Heather Williams

Heather Williams is the director of the Project on Nuclear Issues and a senior fellow in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Prior to joining CSIS, she was a visiting fellow with the Project on Managing the Atom in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School and a Stanton Nuclear Security fellow in the Security Studies Program at MIT. Until 2022, she was a senior lecturer (associate professor) in defense studies at King’s College London and taught on arms control, deterrence, and disarmament. From 2018 to 2019, Dr. Williams served as a specialist adviser to the House of Lords International Relations Committee inquiry into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and disarmament, and until 2015 she was a research fellow at Chatham House. She previously worked in the Strategy, Forces, and Resources Division at the Institute for Defense Analyses, where she remains an adjunct research staff member. She is an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a senior associate fellow with the European Leadership Network, and a member of the Wilton Park Advisory Council. Dr. Williams has a PhD in war studies from King’s College London, an MA in security policy studies from the George Washington University, and a BA in international relations and Russian studies from Boston University.
In the News
Russia’s ‘dirty bomb’ threats challenge the nuclear calculus
Heather Williams in The Washington Post — November 2, 2022
How a 'Dirty Bomb' Actually Compares to a Nuclear Weapon
Heather Williams in Newsweek — October 24, 2022
All that nuclear talk: Is the unthinkable suddenly possible
Heather Williams in The Christian Science Monitor — October 17, 2022
How Nuclear Tensions During 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis Compare to Now
Heather Williams in Newsweek — October 16, 2022
What we got wrong about nuclear risk reduction
Heather Williams in The Hill — May 23, 2022
All content by Heather Williams
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Book Event: The Fragile Balance of Terror: Deterrence in the Nuclear Age
Event by Heather Williams , Scott Sagan , Ankit Panda , and Nicholas Miller — January 26, 2023

Arms Control after Ukraine: Integrated Arms Control and Deterring Two Peer Competitors
Report by Heather Williams and Nicholas Adamopoulos — December 16, 2022

Deterring Nuclear Weapons Use in Ukraine
Critical Questions by Heather Williams — October 14, 2022

The Nuclear Posture in Review
Event by Heather Williams , Kelsey Hartigan , and Kathleen McInnis — July 29, 2022

Integrated Arms Control in an Era of Strategic Competition
Report by Heather Williams , Suzanne Claeys , and Rebecca Hersman — January 21, 2022

U.S. and Eurasian Security: The Challenges Ahead
