John Warden

warden4 [at] llnl.gov (warden4[at]llnl[dot]gov)  

John Kawika Warden is a Senior Deterrence Analyst at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His areas of focus include U.S. defense strategy and foreign policy; nuclear weapons and deterrence; escalation, stability, and arms control; and technology and the future of warfare. Mr. Warden has previously served as the Director for Strategic Stability and Arms Control at the National Security Council, on the professional staff of the House Armed Services Committee, as a Research Staff Member at the Institute for Defense Analyses, as a Senior Policy Analyst at Science Applications International Corporation, as a Senior Fellow at Pacific Forum, and as a Program Coordinator at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He holds an M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University and a B.A. in Political Science and History from Northwestern University.

Recent Publications

“Command and Control of U.S. Nuclear Forces” in Managing U.S. Nuclear Operations in the 21st Century, Brookings Institution Press, 2022, (with John Harvey).

“The Major Power Game: The United States, China, and Russia” in US-China Nuclear Relations: The Impact of Strategic Triangles, Lynne Rienner, 2021.

“Conventional-Nuclear Integration in the Next National Defense Strategy,” CNAS Commentary, October 2020.

“Limiting North Korea’s Coercive Nuclear Leverage,” Survival 62:1, February-March 2020, pp. 31-38 (with Jina Kim).

“Goals for any arms control proposal with North Korea,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, February 2019 (with Ankit Panda).

Limited Nuclear War: The 21st Century Challenge for the United States, Livermore Papers on Global Security, No. 4, July 2018.

“After Nuclear First Use, What?” Survival 60:3, June-July 2018, pp. 133-160 (with Vince Manzo).

"The Least Bad Option: Damage Limitation and U.S. Deterrence Strategy toward North Korea," Texas National Security Review, February 2018 (with Vince Manzo).

“The Strategic Rationale for Maritime Tension Reduction in the Yellow Sea,” The Washington Quarterly 40:4, Winter 2018, pp. 183-197 (with Darcie Draudt).

“North Korea’s Nuclear Posture: An Evolving Challenge for U.S. Deterrence,” Proliferation Papers, Ifri, March 2017.

“Assuring Japan and South Korea in the Second Nuclear Age,” The Washington Quarterly 38:1, Spring 2015, pp. 147-165 (with David Santoro).