About PONI

About the Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI)

The role of nuclear weapons in international security has changed since the end of the Cold War, but the need to maintain the human infrastructure to support nuclear capabilities and deal with the multitude of nuclear challenges remains the same. For a host of reasons, including the declining emphasis on nuclear weapons in the post-Cold War international security environment, expertise on nuclear issues has diminished, particularly among younger generations. Unless the nuclear community makes a concerted effort to develop young talent, developing critical nuclear expertise will become even more difficult. For this reason, CSIS launched the Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) in 2003 to develop the next generation of nuclear experts.

Since that time PONI has grown tremendously, from a small club involving a few dozen people to a large, multi-faceted program with over 1,000 members. The conference series, which has been the most recognizable aspect of PONI since its inception, draws large audiences from across the nuclear enterprise and policy community, and features fresh thinking on how to address a number of key issues related to the stockpile and weapons complex, nuclear strategy, nonproliferation and nuclear security, and arms control and disarmament efforts. The PONI Debates the Issues blog has also gained a wide readership by contributing daily analysis and insights on important developments. The Nuclear Scholars Initiative, a six-month seminar series for a selected class of graduate students and young professionals, brings some of the best and brightest young analysts together with high-level senior experts for monthly workshops. And because the next generation of leaders will need to have a thorough understanding of how others around the world view nuclear issues, PONI periodically organizes bilateral exchanges involving young experts from other countries. For 2010, PONI is also holding an essay contest and working to develop a multidisciplinary working group of young experts to focus on critical political and technical challenges to improving nuclear security.

In all that it does, the project seeks to create a forum of exchange between generations and between the technical and policy communities, as these interactions will be crucial to the development and implementation of effective policies, both now and in the future.