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News | Oct. 7, 2024

Thirty Years of the Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction

By CSWMD NDU Press

Cover page of CSWMD 30 Years Anniversary PDF.  "The World's Most Destructive Weapons" is overlayed on the cover with an image of Earth in the background.
Cover Page of CSWMD 30 Yrs Anniversary
Cover page of CSWMD 30 Years Anniversary: The World's Most Destructive Weapons
Photo By: NDU Press
VIRIN: 241007-O-HL629-0068

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NDU’s Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CSWMD), part of the Institute for National Strategic Studies, has been a trusted resource on WMD challenges to senior Defense and other interagency policy leaders for 30 years. Combining deep expertise, extensive policy experience, and a wide-ranging professional network, the Center helps stakeholders across the WMD community unpack hard problems and frame solutions. Just as important is the Center’s work in preparing the next generation of military and civilian leaders and contributing to original research and the creation of new knowledge in the WMD field.

After personal reflections of the Center’s first three directors, Dr. Robert Joseph, Dr. John Reichart, and Mr. Chuck Lutes, this volume begins with a retrospective of how the work of the Center evolved from 1994 to the present day, in the context of how the fight against WMD has itself evolved.

Following the retrospective, you find five short essays that examine current or emerging challenges that are shaping our thinking about the period ahead. These essays look at aspects of the forming agenda for WMD policy, research, and teaching: Nuclear (Dr. Justin Anderson), Biological (Dr. Diane DiEuliis and Ms. Amanda Moodie), Chemical (Mr. Patrick Terrell), Information (Ms. Sarah Gamberini), and Education (Mr. Brendan Melley). We hope you find these useful to your own work.

I want to acknowledge the efforts of several Center alumni in preparing this narrative—Distinguished Fellow Dr. W. Seth Carus, former Acting Director John Caves, and former Director Chuck Lutes. As a special acknowledgment, I want to thank former Distinguished Fellow Paul Bernstein for his unflagging efforts to shape many different pieces into a cohesive whole.

—Brendan Melley

Director, Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CSWMD)

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