Dr. Douglas B. Shaw is Assistant Professor of International Affairs at the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University, where he has previously held a number of positions. Earlier in his 25 year career, Dr. Shaw joined the White House Office of Presidential Personnel and held appointments in both Clinton administrations. His expertise center on nuclear non-proliferation, arms control, and disarmament.
Dr. Douglas B. Shaw is a Research Professor of International Affairs at the Elliot School of International Affairs at The George Washington University and and Principal of AsymmetryX, a planning and communications consultancy focused on leveraging Washington for global impact.
He previously served as George Washington University’s Senior Associate Provost for International Strategy and, before that, for seven years as Associate Dean for Planning, Research, and External Relations at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. He also served as Director of Policy Planning for Georgetown University, where he developed strategic initiatives to advance the university as a leading student-centered international research university. Earlier in his career, Dr. Shaw joined the White House Office of Presidential Personnel and held appointments in both Clinton administrations. He worked in the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and at the U.S. Department of Energy. He was commended by the President for his involvement with the successful global diplomatic campaign to indefinitely extend the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Dr. Shaw has also served in leadership roles in several prominent non-governmental organizations; including as Director of Security Programs for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Physicians for Social Responsibility; Executive Vice President of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy; and as Director of Communications of the Lawyers Alliance for World Security. He has also served on the Boards of Directors of College Bound and the Worker Rights Consortium. Dr. Shaw’s private sector experience includes business development, research, and analysis for Worldrise, Booz Allen Hamilton, Liebman & Associates Energy and Environmental Consulting, and Numark Associates.
His expertise center on nuclear weapons, deterrence, terrorism, international organizations, U.S. foreign policy, asymmetric warfare, and nuclear non-proliferation, arms control, and disarmament.
He has lectured on nuclear nonproliferation on four continents in venues including the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and Harvard University; discussed nuclear weapons issues on C-SPAN and National Public Radio; and published in Arms Control Today, The Nonproliferation Review, and The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. His research has been funded by a wide range of organizations, including the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Sandia National Laboratories, the Ford Foundation, and the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Dr. Shaw holds B.S.F.S., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Georgetown University in International Relations and Security Studies.
Articles

Nuclear Deterrence: Unsafe at Machine Speed
AI and the Bomb: Nuclear Strategy and Risk in the Digital Age By James JohnsonOxford University PressMay 2023 Reviewed by Douglas B. Shaw "James Johnson’s book...