Current Challenges to Global Nuclear Security

Abstract
Nuclear deterrence, nonproliferation, and arms control have had notable success in the 80 years since World War II. Recent and ongoing changes in the geopolitical landscape present significant challenges to continued success and to the peace and security that many nations have enjoyed for more than half a century. U.S. strategies to maintain peace and security have aimed at sustaining a credible and effective nuclear deterrent and preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, along with many other efforts. Changes in force structures, alliances, partnerships, and ambitions of potential adversaries have increased the challenges associated with nuclear deterrence, and other changes are challenging the continued success of nuclear nonproliferation. This talk will describe many of these challenges and discuss some of the ongoing efforts to meet them.

Bio
Dr. Adams began his nuclear career in 1977 as an engineering aide at the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant near Chattanooga, TN. He has spent most of his career since 1986 engaged in a variety of roles related to national and international security. His most recent major role was as the Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), where he was responsible for the programs that design, manufacture, certify, transport, maintain, assess, and dismantle U.S. nuclear weapons, and for working with other government agencies on policy and force structure decisions related to the U.S. nuclear deterrent. Prior to his Senate confirmation as Deputy Administrator, Dr. Adams served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology; the Stockpile Assessment Team of the Strategic Advisory Group for U.S. Strategic Command; the JASON defense advisory group; the National Academies' Committee on International Security and Arms Control; the Predictive Science Panel for the Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories (LLNL and LANL); the Mission Committee for LANL; the Predictive Engineering Sciences Panel at Sandia National Laboratories, and many other review and advisory bodies related to national security. Dr. Adams spent more than five years as a physicist in the weapons program at LLNL and 30 years as Professor of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University before serving as NNSA Deputy Administrator, and he has returned to the Texas A&M University System as a Senior Advisor in the Nuclear Security Office. Dr. Adams earned his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan and his B.S. degree in nuclear engineering from Mississippi State University.

The Richard K. Osborn Lecture series has been made possible by a generous endowment from MIT Professor Emeritus Sidney Yip, a former student of Professor Osborn. These annual lectures are a tribute to Professor Osborn’s unwavering dedication to the education of students in fundamental science. The goal of these lectures is to inspire future generations of students in nuclear theory and simulation.