About this Event
The Centre for Nuclear Strategy and Security (CNSS), in conjunction with the Department of War Studies, will host a seminar led by Dr Charles Glaser on U.S. nuclear strategy.
U.S. nuclear strategy is oriented toward damage limitation—trying to maintain the ability to reduce the damage that a peer or near-peer adversary can inflict in all-out retaliation.
The alternative is a countervalue strategy, which relies for deterrence on threatening an adversary’s infrastructure, economy, and population.
This talk argues that a damage-limitation capability is infeasible, unnecessary, and dangerous.
A countervalue strategy could provide the United States with an excellent deterrent in most, if possibly not all, situations and reduce may risks of nuclear escalation.
Speaker:
Dr Charles Glaser is a Senior Fellow in the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research focuses on international relations theory and international security policy, including US policy towards China, nuclear weapons, and energy security. Dr Glaser was a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University where he served as the Founding Director of the Elliott School’s Institute for Security and Conflict Studies. Prior to that, he was the Emmett Dedmon Professor of Public Policy and Deputy Dean at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.
He was also a research associate at MIT’s Center for International Studies, a visiting fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, a fellow at the Kissinger Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Roth Family Distinguished Visiting Professor at Dartmouth College. He is the author of numerous books and articles including, most recently, Retrench, Defend, Compete: Securing America’s Future Against A Rising China, which was published in 2025. Dr Glaser holds a PhD and an MPP from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, an MS in Physics from Harvard, and a BS in Physics from MIT.
Event venue & nearby stays
Dockrill Room, Department of War Studies, (KIN 628), King's College London, London, United Kingdom
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