Matthew Bunn

@matthew-bunn.bsky.social

490 followers 130 following 310 posts

Father, husband, citizen, professor, focusing mainly on nuclear weapons and nuclear energy issues. Faculty lead for Harvard's Managing the Atom project: www.belfercenter.org/programs/managing-atom
My website: matthewbunn.scholars.harvard.edu .. more

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Matthew Bunn is an American nuclear and energy policy analyst, currently a professor of practice at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University. He is the Co-principal Investigator for the Belfer Center's Project on Managing the Atom. .. more

Political science 44%

Engineering 24%

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Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · Oct 23

Proud to have been part of 50 years of work to reduce the danger of nuclear war at the Harvard Kennedy School, detailed in this new account in the Kennedy School's magazine. The effort is more urgent and essential than ever. www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-rese...

Inside the Kennedy School’s long fight to prevent nuclear catastrophe

For generations, the insights and engagement of Harvard Kennedy School scholars have strengthened nuclear strategies and reduced dangers.

www.hks.harvard.edu

Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 12h

So, while a return to nuclear testing would be a huge setback for global nuclear control efforts, it would not enable China to develop dramatically new nuclear capabilities.
mitpress.mit.edu/978026205182...

The Untold Story of China's Nuclear Weapon Development and Testing

The Untold Story of China’s Nuclear Weapon Development and Testing offers the most comprehensive account of China’s nuclear weapons development f...

mitpress.mit.edu

Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 12h

ICYMI, this WaPo story on activity at China's Lop Nur test site makes clear they are prepared to resume nuclear testing if the United States goes ahead. But as Zhang's new book makes clear, China has already developed nuclear weapons comparable (including in yield-to-weight) to U.S. designs.

China rapidly expands nuclear test site as Trump revives Cold War tension

The quiet expansion of Beijing’s remote nuclear weapons complex, Lop Nur, points to years of preparation for a potential return to a Cold War-era arms race.

www.washingtonpost.com

Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 12h

Excited to say that my colleague Hui Zhang's magnum opus, providing a detailed technical history of China's nuclear weapons development and testing -- every test, what they learned from it, etc. -- is out now from MIT Press. mitpress.mit.edu/978026205182...

The Untold Story of China's Nuclear Weapon Development and Testing

The Untold Story of China’s Nuclear Weapon Development and Testing offers the most comprehensive account of China’s nuclear weapons development f...

mitpress.mit.edu

Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 12h

Great news! Looking forward!

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

James Acton @nuclear-jim.bsky.social · 12h

I'm thrilled to have a contract with @academic.oup.com for my book on "Entanglement and Unintended Escalation." (There'll be a better title!)

The manuscript is drafted and currently being revised. Hopefully should be out second half of next year!

Reposted by Kori Schake, Matthew Bunn

Cliff W. Gilmore @cliffwgilmore.bsky.social · 1d

Ok. I’ll go: As I was trained and trained others, US military service members are legally, morally, & ethically obligated to refuse to follow unlawful orders.

Doing so is high risk, as it is a de facto case of guilty until proven innocent — but it is a duty to refuse to follow them all the same.

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

Max Boot @maxboot.bsky.social · 3d

This isn’t a “peace plan.” It’s a blueprint for Ukraine’s capitulation. If implemented, it would turn this pro-Western, democratic nation, which has been courageously resisting Russian aggression since 2014, into a Kremlin colony. wapo.st/3XcRot6

Opinion | Ukraine needs Russia’s frozen $200 billion immediately, Europe

With Trump seeking Kyiv’s capitulation to Russia, now is the moment for decisive European action.

wapo.st

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Matthew Bunn, John Palfrey , and 2 more Stephen M. Walt, Matthew Bunn, John Palfrey, Paul Nightingale, David Darmofal

Dani Rodrik @drodrik.bsky.social · 3d

Faculty searches at Harvard Kennedy School in applied microeconomics and in technology and public policy www.hks.harvard.edu/more/about/l...

Faculty Appointments

The Academic Deans' Office recruits new faculty members who have strong teaching and research records and are intellectual leaders in their field.

www.hks.harvard.edu

Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 4d

And China is ALSO building more nuclear power plants than anyone else in the world -- but still a very small fraction of the electricity produced by coal.

Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 4d

But arms control is another matter. It's precisely countries you fear and distrust whose nuclear forces you want to limit. If we can get serious limits on Russian forces, while maintaining what's needed to also deter China, we should do so.

Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 4d

A "peace plan" that offers security guarantees for Ukraine without ANY troops on the ground to back them up reflects a profound lack of understanding of Putin's Russia and of what is needed for credible deterrence of future Russian attacks.

Patricia Zengerle @reuterszengerle.bsky.social · 4d

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services is not a fan of the Trump admin’s Ukraine peace plan.

Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 4d

Does the deal include the earlier idea of providing a U.S.-owned, U.S.-operated enrichment plant, but not the technology? ("Black boxes" for technology tend to be gray.) Does it include Saudi Arabia accepting the Additional Protocol to IAEA safeguards? www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

US Reaches Initial Deal With Saudi Arabia on Nuclear Sharing

US negotiations with Saudi Arabia on a long-sought nuclear technology-sharing deal have been completed, potentially opening the door for American companies to build reactors in the kingdom.

www.bloomberg.com

Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 4d

Concerning how little has been made public about the nuclear energy deal with Saudi Arabia that the Trump administration announced had been reached during MBS's visit. What does it include about uranium enrichment, about strengthened safeguards?
www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...

Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Solidifies Economic and Defense Partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

STRENGTHENING OUR STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP: Today, President Donald J. Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Saudi

www.whitehouse.gov

Reposted by Kori Schake, Matthew Bunn

Patricia Zengerle @reuterszengerle.bsky.social · 4d

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services is not a fan of the Trump admin’s Ukraine peace plan.

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 4d

Trump: “We had a meeting today that actually surprised me. He wants to see no crime. He wants to see housing being built. He wants to see rents coming down…I expect to be helping him, not hurting him…I think this mayor can do some things that are going to be really great.”

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

Kingston Reif @kingstonareif.bsky.social · 5d

“17. The United States and Russia will agree to extend the validity of treaties on the non-proliferation and control of nuclear weapons, including the START I Treaty.”

Trump's full 28-point Ukraine-Russia peace plan

The full plan was obtained by Axios and verified by Ukrainian and U.S. officials.

www.axios.com

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Evelyne de Leeuw, David R. Miller , and 2 more Matthew Bunn, Evelyne de Leeuw, David R. Miller, Michael D. McDonald, Élisabeth Vallet

Senator Elissa Slotkin @slotkin.senate.gov · 5d

Earlier this morning, President Trump threatened me and a group of service and veteran Members of Congress with arrest, trial, and death by hanging.

Here’s my response:

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Alfie Kohn

Stephen Schwartz @atomicanalyst.bsky.social · 5d

Tonight in 1983, more than 100 million Americans saw multiple thermonuclear weapons destroy Kansas City, Missouri, in “The Day After” on ABC. A.C. Nielsen Company reported that 62 percent of television sets that night were tuned to the film. I watched in my packed college dorm lounge. How about you?

The cover of the November 21, 1983, edition of Newsweek, with the text:

"TV"s Nuclear Nightmare
Public Service or Propaganda?
How Will It Affect Children?

Below this is a color photo of a scene from the movie (oversaturated in orange and yellow) of a large mushroom cloud rising over a road and farm fields, as a young man runs toward the camera while glancing back over his left shoulder at the cloud.

The cover of the November 19-25 edition of TV Guide with the text:

"America is Hit
'The Day After Brings Nuclear War Horror ... and Hot Controversy"

The cover is a color photo montage of a nuclear fireball, in front of which are running (toward the camera) a young boy in a striped short-sleeve shirt and dark pants and, behind him, an older man (John Cullum) in a plaid long-sleeve shirt and blue jeans.

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Daniel W. Drezner, Samantha Brennan

Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 6d

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Summers Will Not Finish Semester of Teaching as Harvard Investigates Epstein Ties | News | The Harvard Crimson

Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey E. Epstein.

www.thecrimson.com

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 7d

Good morning, New York. While you were sleeping, this was the most-read story on.ft.com/47WDgKJ

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

Niko Jaakkola @nikoecon.bsky.social · 7d

Interesting podcast in which @armscontrolwonk.bsky.social & @wslafoy.bsky.social discuss (and tear apart) 'A House of Dynamite'. The fundamental problem is the unrealistic scenario -- who would fire one missile at the continental US? And why would this necessitate immediate retaliation?

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Michael Kevane, W. Andy Knight , and 1 more Matthew Bunn, Michael Kevane, W. Andy Knight, Mark Rice

Mediaite @mediaite.com · 9d

‘This Is Corruption’: ’60 Minutes’ Reports Trump Pardoned Binance Boss After He ‘Enriched’ Crypto Business Tied to Trump Family

"60 Minutes" reported President Trump pardoned the founder of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange after he "enriched" the Trump family during its crypto push The post ‘This Is Corruption’: ’60 Minutes’ Reports Trump Pardoned Binance Boss After He ‘Enriched’ Crypto Business Tied to Trump Family first appeared on Mediaite.

dlvr.it

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Peter Thorne, Julie L. Lockwood , and 9 more Matthew Bunn, Peter Thorne, Julie L. Lockwood, Michael A. Clemens, Rosemary A. Joyce, Charles West, Rebecca Tushnet, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Margot C. Finn, Paul Nightingale, Christina Ho, Anne Hilborn

Meade Krosby @meadekrosby.bsky.social · 12d

Prohibited activities include advising Chinese graduate students. For reference, a recent Georgetown report estimated 16% of STEM graduate students in the US are Chinese nationals.

This would take out entire fields at the knees, which is perhaps the point.

Roland Hatzenpichler @environmicrobio.bsky.social · 12d

“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”

U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations

Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students

www.science.org

Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 12d

A new fellowship for historians looking to profile key figures of the nuclear age, named for the remarkable nuclear historian Marty Sherwin:
www.gc.cuny.edu/news/generou...

Generous Gift to the CUNY Graduate Center Endows New Biography Fellowship

The family of Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Martin J. Sherwin establishes a fellowship for nuclear age biography at the Leon Levy Center for Biography.

www.gc.cuny.edu

Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 12d

While the US failed for 26 years to fix Penn Station, China built 30,000 miles of high-speed rail and 1,000 new rail stations.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Why Is It So Hard to Fix Penn Station?

The nation’s busiest transit hub stands as a symbol of a condition that afflicts so many attempts to get big things done in America: inertia.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Timothy Snyder, Matthew Bunn, Hans M. Kristensen

Shashank Joshi @shashj.bsky.social · 12d

"what began as a way to increase the pace of deportations has come to look like a national police force, answerable to the president, that is at least as focused on bullying the residents of Democrat-run cities as it is on deporting undocumented migrants" www.economist.com/interactive/...

See how Donald Trump is creating his own police force

Immigration agents are operating in cities with few legal constraints

www.economist.com

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

Theresa Hitchens @thitch.bsky.social · 13d

SBIs will require defensive capabilities to help protect them from adversary ASATS -- and that is a cost factor/tech challenge that is not often included in ongoing discussions about investment requirements. breakingdefense.com/2025/11/gold...

Golden Dome SBIs will need to be defended from adversary attack: Experts - Breaking Defense

The satellites will need to be defended "not only from adversary kinetic or local orbital issues, but also from cyber attacks, electronic jamming and laser attacks," said Patrick Binning, a professor ...

breakingdefense.com

Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 13d

Looking forward to reading this one. Sole presidential responsibility for nuclear use needs to be moderated in some way -- literally EVERY other thing involving nuclear weapons requires at least two people to be involved.

Alex Wellerstein @wellerstein.bsky.social · 13d

The new book... exists!!! Got my author copies in the mail today! Looks quite readable! Spelled my name right on the cover, even!!!

harpercollins.com/products/the-most-awful-responsibility-alex-wellerstein