Session L04: Panel Discussion: Physicists and Arms Control - The Role of Science in Global Security

PANEL: Physicists and Arms Control – The Role of Science in Global Security

The first discussions of nuclear arms control occurred amongst the physicists at Los Alamos even before the Trinity test had occurred. Many of these scientists went on to lead early arms control efforts. Indeed, nuclear weapons – the most physically powerful of a nation’s technologies – have long provided a domain in which science and policy are deeply intertwined, and in which scientists have played a key role in important international arms control agreements that have constrained nuclear weapons development and lead to reductions in nuclear arsenals.

Today, however, we find ourselves at a potential inflection point. The last remaining US-Russian arms control agreement will expire in 2026, and most nuclear weapons states are building new types of warheads and delivery systems or even expanding their nuclear arsenals. At the same time, the voice of the scientific community is diminished in today's debate on nuclear issues. This session brings together experts to explore the historical role that scientists have played in shaping arms control and defense policy, and prospects for re-invigorating the voice of scientists in shaping future policies.   

Panelist Biography

Stephen SCHWARTZ is the nonresident senior fellow at the Chicago-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists as well as an independent policy analyst, consultant, and editor. An internationally-recognized expert on a wide variety of nuclear weapons issues, particularly their history, deployment, and costs, Schwartz is the editor and co-author of the groundbreaking book Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940 — the first and only assessment of the comprehensive and cumulative costs of U.S. nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons-related programs. He has previously served as the longtime editor of The Nonproliferation Review, as publisher and executive director of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and as a guest scholar and project director at the Brookings Institution. For regular, timely, and insightful comments on nuclear weapons history and nuclear weapons-related news, follow him on Bluesky (@atomicanalyst.bsky.social).   

Panelist Biography

Lisbeth Gronlund is a Visiting Scholar in the Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy at MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering. Believing that a sound democracy requires independent and well-informed critique of government policy, for over three decades she has worked on technical and policy issues related to nuclear weapons, missile defenses, and space weapons and provided information to governmental analysts and policymakers, the public and media. She spent most of that time as Co-Director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Global Security Program. She is a fellow of APS and currently serves on the APS Panel on Public Affairs. She holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University.   

Panelist Biography

Raymond JEANLOZ is a professor of Earth and planetary science and of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and an Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution. In addition to his scientific research on planetary interiors and the properties of materials at high pressures, he works at the interface between science and policy, providing technical advice to the U.S. government, and to the University of California and its national laboratories. He chairs the National Academies of Sciences Committee on International Security and Arms Control; has served on the Secretary of State's International Security Advisory Board; is the past chair of the National Academies' Board on Earth Sciences and Resources; and is a founding member of the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction.