Nuclear Threat Initiative

Global Biological Policy and Programs (BIO). Bioscience and biotechnology offer tremendous potential benefits-from improving human health to fostering economic development to combating climate change-but these innovations also can increase the risks of accidents or deliberate misuse with potentially catastrophic consequences. To close global biosecurity gaps and develop practical solutions to safeguard bioscience, NTI | bio announced plans to incubate and launch the International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS), an independent, international organization with the singular mission of reducing emerging biological risks associated with rapid technology advances. IBBIS will work with key stakeholders on the front lines of biosecurity to reduce risks throughout the research and development lifecycle so bioscience and biotechnology can advance safely and responsibly. DNA synthesis technology has become more widely accessible, making the potential building blocks of a dangerous pathogen just an online order away. NTI has been working with the World Economic Forum and an international Technical Consortium of experts from industry and other sectors to develop the Common Mechanism for DNA Synthesis Screening, software that DNA providers can use to screen orders and customers, to help ensure their product is not misused or involved in a catastrophic accident. In 2022, NTI and our partners made progress in developing key components of the Common Mechanism software package, and we are working to launch it in 2023 as the initial focus of IBBIS. As part of our work to strengthen bioscience and biotechnology governance, NTI | bio is developing additional pilot projects to bolster biosecurity practices throughout the research and development lifecycle. This work is taking place under the auspices of our Biosecurity Innovation and Risk Reduction Initiative (BIRRI), and we convened our annual BIRRI meeting in London to advance these efforts. More than 30 international leaders from academia, industry, governments, international organizations, and philanthropy took part. We have also been engaged in international discussions to advance bioscience and biotechnology governance norms and practices. In December, NTI | bio partnered with Carnegie India for the seventh annual Global Technology Summit in New Delhi, an event co-hosted by India's Ministry of External Affairs. NTI | bio experts participated in a main-stage discussion about bioscience and biotechnology governance on the day that India assumed the G20 presidency and highlighted India's opportunity to make these issues a priority on its G20 agenda. In February, Ernie Moniz and Munich Security Conference Chairman Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger virtually convened 19 global leaders and experts for a high-level tabletop exercise on reducing high-consequence biological threats. The goal of the exercise was to raise awareness of critical biosecurity and pandemic preparedness challenges facing the international community and to discuss concrete solutions to address them. Recommendations from the exercise included the need to coordinate an effective international response to high-consequence bio-events that have cascading effects on critical infrastructure and other sectors; the need to address cybersecurity risks to systems for bio-event prevention and response; opportunities to strengthen biothreat intelligence; and proposed approaches for assessing bio-events of unknown origin. NTI | bio, working in partnership with the Pandemic Action Network, played an instrumental role in the development and launch of the World Bank Pandemic Preparedness Fund. Now that the fund is operational, the GHS Index can help Pandemic Fund decisionmakers prioritize investments and allocate resources based on data about the most important capacity gaps. Continued uncertainty and debate about the genesis of COVID-19 underscores the need for a mechanism to rapidly identify the source of emerging pandemics. To address this need, NTI is working with international partners to develop a new Joint Assessment Mechanism (JAM), which would be used to establish the facts regarding the origin of an unusual outbreak. To raise awareness and catalyze solutions to address emerging biological risks, NTI hosted a meeting of our Global Biosecurity Dialogue in Cape Town in November. The nearly 50 high-level biosecurity experts and policymakers discussed opportunities for creative solutions that protect against human-caused pandemics and resolved to take several concrete actions to advance this goal. Fostering the next generation of experts is crucial to the future of biosecurity and global public health. NTI | bio prioritizes elevating emerging expert voices and creating opportunities for young people to share their ideas with policymakers. In advance of the ninth BWC Review Conference at the end of 2022, NTI | bio invited young leaders to submit papers for our annual Next Generation for Biosecurity Competition, which solicited proposals for an effective and politically viable BWC verification protocol, which makes use of modern science and technology. The winning team presented their work at the June Global Health Security Conference in Singapore and at the August BWC meeting of experts. NTI | bio also arranged for the winners and runners-up to meet with the U.S. Department of State in October and to attend the BWC Review Conference

Nuclear Materials Security Program (NMS). In 2022, NMS strengthened the global nuclear security system and promoted strong nonproliferation standards and norms. We grew our Gender Champions in Nuclear Policy (GCNP) network. GCNP is a leadership network of heads of organizations who become Gender Champions by pledging to advance gender equity within their spheres of influence. This network grew to a membership of over 82 organizations by early 2023. Members include three U.S. National Laboratories, nuclear regulators from the United States and Canada, and civil society organizations across the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia. We strengthened a key nuclear security convention. In March, NTI participated in the first-ever Conference of the Parties to the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (A/CPPNM), capitalizing on a multi-year effort to promote a robust, substantive, and successful review conference. NTI also hosted a side event entitled, "Next Steps For Building A Strong And Sustainable Treaty Regime." The A/CPPNM is the only international treaty that requires countries to protect nuclear materials and facilities. NTI's participation in the A/CPPNM Review helped bolster the international nuclear security architecture, build stronger networks among stakeholders, and contributed to a successful review. In June, NTI convened the 15th meeting of the Global Dialogue on Nuclear Security Priorities in Hiroshima, Japan. This meeting marked ten years since the Global Dialogue first began and has changed the international discourse on nuclear security in times of conflict and has resulted in a new paradigm for security at nuclear reactors. The Global Dialogue brings together government officials, international organizations, nuclear industry, and non-government experts to develop unique and creative approaches to the most pressing nuclear security challenges. We developed new approaches to the fuel cycle in the Middle East: In September, NTI and the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation convened 30 experts from the United Arab Emirates and the United States for a workshop in Abu Dhabi on "The Nuclear Fuel Cycle in the Middle East: Prospects and Opportunities." This workshop helped develop and promote responsible approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle that enhance safety, security, and nonproliferation. We promoted a strong safeguards system through thought leadership. In October, NTI participated in the IAEA Symposium on International Safeguards in Vienna-a quadrennial event that brings together government and nongovernment stakeholders to discuss how to strengthen nuclear safeguards. NTI helped stakeholders plan for future safeguards challenges by working with the IAEA to develop scenarios and speaking on panels about detecting undeclared activities and strengthening U.S.-Russian cooperation. NTI also sponsored a reception, where Joan Rolfing delivered welcoming remarks, alongside IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi. We advanced international efforts to verify nuclear disarmament. Through the International Partnership for Nuclear Disarmament Verification (IPNDV), NTI held two tabletop exercises in April and June that improved international understanding of various aspects of monitoring the disarmament process in detail. IPNDV works to imagine what technologies and methods might be necessary for future multilateral arms control efforts to verify the elimination of nuclear weapons. In December, NTI convened a meeting of the Pacific Rim Spent Fuel Management Partnership, part of the Developing Spent Fuel Strategies (DSFS) effort, which charted out a new work plan for 2023, building from the recently published report on political considerations for long-term storage of spent nuclear material. The Partnership, which includes members from Australia, Canada, Japan, ROK, Taiwan, and the United States, works to find collaborative solutions for spent fuel disposition, including security and proliferation challenges associated with the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle.

Communications and Public Education: In 2022, a year when the specter of nuclear use was constantly in the news as Russia's war against Ukraine dragged on, NTI's work to engage the public to build political will for a safer future was more important than ever. NTI leaders and staff experts explained the broad implications of the war and fighting around Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. They did this through interviews and op-eds in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, and many more. They also appeared on ABC World News Tonight, CBS, the BBC, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and more broadcast outlets and shows. To give people a shared moment to express support for a world without nuclear weapons and to engage new voices in our movement, NTI partnered with Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the second annual Cranes for Our Future campaign. In August-around the anniversaries of the atomic bombings in Japan and as the Tenth Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference was underway in New York-people around the world shared origami cranes on social media with the #CranesForOurFuture hashtag and a message about what a world without nuclear weapons would mean to them. The campaign was joined by celebrities and scientists, members of Congress and global security leaders - and it ultimately reached more than 20 million people. Continuing our work to build a more diverse coalition that can help bring about an end to the era of nuclear weapons, NTI worked with a firm in 2022 to seed new content on GIPHY, the internet's largest repository of short, animated digital graphics. We created and posted 26 pro-nuclear disarmament GIFs, and as of this writing, they have been viewed or shared more than 40 million times. Importantly, positive messages like "We are the generation that will end the nuclear threat" are bumping mushroom clouds out of view. Communications also worked with creators on TikTok and YouTube-engaging micro-influencers to develop content highlighting modern nuclear risks and call on their followers to help build a safer future. Our TikToks have been viewed nearly 2.5 million times. NTI also dove deep in 2022 on a modern and increasingly salient risk-the intersection of cyber and nuclear threats. With a 5-minute explainer video narrated by a prominent former White House national security expert, NTI highlighted how close we have come to nuclear catastrophe, how cyber risks might cause our luck to run out, and what we can do about it. The video was shared widely across social channels and featured in The Washington Post, and it inspired five TikTok creators to educate more than a million people about "mission critical cyber vulnerabilities" in our nuclear weapons systems. On the biosecurity side, Communications worked closely with NTI | bio to call attention to emerging risks stemming from rapid advances in bioscience and biotechnology. Communications also developed a new website and set of videos to introduce the International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS), an independent, international organization NTI will launch that will work to reduce emerging biological risks associated with technology advances in areas like DNA synthesis.

Global Nuclear Policy Program (GNPP)

Scientific and Technical Affairs (STA)

Other program services (Strategic Initiatives, William J. Perry Project and the Distinguished Fellows program)