Inclusive Nuclear Security

The Truman Center is working with partners across the country to bring diverse perspectives and experiences to discussions and decision making about managing nuclear risks.

Led by Truman’s Janne E. Nolan Nuclear Security Fellow, Jessica Sleight, we aim to bring a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Belonging (DEIAB) lens to nonproliferation and nuclear security policymaking by advancing diversity in the field, building a nationwide constituency for reducing nuclear risks that represents America’s diversity, and ensuring that diverse perspectives are present in nuclear policymaking.

Read about our Nuclear Policy Workshops in Chicago, Atlanta, and Honolulu.

New Thinking on Nuclear Nonproliferation

Participants in Truman’s Chicago Nuclear Policy Workshop in January 2023

Meet People Where They Are: Local Perspectives on Nuclear Risk

As nuclear risks are growing in multiple hotspots around the world and local communities continue to bear the burdens of the first nuclear age, U.S. nuclear decision-making remains concentrated in highly-gated policy circles in Washington, DC.
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In an effort to expand the table, this Truman Center report, written by Janne E. Nolan Nuclear Security Fellow Jessica Sleight, outlines various ways local communities understand and experience nuclear risk and public-government engagement, drawing on conversations with stakeholders in Great Falls, Montana, home to Malmstrom Air Force Base; Tri-Cities, WA, next to the Hanford Nuclear Site; and Raleigh, NC, an area with a robust academic community working on nuclear weapons-related issues. The report offers five recommendations for federal policymakers, nuclear experts, and local officials to expand nuclear policy conversations to include a more diverse group of stakeholders and community leaders, amplify and support underrepresented communities, and strengthen bridges between decision makers in Washington and stakeholders in the rest of the country.

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Meet People Where They Are: Local Perspectives on Nuclear Risk

Nuclear Security and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Belonging

In January 2023, the Truman Center partnered with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs for a public event, “Out of the Silo: Nuclear Security in Context,” that focused on how nuclear security intersects with a wide range of national security concerns. Truman’s Janne E. Nolan Nuclear Security Fellow, Lily Wojtowicz; Global Zero’s Partner for Mobilization, Mari Faines; and University of Notre Dame Doctoral Candidate Kevin Bustamante joined the conversation, which was moderated by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists President and CEO, Dr. Rachel Bronson.

In October 2022, the Truman Center hosted a panel at the 2022 Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference, “Unpacking the Challenges at the Intersection of Nuclear Weapons and Climate Change.” Panelists discussed how traditionally marginalized and vulnerable populations are often overlooked by policymakers and politicians, and thus lack access to decision-making processes that impact their communities. Truman’s Janne E. Nolan Nuclear Security Fellow, Lily Wojtowicz, moderated the discussion featuring Mari Faines, Partner for Mobilization at Global Zero; Lily Adams, Senior Outreach Coordinator at the Union of Concerned Scientists; and Alexandra Meise, Associate Teaching Professor at Northeastern University School of Law.

Truman is working to make nuclear issues accessible to all. Part of our mission strives to build awareness of global nuclear risks and to engage the public on the importance of reducing nuclear threats. This video provides a snapshot of the most pressing issues in nuclear nonproliferation today.

Congress and Nuclear Risks

Congress has an essential role in reducing nuclear risk.

The United States possesses a multitude of tools for arms control and nonproliferation. This report assesses how Congress should intervene through policymaking to reduce nuclear-related national security threats across America.

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