multiple activities, including our annual Biosecurity Innovation and Risk Reduction Initiative meeting in Cambridge, England, with international participants from industry, academia, government, international organizations, and the broader biosecurity community. We also launched an impactful report on the current state of benchtop DNA synthesis devices, implications for biosecurity, and recommendations for effectively governing and safeguarding this technology. Later in the year, NTI | bio published a highly influential report on the convergence of artificial intelligence and the life sciences, based on consultations with experts in industry, academia, and civil society. The report addresses current and anticipated AI-bio capabilities, the biosecurity implications of these advances, and options for governing this important technology. NTI published the report in advance of the global AI Safety Summit in the UK in early November. The UK discussion paper for the Summit included six references to the NTI report, which also influenced the U.S. Executive Order on AI. To support effective policy making on these topics within the U.S. Government, NTI | bio hosted Congressional educational events on dual-use research of concern and the convergence of AI and the life sciences. To advance biosecurity strategy and practice in Southeast Asia, a key region where bioscience and biotechnology are rapidly advancing, NTI | bio partnered with the Thailand Department of Medical Sciences and Department of Disease Control to organize the Sixth Annual Global Biosecurity Dialogue in Bangkok. More than 50 leaders from government, civil society, academia, and the private sector participated. NTI | bio continued our work to develop stronger international capabilities to disincentivize bioweapons development by nation states, including through the publication of a peer-reviewed paper on "Guarding Against Catastrophic Biological Risks: Preventing State Biological Weapon Development and Use by Shaping Intentions." We also convened a workshop in November on disincentivizing state bioweapons development use, to begin building a community of thought leaders who can develop more practical, effective approaches to address this challenge. We also continued to advance the Joint Assessment Mechanism, an NTI-proposed UN-based mechanism to identify the source of high-consequence biological outbreaks of unknown origin. NTI | bio brought the winners of the 2023 Next Generation Competition for Biosecurity competition, along with an international delegation of 10 early career professionals, to the Biological Weapons Convention Working Group on Strengthening the Convention and the Meeting of States Parties. The winners presented their paper which proposed a "biosecurity-by-design" approach to ensure that biosecurity is integrated into every stage of the life science research and development pipeline.

Communications and Public Education: In 2023, as wars raged in two nuclear-armed regions of the world, a new arms race accelerated, and global nuclear arsenals became ever-more vulnerable to risks associated with cyber and emerging technologies, NTI significantly ramped up public outreach work to increase engagement around the risks posed by nuclear weapons. The summer blockbuster Oppenheimer provided an opportunity for NTI's leaders and experts to connect the story of the birth of nuclear weapons to today's growing nuclear threats. "The first step to elimination [of nuclear weapons] is raising public awareness," NTI President Joan Rohlfing and expert James McKeon wrote in USA Today. "We hope that's exactly what Oppenheimer will do, and we call on those motivated to speak out after seeing the film to demand that our leaders work toward building a safer, nuclear weapons-free world-now and for future generations." We also reached millions of people online, seeding amusing and thought-provoking digital graphics to influence social media conversation. The graphics received more than 46 million views, and a satirical "NTI statement" on the box office war between Oppenheimer and Barbie known as "Barbenheimer" received more than 150,000 views and 500 reshares. Connecting the film to the launch of our third annual #CranesForOurFuture campaign, NTI partnered with others in the nuclear policy field to promote cranes at sold-out screenings in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Chicago. We then launched the campaign-now the largest digital activation in support of a world without nuclear weapons-in partnership with Hiroshima and Nagaski, drawing 1,000+ partner organizations and individuals to share paper cranes to show growing support for nuclear disarmament. Participants included cultural influencers like Julianne Moore and Yoko Ono, prominent global leaders like IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, members of Congress, TikTokers, artists and others. NTI also helped develop and place an op-ed by the governor of Hiroshima in the San Fransisco Chronicle, detailing "how nuclear weapons have held our planet and its people hostage for more than three-quarters of a century and how the risks they pose today may be greater than ever before." The team also supported the release of the sixth edition of the NTI Nuclear Security Index, which drew news media coverage globally, including in an exclusive Washington Post article titled, "'Disturbing' decline in global nuclear security, watchdog says." Additional nuclear-related news coverage in 2023 included a New York Times Science section article featuring Joan Rohlfing on the need to apply modern neuroscience to decision making around launching nuclear weapons; an Ethics & International Affairs article by Rohlfing on "The Myth of 'Just' Nuclear Deterrence: Time for a New Strategy to Protect Humanity from Existential Risk, and a Foreign Policy piece by NTI CEO and Co-Chair Ernest J. Moniz headlined, "A Nuclear South Korea is a Dangerous Miscalculation." Finally, the Communications team developed a compelling web experience to promote a report on a 2022 tabletop exercise hosted by NTI | bio at the Munich Security Conference. The website, stopthenextpandemic.io, takes visitors on a tour through the fictional scenario involving a targeted attack with an engineered virus and explores the report and its recommendations.

Nuclear Materials Security Program (NMS). In 2023 NMS strengthened global nuclear security through comprehensive, data-driven analysis and by convening leaders to identify and commit to concrete actions. NTI launched the 2023 Nuclear Security Index and accompanying data-deep website. This latest edition of the NTI Nuclear Security Index -a quantitative assessment of nuclear security conditions in 175 countries and Taiwan-found that nuclear security conditions have regressed in the countries and areas with nuclear facilities and weapons-useable nuclear materials, and provided recommendations for getting progress back on track. The NTI team hosted two launch events for the NTI Index: one for government officials and experts in Washington, DC and one for the diplomatic community in Vienna, Austria. We also convened nuclear security leaders from across governments, industry, and international and non-governmental organizations for the sixteenth meeting of the Global Dialogue on Nuclear Security Priorities. Since 2012, the Global Dialogue has served as an informal forum for these stakeholders to discuss innovative approaches and encourage tangible action to strengthen the global nuclear security architecture. Held in Vienna, Austria in April, it was the largest meeting of the Global Dialogue since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The day before the Dialogue began, NTI hosted the first-ever Emerging Nuclear Security Leaders session. We elevated the importance of security and nonproliferation considerations for nuclear energy expansion with the rollout of our Playbook for Nuclear Energy Development. In cooperation with partners at the Clean Air Task Force and EFI Foundation, we launched the Playbook in December in Dubai on the margins of the COP28 climate conference. The report outlines responsible and effective approaches for scaling nuclear energy to meet climate and energy security objectives and identifies actions countries can take to reduce nuclear proliferation and security risks as they embark on new nuclear energy programs. NTI and the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation also convened more than 40 experts from the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and the Middle East region for a workshop in Abu Dhabi to catalyze a discussion on how the region and the international community can cooperate on nuclear energy in a way that bolsters nonproliferation and nuclear security standards and practices. We advanced international efforts to verify nuclear disarmament. Through the International Partnership for Nuclear Disarmament Verification (IPNDV), NTI held two working group meetings that furthered the international community's understanding of how to monitor the disarmament process. IPNDV works to imagine the technologies and methods that might be necessary for future multilateral arms control efforts to verify the elimination of nuclear weapons. Our Gender Champions in Nuclear Policy (GCNP) network helped build a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable nuclear policy field. GCNP is a leadership network of heads of organizations who become Gender Champions by pledging to advance gender equity within their spheres of influence. This network grew to a membership of 86 organizations by the end of 2023. For the fourth consecutive year, 60% of the more than 250 annual commitments to action made by Gender Champions were successfully implemented.

Global Nuclear Policy Program (GNPP)

Other Program Services (Strategic Initiatives, William J. Perry Project and the Distinguished Fellows program)

Scientific and Technical Affairs (STA)