January 21, 2025
On Jan. 21 from 1-2pm Eastern Time, the Arms Control Association brought together leading experts on nuclear weapons and arms control policy, including the former U.S. New START negotiator, to address key questions and outline possible solutions on:
- the potential for resuming bilateral talks on nuclear constraints with Russia,
- how, realistically, China might be involved in the nuclear risk reduction and arms control enterprise,
- the risks, costs, and realities of a possible decision by Russia and/or the United States to increase the size of their deployed nuclear arsenals, and
- how the absence of progress on nuclear disarmament diplomacy will affect the debate at the 2026 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference.
Panelists included:
Rose Gottemoeller: chief U.S. negotiator for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and former NATO deputy secretary-general
Kingston Reif: senior international/defense researcher at the RAND Corporation and former deputy assistant secretary of defense for threat reduction and arms control
Christine Wormuth: president and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, former U.S. Secretary of the Army
Daryl G. Kimball: executive director of the Arms Control Association
Tom Countryman (moderator): chair of the board of directors of the Arms Control Association
The following resources were provided during the webinar and can be accessed through the links below:
- Americans Across Party Lines Want the U.S. to Keep Nuclear Limits with Russia, New Poll Finds: https://www.nti.org/news/americans-across-party-lines-want-the-u-s-to-keep-nuclear-limits-with-russia-new-poll-finds/
- Getting the Most Out of New START Before It Expires - Rose Gottemoeller: https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2025-12/features/getting-most-out-new-start-it-expires
- New START on the Brink - Daryl Kimball & Xiaodon Liang: https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2026-01/arms-control-today/new-start-brink
- Where Trump and Putin Could Make a Deal - Kingston Reif & Samuel Charap: https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2025/06/where-trump-and-putin-could-make-a-deal.html
- Trump’s Nuclear Test Rhetoric and Reality - Daryl Kimball: https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2025-12/focus/trumps-nuclear-test-rhetoric-and-reality