Jeffrey Lewis

Nuclear weapons are the most destructive weapons ever invented. However, since the end of the Cold War, they have received little attention from the highest levels of government. There are many questions that need examination, including:

What role do nuclear weapons play in United States national security policy? How many nuclear weapons does the United States need? Is there a nuclear posture that can command bipartisan support? Is the elimination of nuclear weapons feasible or desirable?

Join New America Foundation's Nuclear Strategy… more

NPR | Syria Revelation Could Affect N. Korea Nuclear Talks

. . . But it remains to be seen whether Thursday's intelligence briefing in Congress will help or hinder the negotiations.

Jeffrey Lewis, who runs the Web site armscontrolwonk.com, says it's clear that the briefing is meant to undermine the negotiations.

"Members of Congress who have been pushing hardest to have this information declassified — or at least put out into the public domain in some form or another… more

Most scholars and policymakers favor stemming the tide of nuclear proliferation, even as they acknowledge the pacifying effects of established nuclear arsenals on great power relations. When it comes to nuclear arsenals, how robust must a country's nuclear arsenal be--how much is enough? Some of the key variables in existing studies - e.g., the nuclear "balance of power" - have been poorly conceived, and the data used to measure the nuclear balance and its effect on policy has come from… more

On April 9th, Jeffrey Lewis, director of the Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative, hosted James Acton, a Lecturer in the Centre for Science and Security Studies in the Department of War Studies at King's College London for a talk entitled "Nuclear Mind Reading: Iran's Nuclear Intentions and the IAEA". Acton analyzed the IAEA's ability to assess states' intent—as opposed to their capabilities—and then asked what the IAEA means when it announces that an issue is “no longer considered to be… more

Satellite Strike Struck Diplomacy, Too (The article appears on websites of Los Angeles Times, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Tribune and FOX News.)

...Missile shields are one reason Washington has long resisted efforts in Geneva to negotiate a comprehensive treaty banning weapons in space. Some U.S. shield designs even envision using orbiting systems to knock out missiles. And the Americans aren't alone.

"Hit-to-kill" technologies are spreading, to China, Japan, Israel and India, for example, noted Jeffrey Lewis, an arms-control expert at Washington's… more

Navy to Shoot Down Spy Satellite (NBC Today Show)

In its coverage of U.S. plans to shoot down a rogue satellite, NBC Today interviews New America Foundation Expert Jeffrey Lewis.

"The Russians and the Chinese in particular really look at this launch as being an anti-satellite test, a weapon to shoot down satellites more than a mitigation measure designed to prevent human harm," said Lewis.

In 2009, the United States will undertake another Nuclear Posture Review, the third since the end of the Cold War and the second to be mandated by Congress. Although the goal of the nuclear posture review is to "set forth short-term and long-term objectives of United States nuclear weapons policy,” efforts to match our strategic forces to a pragmatic assessment of the international security environment often founder on operational and political realities. What are the likely issues and challenges facing… more

U.S. to Attempt to Shoot Down Faulty Satellite (New York Times)

Jeffrey G. Lewis, an arms control specialist at the New America Foundation, warned that China would cite the intercept to justify its antisatellite test last year.

“The politics are terrible,” Mr. Lewis said. “It will be used by the Chinese to excuse their hit-to-kill test. And it really strengthens the perceived link between antisatellite systems and missile defenses. We will be using a missile defense system to shoot down… more

Before China carried out an anti-satellite test in January 2007, some U.S. policy-makers, including NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and the U.S. House China Working Group, advocated greater cooperation between the United States and China in space. After the test, which created a massive cloud of space debris that angered international space professionals and alarmed the American public, increased references to U.S.-China competition and hints of a new space race drowned out calls for cooperation. Using the experience they… more

A Strike in the Dark; What did Israel bomb in Syria? (The New Yorker)

...Much of what one would expect to see around a secret nuclear site was lacking at the target, a former State Department intelligence expert who now deals with proliferation issues for the Congress said. "There is no security around the building," he said. "No barracks for the Army or the workers. No associated complex."

Jeffrey Lewis, who heads the non-proliferation program at the New… more