Open Source Data Collection,
Global Nuclear Weapons Arsenals,
Missile Defence,
Nuclear-Climate Nexus
Matt Korda is the Associate Director for the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, where he co-authors the Nuclear Notebook––an authoritative open-source estimate of global nuclear forces and trends. Matt is also an Associate Senior Researcher with the Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), and co-authors the nuclear weapons chapters for the annual SIPRI Yearbook. Previously, he worked for the Arms Control, Disarmament, and WMD Non-Proliferation Centre at NATO HQ in Brussels. Matt’s research and open-source discoveries about nuclear weapons have made headlines across the globe, and his work is regularly used by governments, policymakers, academics, journalists, and the broader public in order to challenge assumptions and improve accountability about nuclear arsenals and trends.
He received his MA in International Peace & Security from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, where he subsequently worked as a Research Assistant on nuclear deterrence and strategic stability. He also completed an internship with the Verification, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC) in London, where he focused on nuclear security and safeguards. He received a BA in European Studies from Victoria College at the University of Toronto.
Matt’s research interests and recent publications focus on nuclear deterrence and disarmament, progressive foreign policy, and the nexus between nuclear weapons, climate change, and injustice. Matt’s work has been widely published and quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, Associated Press, CNN, The Toronto Star, Forbes, CBC, Politico, The Nation, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Defense One, Inkstick, Outrider, 38 North, Arms Control Wonk, and others.
Matt is a listed Expert member of the Forum on the Arms Trade program and a Member of the Canadian Pugwash Group. He was also the Ploughshares Fund’s 2020 Olum Fellow, a 2019 alumnus of the Wilson Center’s Nuclear History Boot Camp, a 2019 CSIS Nuclear Scholar, and a 2018 alumnus of IGCC’s Public Policy and Nuclear Threats Boot Camp. In 2019 and 2020, Matt was also the co-director of Foreign Policy Generation––a group of young people working to develop a progressive foreign policy for the next generation.
Current Work: Tracking global nuclear forces with open sources (published bi-monthly in FAS’ Nuclear Notebook and annually in the SIPRI Yearbook), training the next generation of open-source researchers, and conducting ongoing research on the United States’ intercontinental ballistic missile force (ICBM Information Project) and other aspects of US nuclear modernization.
While it is reasonable for governments to keep the most sensitive aspects of nuclear policies secret, the rights of their citizens to have access to general knowledge about these issues is equally valid so they may know about the consequences to themselves and their country.
Nearly one year after the Pentagon certified the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program to continue after it incurred critical cost and schedule overruns, the new nuclear missile could once again be in trouble.
Congress should ensure that no amendments dictating the size of the ICBM force are included in future NDAAs.
Life-extending the existing Minuteman III missiles is the best way to field an ICBM force without sacrificing funding for other priorities.
Unique social media images reveal the likely retirement of an old Indian nuclear-capable system.
A military depot in central Belarus has recently been upgraded with additional security perimeters and an access point that indicate it could be intended for housing Russian nuclear warheads for Belarus’ Russia-supplied Iskander missile launchers.
The Indian government announced yesterday that it had conducted the first flight test of its Agni-5 ballistic missile “with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-Entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology.
Analyzing and estimating China’s nuclear forces is challenging, particularly given the relative lack of state-originating data and the tight control of messaging surrounding the country’s nuclear arsenal and doctrine.
The FAS Nuclear Notebook is one of the most widely sourced reference materials worldwide for reliable information about the status of nuclear weapons and has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1987. The Nuclear Notebook is researched and written by the staff of the Federation of American Scientists’ Nuclear Information Project: Director Hans […]
[UPDATED] The Biden administration has decided to add a new nuclear gravity bomb to the US arsenal. The bomb will be known as the B61-13.
New satellite imagery shows that preparations to deploy Russia’s new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile are well underway.
In contrast to the Biden administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, the Congressionally-mandated Strategic Posture Commission report is a full-throated embrace of a U.S. nuclear build-up.