The Center for Global Security Research (CGSR) sponsored this seminar entitled "Strategic Stability in the Second Nuclear Age" on Aug. 10, 2016 at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The seminar was presented by Gregory D. Koblentz, an associate professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government and Director of the Biodefense Graduate Program at George Mason University.

Abstract:
Since the end of the Cold War, a new nuclear order has emerged shaped by rising nuclear states in Asia and advanced military technologies that pose new challenges to strategic stability. During the Cold War, the potential for nuclear weapons to be used was determined largely by the United States and the Soviet Union. Now, with over 16,000 weapons possessed by nine nuclear-armed states—China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—deterrence is increasingly complex. Since most of these countries face threats from a number of potential adversaries, the deployment of new capabilities or changes in doctrine by one state can have a cascading effect on the other states. Another challenge is the emergence of a suite of advanced nonnuclear technologies such as missile defenses, cyber and antisatellite weapons, and conventional precision strike weapons that have the potential to replicate, offset, or mitigate the strategic effects of nuclear weapons. Each of these dynamics is worrisome on their own, but the combination of them could be particularly destabilizing.

Dr. Gregory Koblentz is an Associate Professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government and Director of the Biodefense Graduate Program at George Mason University. He is also an Associate Faculty at the Center for Global Studies at George Mason and a member of the Scientist Working Group on Chemical and Biological Weapons at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, DC. He previously served as a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations where he conducted research on nuclear proliferation. He is an author and co-author of several books. His research and teaching focus on international security and weapons of mass destruction.

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