Dr. James M. Acton is Co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is a prolific writer in the field of nuclear policy, and was a recipient of the competitive Carnegie Corporation of New York grant on New Technologies and the Nuclear Threat that funds his ongoing research into the escalation implications of advanced conventional weapons.
Dr. James M. Acton holds the Jessica T. Mathews Chair and is Co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
A physicist by training, Acton was a recipient of the competitive Carnegie Corporation of New York grant on New Technologies and the Nuclear Threat that funds his ongoing research into the escalation implications of advanced conventional weapons.
Acton’s publications span the field of nuclear policy. They include the Carnegie report, Reimagining Nuclear Arms Control (with TD MacDonald and Pranay Vaddi), and two Adelphi books, Abolishing Nuclear Weapons (with George Perkovich) and Deterrence During Disarmament. With Mark Hibbs, he co-wrote Why Fukushima Was Preventable, a groundbreaking study into the root causes of the accident. His analysis on proliferation threats, including Iran and North Korea, has been widely disseminated by major journals, newspapers, and websites. An expert on hypersonic weapons and the author of the Carnegie report, Silver Bullet?: Asking the Right Questions About Conventional Prompt Global Strike, Acton has testified on this subject to the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee and the congressionally chartered U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He has also testified to the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on nuclear modernization. He has published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Science & Global Security, Survival, and The Washington Quarterly. He has appeared on CNN’s State of the Union, NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, and PBS NewsHour.
Dr. Acton received his PhD in Theoretical Physics from Cambridge University.
Articles
The United States Should Not Further Loosen Its Prohibition on Ukraine’s Using U.S.-Supplied Weapons to Strike Russia
"In the past two weeks, Ukraine appears to have attacked large Russian radars at Armavir and Orsk, severely damaging the former. After more than two years of conflict,...
Two Myths about Counterforce
"China’s growing nuclear arsenal has prompted a debate — in think tanks and research institutions and, more quietly, in the bowels of the Pentagon and...
The U.S. Nuclear Arsenal Can Deter Both China and Russia: Why America Doesn’t Need More Missiles
Dr. Charles L. Glaser, Dr. James M. Acton, Dr. Steve Fetter
"Analysts thinking through the implications of the two nuclear peer problem have argued that the United States will face new and worrisome risks and must...
The Case for Caution on Crimea
"The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has handled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with consummate skill so far, but may be on the verge of...