International Order in a Second Nuclear Age
Dr. Paul Bracken

January 28, 2015

As part of the Nuclear Crossroads Initiative, the Center for Global Security Research (CGSR) is hosting a talk entitled "International Order in a Second Nuclear Age." Following the lecture there will be a question and answer session. This is open to the Laboratory.

This talk will analyze the problem of international order in light of a multipolar nuclear world. Military technology is changing more rapidly than at any time since the 1950s, as the Pentagon leverages off of commercial innovation cycles. Unlike the cold war however these innovations (hypersonics, cyberwarfare, big data analytics, drones, financial warfare) are spreading to many countries, not only to two superpowers. Geopolitical changes are on a different dynamic altogether. The big factors are the absence of fundamental changes in the international system after the cold war, the re-emergence of a multipolar international system, and the return of nuclear weapons as a source of influence and power. Together, these technology and political factors create a new context for defense and foreign policy choices, much as the cold war radically changed the context for defense decisions in the 1950s. The briefing will draw on the author's book in progress, Silicon Valley and the Pentagon, Disruptive Innovation and National Security.

At Yale, Paul Bracken designed the MBA core course on Problem Framing, which has received global recognition. Bracken also teaches The Global Corporation, which examines the multinational corporation's strategy under global competition; and in Yale College Strategy, Technology, and War, a large lecture course. Princeton Review listed Bracken in their recent book "The Best 300 Professors in the United States." Bracken began his career working for ten years with Herman Kahn at the Hudson Institute. Today, Professor Bracken serves on the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel (CEP), and the Board of Advisers of the US Naval War College and the Naval Postgraduate School. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the strategic advisory board of Paladin Capital Group. His undergraduate degree is from Columbia University in engineering, and he has a Ph.D. from Yale University in operations research.