Does Europe need an alternative to the US nuclear umbrella?
The Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS) invites you to a breakfast seminar on the future of nuclear deterrence in Europe.
Relations between the United States and Europe are undergoing significant shifts. Growing uncertainty among European allies has led to debate about the future of US extended nuclear deterrence. Are US nuclear guarantees credible? Or does Europe need to consider alternative options, such as a British-French nuclear umbrella?
Pranay Vaddi, senior fellow at the Center for Nuclear Security Policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will offer opening remarks. From May 2022 to January 2025, Vaddi served as special assistant to President Joe Biden and senior director for arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation at the National Security Council.
The discussion will continue with a panel where Kristin Ven Bruusgaard, Director of the Norwegian Intelligence School, and James Cameron, Associate Professor at Oslo University, will offer their perspectives.
Professor Henrik Stålhane Hiim (IFS) will chair the seminar. The seminar is part of IFS’ new Strategic Studies Research Programme.
The seminar will not be streamed.
Programme
Programme
08.30 Registration and coffee
09.00 Welcome, opening remarks by Pranay Vaddi (MiT)
09.20 Panel discussion and Q&A
- Kristin Ven Bruusgaard (The Norwegian Intelligence School)
- James Cameron (Oslo University)
- Moderator: Henrik Stålhane Hiim (IFS)
10.15 End
More about
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Pranay Vaddi is currently a senior nuclear fellow in the Center for Nuclear Security Policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
From May 2022 to January 2025, he served as special assistant to President Joe Biden and senior director for arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation at the National Security Council. Prior to this, he served as a senior advisor in the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance at the Department of State, where he coordinated the department’s inputs for the Biden Nuclear Posture Review.
Previously, he was a fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focused on developing recommendations for U.S. nuclear posture and arms control policy, and examined Congress’s role in arms control.
He served for several years at the U.S. Department of State, where he was the interagency coordinator for policy on the New START Treaty and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and joined numerous arms control delegations.
Vaddi holds a BS in biochemistry and a BA in political science from the University of Rochester and a JD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
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Kristin Ven Bruusgaard is Director of the Norwegian Intelligence School.
She served as the Deputy Leader of the 2021 Norwegian Government Defense Commission, providing advice on future Norwegian defense policy for the next 10-20 years.
Previously she was a Postdoctoral Fellow (Assistant Professor) of Political Science at the University of Oslo, a Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow and a Stanton Nuclear Security Predoctoral Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University, a Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS), and a senior security policy analyst in the Norwegian Armed Forces.
Her academic research focuses on Soviet and Russian nuclear strategy, nuclear and non-nuclear deterrence, crisis and deterrence dynamics in Europe and the Arctic/High North.
She holds a PhD in Defence Studies from King's College London and an MA in Security Studies from Georgetown University.
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James Cameron is associate professor of Modern North American History at the University of Oslo, where he primarily teaches the history of US foreign relations and international history.
He is an expert on nuclear strategy and arms control and the author of The Double Game: The Demise of America’s First Missile Defense System and the Rise of Strategic Arms Limitation (Oxford University Press, 2018).
Cameron has previously held positions in the Oslo Nuclear Project at the University of Oslo, the Department of War Studies at King's College London, the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) in São Paulo, Brazil, the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University, and Yale University's International Security Studies (ISS).
He holds a PhD and BA in hHstory from the University of Cambridge and an MPhil in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Oxford.