By Kathleen Egan and Joel Rosenthal November 2025 Nuclear weapons pose the threat of a mass casualty event, every day. What prevents catastrophes is the prudential judgment of leaders, based on a set of principles, including deterrence, non-proliferation, and just war. In recent years, nuclear capabilities have grown, while restraints are weakening, and principles are eroding. On April 15, 2025, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs in partnership with The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation brought together a community of researchers, academics, practitioners, journalists, and religious leaders for a one-day convening to discuss, assess, and evaluate the current international strategic nuclear environment. This report highlights the findings of that convening and identifies a distinct normative shift of nuclear complacency, in which the robust scholarship, activism, and diplomacy of the past 80 years have been replaced by public indifference, political de-prioritization, and military buildup of these weapons. Read the report (PDF)
