Mailing address
Littauer 339C
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
79 John F. Kennedy Street, Mailbox 53
Cambridge, MA, 02138
Downloadable CV
Matthew Bunn
Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Contact:
Telephone: (617) 495-9916
Fax: 617-495-8963
Email: matthew_bunn@harvard.edu
Experience
Matthew Bunn is a Senior Research Associate in the Project on Managing the Atom in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. His current research interests include nuclear theft and terrorism; nuclear proliferation and measures to control it; and the future of nuclear energy and its fuel cycle.
Before joining the Kennedy School in January 1997, he served for three years as an adviser to the Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he played a major role in U.S. policies related to the control and disposition of weapons-usable nuclear materials in the United States and the former Soviet Union, and directed a secret study for President Clinton on security for nuclear materials in Russia. Previously, Bunn was at the National Academy of Sciences, where he directed the two-volume study Management and Disposition of Excess Weapons Plutonium. He is the winner of the American Physical Society’s Joseph A. Burton Forum Award for “outstanding contributions in helping to formulate policies to decrease the risks of theft of nuclear weapons and nuclear materials,” and the Federation of American Scientists’ Hans Bethe Award for “science in service to a more secure world,” and is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a member of the Boards of Directors of the Arms Control Association and the Partnership for Global Security, and serves on the Committee on the Internationalization of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle, a joint committee of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Bunn is the author or co-author of over a dozen books and book-length technical reports (most recently including Securing the Bomb 2007), and scores of articles in publications ranging from Science and Nuclear Technology to Foreign Policy and The Washington Post. He appears regularly on television and radio.
Bunn holds a doctorate in technology, management, and policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is married to Jennifer Weeks; they have two daughters.
Dr. Bunn's full publication list is available for download:
Matthew Bunn's Full Publication List (38 KB PDF)
AP Photo
April 30, 2008
"Next Steps to Strengthen the National Nuclear Security Administration's Efforts To Prevent Nuclear Proliferation"
Testimony
By Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn testified to the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Appropriations, United States Senate about critical issues for U.S. and world security — nuclear terrorism and nuclear proliferation, and what more the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) can do to prevent them.
NESCA
April 2, 2008
"The Risk Of Nuclear Terrorism — And Next Steps To Reduce The Danger"
Testimony
By Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Dr. Bunn’s testimony to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the United States Senate urges a global campaign to ensure that every nuclear weapon and every cache of potential nuclear bomb material worldwide is secured against the kinds of threats terrorists and criminals have demonstrated they can pose. Bunn highlights the good and bad news about the risk of nuclear terrorism, and assesses the probability of a nuclear terrorist attack. Bunn then proposes several steps to reduce the risk of a nuclear terrorist attack
Clark~
March 13, 2008
"Expanding Nuclear Energy, Preventing Nuclear Terrorism"
Presentation
By Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn presented "Expanding Nuclear Energy, Preventing Nuclear Terrorism" to the Energy & Security Search Seminar on March 13, 2008.
February 29, 2008
"Allocation of Risk in Building Capital-Intensive Electricity Generation: What Role for Government?"
Presentation
By Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn presented "Allocation of Risk in Building Capital-Intensive Electricity Generation: What Role for Government?" to the Harvard Electricity Policy Group, in Boulder, Colorado.
February 22, 2008
"What Do We Mean by Zero? Strategic Implications of Different Approaches to the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons"
Presentation
By Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn presented "What Do We Mean by Zero? Strategic Implications of Different Approaches to the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons," at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization conference on "Nuclear Weapons: The Greatest Peril to Civilization," in New Haven, Conn on February 21-22, 2008.
February 1, 2008
"Key Factors Affecting the Future of Nuclear Energy"
Presentation
By Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn discussed the key factors affecting the future of nuclear energy for the first meeting of the Belfer Center Working Group on the Future of Nuclear Energy on February 1, 2008.
December 11, 2007
"Nuclear Terrorism: How Can Intelligence Best Contribute to Reducing the Risk?"
Presentation
By Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn presented "Nuclear Terrorism: How Can Intelligence Best Contribute to Reducing the Risk?" to the Intelligence Science Board Quarterly Meeting, McLean, Virginia.
Federation of American Scientists
December 3, 2007
Matthew Bunn Wins 2007 Hans Bethe Award
Media Feature
By Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn was awarded the Hans Bethe Award for science in service of a more secure world from the Federation of American Scientists, on December 3, 2007 in Washington D.C.
November 30, 2007
A World of Three No’s
Media Feature
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative, Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom and Senator Sam Nunn
This is the second in a series of videos on nuclear terrorism based on Graham Allison's book Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe. In this episode, former Senator and co-chair of the Nuclear Threat Initiative Sam Nunn, Belfer Center Director Graham Allison, and Senior Research Associate in the Project on Managing the Atom Matthew Bunn discuss ways in which we might limit the spread of nuclear weapons.
November 30, 2007
What is a Nuclear Bomb?
Media Feature
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative and Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
This is the third in a series of videos on nuclear terrorism based on Graham Allison's book Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe. In this episode, Matthew Bunn, Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s JFK School of Government and author of Securing the Bomb, describes what happens when a nuclear bomb is detonated.
