PrintBruce W. MacDonald
Senior Director, Nonproliferation and Arms Control Program
Contact
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Bruce MacDonald is senior director of the Nonproliferation and Arms Control Program with the USIP Office of Special Initiatives. In this capacity, he developed and serves and lead instructor of 21st Century Issues in Strategic Arms Control and Nonproliferation, a series of courses for the USIP Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuidling, as well as serving as an adviser on a variety of issues related to nuclear strategy and policy, missile defense, arms control, and nonproliferation. Prior to this post, he served as senior director of the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States, a bipartisan body headed by former Defense Secretaries William Perry and James Schlesinger. He was project leader for the Council on Foreign Relations’ study of China, Space Weapons, and U.S. Security, which the council published in 2008. He also served on the Obama presidential campaign’s defense policy support team in the areas of military space, missile defense, and other strategic issues.
MacDonald was assistant director for national security at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and served on the National Security Council staff. He was a professional staff member of the House Armed Services Committee and served in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, where he chaired the Interagency Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START) Working Group and served on the U.S. START delegation in Geneva.
MacDonald is an honors graduate in aerospace engineering from Princeton University. He also received two masters degrees from Princeton, one in aerospace engineering with a specialty in rocket propulsion, and the second in public and international affairs. MacDonald is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Publications & Tools
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On May 2, USIP hosted NATO Defense College (NDC) Senior Course 120, which consisted of 74 senior military officers from 31 countries worldwide, as part of the group's Transatlantic Field Study trip to Washington, DC. NDC Dean Dr. Richard Hooker and Brigadier General Patrick Desjardins of France, dean of Academic Operations, led the delegation; Daria Daniels Skodnik coordinated the trip for NDC. Issue Areas: WMD, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control
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The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) is continuing a series of courses organized by its Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding on the challenges of nuclear nonproliferation and arms control in the 21st century. The most recent course focused on Iran and Pakistan. |
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The Institute’s Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding held the course in nuclear nonproliferation Sept. 26-30. And, for the first time ever, an undersecretary of state, Ellen Tauscher, spoke to an Academy class. Tauscher is the undersecretary of state for Arms Control and International Security Affairs. Countries: Iran, Korean Peninsula, North Korea, South Korea, United States
| Issue Areas: WMD, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control
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USIP expert Bruce MacDonald testified on May 11, 2011 before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on the implications of China's military and civil space programs. |
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With the U.S. Senate’s ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the United States and Russia now await the Russian parliament’s likely ratification to make important reductions in their strategic nuclear arsenals. Throughout debate, senators on both sides of the aisle cited the findings and recommendations of the 2009 Strategic Posture Commission, chaired by former secretaries of defense William Perry and James Schlesinger. Countries: Russian Federation
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Negotiation and Diplomacy, WMD, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control
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The bimonthly Prevention Newsletter provides highlights of CAP's conceptual work, its region specific work aimed at helping to prevent conflicts in Africa, the Middle East, South and Northeast Asia, and the special projects on genocide prevention and nonproliferation. It also provides Over the Horizon thinking on trends in different regions, as well as CAP events, working groups and publications. Countries: Africa, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Iran, Kenya, Korean Peninsula, Pakistan, Turkey
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Political Reform, WMD, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control
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The bimonthly Prevention Newsletter provides highlights of CAP's conceptual work, its region specific work aimed at helping to prevent conflicts in Africa, the Middle East, South and Northeast Asia, and the special projects on genocide prevention and non-proliferation. It also provides Over the Horizon thinking on trends in different regions, as well as CAP events, working groups and publications. Countries: Côte d'Ivoire, Iran, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Kenya, Korean Peninsula, Pakistan
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention
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At the Nuclear Security Summit on April 12 and 13, leaders from around the world pledged to take their own steps to secure nuclear material used in bombs, civilian nuclear reactors and power plants, and to work together to enhance overall security. Countries: Iran, Korean Peninsula, Mexico, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Ukraine, United States
| Issue Areas: WMD, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control
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The bimonthly Prevention Newsletter provides highlights of the Institute's conceptual and region specific work aimed at helping to prevent conflicts in Africa, the Middle East, South and Northeast Asia, and the special project on genocide prevention. It also provides Over the Horizon thinking on trends in different regions, as well as information about events, working groups and publications. Countries: Chad, Iran, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Kenya, Korean Peninsula, Lebanon, Pakistan
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention
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Events
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January 19, 2011
As we approach the 25th anniversary of the Reykjavik Summit the National Academy of Sciences Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC) and the USIP Center of Innovation: Science, Technology & Peacebuilding held a symposium on science and diplomacy in support of international security to examine the roles of transparency and confidence building in 21st Century nuclear security. Countries: Russian Federation
| Issue Areas: Science, Technology, and Peacebuilding, WMD, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control
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November 8, 2010
The United States stationed thousands of nuclear weapons in Europe during the Cold War in order to support the common defense of NATO members in Europe. While the environment in which the NATO nuclear mission finds its purpose has changed since the Cold War and the number of U.S. nuclear weapons stationed in Europe has been scaled back significantly, concerns about Russian tactical nuclear forces, the Iranian nuclear program, and the political importance of nuclear weapons to NATO solidarity raise important questions about how NATO should proceed as it outlines its nuclear mission in the 2010 Strategic Concept. Countries: Europe, Russian Federation
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Negotiation and Diplomacy, WMD, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control
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July 26, 2010
USIP held an informative discussion with Rose Gottemoeller, assistant secretary of state for verification, compliance, and implementation, on the verification provisions of the New START agreement. Her remarks were followed by an expert panel discussion on the implications of verification for the START ratification process and a lively Q & A session with the audience. Countries: Russian Federation, United States
| Issue Areas: Negotiation and Diplomacy, WMD, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control
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October 26, 2009
On October 26, 2009, USIP held a panel discussion with Amb. Linton Brooks, Joseph Cirincione, and Thomas Scheber on next steps for the START process and the START Follow-on Treaty. Countries: China, Czech Republic, France, India, Iran, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Japan, North Korea, Pakistan, Poland, Russian Federation, South Korea, United Kingdom
| Issue Areas: Negotiation and Diplomacy, Science, Technology, and Peacebuilding, Security Sector Reform/Governance, WMD, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control
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