By Conor Donlevy
I first came across the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation as a young congressional staffer working for Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. As a recent college graduate eager to get involved in foreign policy but employed as the Senator’s driver, I asked our foreign policy advisor for any task he felt comfortable entrusting to me to “get my foot in the door.” My first assignment was to research a resolution supporting the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and the value of nuclear arms control agreements. After a hastily conducted Google search, I thankfully came across a fact sheet from the Center on this very topic. I transferred the information it contained into a memo and sent it along for the Senator’s review. After a brief period of deliberation, Senator Whitehouse agreed to support the resolution.
While a memo on a nonbinding resolution may not seem like the most interesting or in-depth introduction to the world of arms control policy, this seemingly random assignment re-ignited a passion for these issues that I have held since I first studied Enrico Fermi’s work on splitting the atom as an elementary schooler in the Chicago suburbs. I soon found myself devoting every moment I could find (as the Senator’s driver, those moments were incredibly few and far between) to researching arms control treaties, non-proliferation and the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Again and again, I turned to the Center to expand my knowledge of this issue set. Through congressional staff briefings on defense spending, the proliferation risks of the AUKUS partnership and many more topics, I learned from subject matter experts on all things arms control and non-proliferation. The more I learned, the more concerned I became.
As someone who grew up well removed from the shadow of the Cold War and the threat of U.S.-Soviet nuclear conflict, nuclear weapons seemed to be a solved problem to me. Yes, these weapons still existed, but they were controlled, and robust international systems were in place to ensure the risks were safely managed. Or so I thought. In reality, these global nuclear norms that I took for granted, which were painstakingly installed over decades, faced decay in a world increasingly shaped by the rejection of the post-World War II international order. By the time I wrote that memo for Senator Whitehouse, New START was the last in-force strategic arms control measure limiting the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals, and in one year, it would expire.
New START expired in February 2026. By then, I was a junior staffer on Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley’s foreign policy team tasked with covering nuclear weapons and non-proliferation, among other things. At this point in my career, I had developed an expertise on this issue set and began to drive policy decisions within my office. I still drew heavily on the Center’s resources in my work, and their fact sheets and written analyses proved invaluable as I worked to prepare the Senator, a recognized expert on these subjects, for hearings in the Foreign Relations Committee (especially when he would ask me a last-minute question in the hearing room). As I worked to advance Senator Merkley’s priorities on nuclear weapons and non-proliferation through annual spending bills, I utilized the Center’s analysis of the President’s budget request to help triage potential areas of concern that required congressional engagement. Despite the progress I made professionally, I still felt that there was more to be done to address the dangers posed by nuclear weapons. When I found out that the Center was hiring a new research analyst, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to contribute to the resources that shaped my career and use my expertise to reach people like the younger version of myself, who may just be starting to learn about arms control and non-proliferation.
As I write this self-introduction, the world faces an unprecedented nuclear threat environment. The arsenals of Russia and the United States are unconstrained for the first time since the 1970s. China is conducting a rapid buildup of its nuclear forces. All of the nuclear weapons states are undergoing modernization programs to improve their arsenals. The United States accused other nations of violating the ban on explosive testing and is threatening to resume nuclear tests in violation of longstanding domestic policy and international norms. A war is currently being waged by Israel and the United States in Iran in part due to a failure to address proliferation concerns associated with Iran’s nuclear program diplomatically. Questions about the United States’ commitment to its allies have caused allied governments to consider pursuing their own nuclear weapons capabilities. This is not the world a 10-year-old Conor Donlevy envisioned when reading about Fermi’s achievements in the Chicago cold.
These challenges require creative solutions. Not just to the issues themselves, which often present as symptoms of a deeper geopolitical sickness, but to the root causes of instability that motivate them. Through the Center’s work educating lawmakers and the public on arms control and non-proliferation, these solutions can be proposed, debated, improved upon and adopted. I joined the Center to contribute my experience and expertise to their quest for a safer world, and I am excited to tackle the issues of this new nuclear age in this role. More to come soon!
