(Washington, D.C.)—The Arms Control Association is dedicated to providing authoritative information and promoting practical solutions to address the dangers posed by the world's most dangerous weapons.
Every year since 2007, we nominate and select individuals and institutions that have advanced effective arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament solutions and/or raised awareness of the threats posed by mass casualty weapons to become the Arms Control Person(s) of the Year.
Voting will take place between Dec. 12, 2025, and Jan. 12, 2026. Follow the discussion on social media using the hashtag #ACPOY2025.
A full list of previous winners is available at ArmsControl.org/ACPOY/previous.
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The 2025 nominees are:
The director, Kathryn Bigelow, and screenwriter, Noah Oppenheim, of the Netflix feature-length film, "A House of Dynamite" for providing millions of viewers a realistic, inside look at the dangerous paradoxes and flaws of the system of nuclear deterrence as it might play out in one of the several potential crises that could erupt in the present day. The film shows how, in a real-world nuclear crisis, the answers are never clear, decisions are all always rushed, and the options are all very, very bad.
The UN Delegation of Mexico and 5 other co-sponsoring states for successfully introducing and advancing a first-ever United Nations First Committee resolution A/C.1/80L/L.56 on “possible risks of integration of artificial intelligence into command, control and communication systems of nuclear weapons.” It was approved 115-8 with 44 abstentions. The resolution seeks to diminish this risk by encouraging member states to jointly explore the unique dangers created by the integration of AI into nuclear launch systems. It also calls on the nuclear-armed states to take immediate steps to ensure that humans, not machines, exercise ultimate control over the use of nuclear weapons. The United States and Russia were among the handful of "no" votes. Many experts, including former military officials, have warned that the unrestrained integration of AI into nuclear command and control systems could result in the “poisoning” of nuclear decision-making systems by false or corrupted data, leading to hasty or misguided nuclear launch decisions. (See ACT, September 2025.)
The Nevada State Legislature for its unanimous approval on May 22, 2025, of a bipartisan resolution in support of the nuclear test ban. Amid calls from some in Washington to resume nuclear explosive testing, Assembly Joint Resolution 13 calls on the federal government to maintain a 33-year U.S. test moratorium. Beginning in January 1951, Nevada was the site of 928 of the United States' 1,054 nuclear test explosions. The strong bipartisan support shows that Nevadans across the state, no matter their party consider resumed testing is a threat to the state’s economy and environment, the health of its residents, and national and global security.
Catholic Cardinals and Bishops from Japan, South Korea, and the United States for their pilgrimage of peace to Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of the two cities in August. The U.S. delegation included Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago; Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C.; Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle; and Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The pilgrimage was coordinated by the Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons to help encourage many other bishops, religious, dioceses, parishes and organizations to join in work for a more peaceful world without nuclear weapons. In Hiroshima, Cardinal McElroy noted: "Deterrence is not a step on the road to nuclear disarmament, but a morass. That is why the Church could not continue to tolerate an ethic which de facto legitimates possession." See: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/265637/catholic-bishops-to-join-pilgrimage-of-peace-to-japan-on-anniversary-of-atomic-bombings
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and more than two dozen other Senators for seeking to enforce the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act by pressing for a vote and for voting for a resolution of disapproval to block offensive arms sales to Israel. Sanders and his colleagues cited longstanding U.S. laws and its own policies, which require suspension or limitation of U.S. arms transfers to states, that fail to allow humanitarian assistance to civilians in conflict or that engage in acts that violate international humanitarian law. Two measures were debated and voted on in July. The first, which would block the sale of tens of thousands of assault rifles, failed 70-27. The second, which would block the sale of $675.7 million of bombs and other materiel to Israel, failed 73-24.
Twenty-four Japanese high school students serving as "peace messengers" advocating for the abolition of nuclear weapons presented about 110,000 signatures for world peace to the United Nations during their visit to the U.N. headquarters in Geneva in September. As the number of surviving hibakusha diminishes over time, the leadership of young activists in recalling the catastrophic humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons and pressing for nuclear disarmament becomes more important. See: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/09/03/japan/students-signatures-peace-un/
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine study group that produced the June 2025 report, "Potential Environmental Effects of Nuclear War." The report found that U.S. government "studies reflecting very large exchanges of tens of thousands of warheads with multi-megaton yields are no longer reflective of current worldwide nuclear stockpiles. In the same vein, scenarios that reflect an informed mix of nuclear weapon employment on both targets within urban areas and military targets outside urban areas, versus only in urban areas, would likely better reflect military strategies and outcomes." In other words, the study found that the Department of Defense, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Strategic Command, and Department of Homeland Security analyze some (but not all) of the consequences of nuclear detonations.
- The government of Oman for declaring the completion of clearance of antipersonnel mines in June 2025. Oman was contaminated by antipersonnel and anti-vehicle landmines as a result of an internal conflict from 1964–1975. In 2015, Oman reported that all of its hazardous areas had been cleared before it joined the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, but that those areas were in the process of being “re-inspected” based on a workplan to clear all mined areas by a treaty-mandated deadline of February 2025. There are currently no confirmed mined areas in Oman. Oman's progress was one of the lone bright spots in the global campaign to ban and eliminate landmines. As the most recent Landmine Monitor Report indicates, cutbacks in U.S. aid for landmine clearance and the withdrawals from the 1997 Landmine Convention by five states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, and Poland) have set back efforts.
Honorable mention: The “hero” rats of APOPO helping with the urgent task of demining in Cambodia.