NucleCast

Christine is a fellow with the National Institute for Deterrence Studies . She has worked in government, she was a visiting fellow at CISS Pakistan , a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Grand Strategy Program at Yale University, a Stanton Postdoctoral Fellow in Nuclear Security at MIT , a visiting fellow at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, a journalist for Karen News on the Thai-Burma bo...

Eric Wollerman is President of Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies (FM&T) . FM&T manages and operates the U.S. Department of Energy’s Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC). With nearly 6,500 employees in Kansas City and Albuquerque, the KCNSC provides national security through their diverse engineering, manufacturing, and secure supply chain management activities. As...

Retired in 2018 from a career in the U.S. Department of State and the Defense Department, where he was primarily responsible for nuclear weapons policy and nonproliferation issues. During his career, he negotiated nuclear arms control agreements with Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, he participated in several inspections of Russian nuclear weapon facilities, and was the State Department’s...

Mark C. Herrmann, Ph. D. Program Director for the Weapon Physics and Design within Weapons and Complex Integration Directorate Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Dr. Herrmann leads LLNL’s efforts to strengthen our nation’s nuclear deterrent by advancing our understanding of nuclear weapons physics and design. This includes the physics design, assessment, and certification efforts for the endu...

Sarah Mineiro is the founder and CEO of Tanagra Enterprises, a defense, intelligence, space, science and technology consulting firm based in the national capital region. Previously, Sarah was the Senior Director of Space Strategy for Anduril Industries. Sarah was the Staff Lead for the Strategic Forces Subcommittee for the House Armed Service Committee (HASC). She led the Subcommittee’s legislativ...

Dr. Blank is an internationally recognized expert on Russian foreign and defense policies and international relations across the former Soviet Union. He is also a leading expert on European and Asian security, including energy issues. Since 2020 he has been a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. In 2020-21 he also was a Senior Expert for Russia at the U.S. Institute of Peace and...

Dr. Stanton is a graduate of Arkansas State University(1996 BA, 1998 MA). Dr. Stanton earned his PhD in Political Science at Texas Tech University (2004). Dr. Stanton is currently a professor of Political Science at Grove City College and Senior Fellow at National Institute for Deterrence Studies. His research focuses on foreign policy, conflict processes and national security, Dr. Stanton’s publi...

Lt Col Derek Williams is the Commander of the 803d Operations Support Squadron. He received his commission through the ROTC program at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2005. Following completion of Combat System Officer and B-52 Initial Qualification Training as a Distinguished Graduate, He began his career as a B-52 Navigator with the 23d Bomb Squadron at Minot AFB, North Da...

Major General, USAF (Ret.) Richard J. Evans III (Rick) serves as the Executive Director for the National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI), a national security-focused research institute created by the University of Nebraska. Before joining NSRI, he served more than 35 years in the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard, retiring at the rank of Major General in October, 2019. He was previously th...

Brig. Gen. Ty Neuman serves as the Director, Concepts and Strategy, Deputy Chief of Staff for Air Force Futures, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. He assists with developing and synchronizing Air Force strategy, global posture and the alignment of Air Force planning efforts with Department of Defense strategic guidance. He supports the Air Force Chief of Staff with st...

Mr. Robert J. Peters is a Senior Fellow with the National Institute for Deterrence Studies. Formerly, he was the Chief within the Strategic Integration Directorate of the Strategic Trends and Effects Department (STED) at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Prior to joining DTRA, Mr. Peters served as a Senior Research Fellow at National Defense University's Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass...

Ms. Robyn Hutchins is currently a doctoral candidate in the Nuclear Engineering department at Kansas State University studying radiation detection under the direction of Professor Douglas McGregor. Within her DTRA funded doctoral work, Ms. Hutchins has successfully designed, fabricated, and characterized many types of radiation detectors that allow for overt or covert monitoring by soldiers and em...

Donald M. Gooch is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the Department of Government at Stephen F. Austin State University. He is also a Fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies. He received his M.A. in political science from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in 2002 and his Ph. D. in political science from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2009. He was appoint...

Dr. James C. Petrosky is the President of the National Institute for Deterrence Studies (NIDS). He holds a Ph. D. and M.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Engineering Physics where he developed experimental techniques for the prediction of damage to electronic devices and materials. He has substantial technical expertise in pulsed radiation effects and nuclear weapon survivability, with a...

Dr. Rob Smith is Amentum’s Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In this role, he is responsible for leading the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion vision and strategy by developing and implementing programs and initiatives that advances Amentum’s business objectives and reinforces the organization’s culture. Previously, Dr. Smith served as BAE Systems’ Intelligence and Securi...

Peter Huessy is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, where he focuses on nuclear deterrence and modernization, arms control, and defense policy. Mr. Huessy has spent the past four decades laying out the requirements for nuclear deterrence and modernization, arms control, and defense policy, as well as the companion efforts on missile defense, space, non- and counterproliferation, particularly usin...

John Laudun is on the faculty at the University of Louisiana, where his research focuses on computational models of discourse, especially narratives, and how they cascade through socio-cultural networks both online and off. His work has appeared in a variety of academic journals and edited volumes, and he has been cited or interviewed in newspapers and documentaries. He has been a Jacob K. Javits...

US Air Force Brigadier General (ret) Rob Spalding is the former White House National Security Council senior director for strategic planning and served in senior positions of strategy and diplomacy within the Defense and State Departments for more than 26 years. Rob is the founder and CEO of SEMPRE, the only technology company created to protect and secure our most critical resource: data.

Zachary is a Policy Fellow at the Schar School of Policy and Government, a Fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies, a Research Affiliate with the Unconventional Weapons and Technology Division of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), an officially proclaimed U.S. Army "Mad Scientist," and Senior Consultant at ABS Group. He has publis...

Mark Peters is the Executive Vice President for National Laboratory Management and Operations at Battelle Memorial Institute with responsibilities for governance and oversight of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security national laboratories for which Battelle has a significant lab management role. Previously, he was the director of Idaho National Laboratory and pre...

Rebekah Koffler is a Russian-born, former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officer and specialist in Putin and Russian Doctrine & Strategy. She is also a communism survivor. Working with the DIA and CIA’s National Clandestine Service, Rebekah has led “red” teams during wargames and briefed the Pentagon, the White House, and NATO on Russian Doctrine & Strategy. U.S. military commanders hav...

Since leaving Congress after 26 years, which included service as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Mac continues to work at the intersection of technology and national security with various companies and organizations. Mac led in creating the National Nuclear Security Administration to improve management of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex; establishing the Department of Homeland...

Curtis McGiffin is currently a Visiting Professor with the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University where he teaches graduate and doctorate courses on deterrence and grand strategy. Previously, he was the Associate Dean of the School of Strategic Force Studies at the Air Force Institute of Technology, where he led a robust portfolio of USAF professional continuing e...

Dr. Christopher Yeaw is the Associate Executive Director for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Programs at the National Strategic Research Institute, U.S. Strategic Command’s University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). An integral component of the University of Nebraska, NSRI leads and leverages collaborative efforts with other academic institutions, National laboratories, FFRDCs, UARCs, and non-...

Dr. Jonathan Trexel is a faculty member with Missouri State University’s Defense and Strategic Studies graduate program. He teaches on the topics of nuclear strategy, nuclear deterrence, deterrence theory, and arms control. He also consults as a contractor for the US Department of Defense on nuclear deterrence and related topics, a position he has held for over 20 years. Dr. Trexel is a military v...