Christopher Yeaw, Ph.D.

Dr. Christopher Yeaw is Associate Executive Director for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Programs at the National Strategic Research Institute at the University of Nebraska, the DOD-designated University Affiliated Research Center sponsored by U.S. Strategic Command.

Read Researcher Feature of Dr. Yeaw

Since joining NSRI, Dr. Yeaw has led several initiatives to bring NSRI's strategic deterrence research prowess to fruition, including:

• Exploration of the roles, missions and designs of potential future nuclear warheads for the National Nuclear Security Administration through a $25 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. Formulating and facilitating warhead design workshops, developing and executing nuclear employment wargames that incorporate resulting design concepts and analytically synthesizing those results into meaningful insights for the Nuclear Security Enterprise.
• NSRI Limited Nuclear Conflict Wargame, which was developed and deployed in 2019 to immerse participants in an intense nuclear escalation scenario based on a Russian invasion of Ukraine, a scenario magnified by the real-world events of 2022. NSRI has used the wargame with select DOD leaders to help them expand their knowledge through lengthy discussions of nuclear signaling, strategic messaging, nuclear response options and more.
• Participation as a senior advisor with the U.S. Department of State in negotiations with the Russian Federation in July 2020 in Vienna, Austria.
• Publication and delivery of several extremely time-sensitive research products on future arms control options: treaty architectures, core principles, national security implications, new technologies supporting treaty verification and foreign nuclear threat and treaty compliance assessments.

Immediately prior to his appointment at NSRI, Dr. Yeaw was the National Nuclear Security Administration's Senior Policy Advisor for Defense Programs, having served as the Department of Energy's lead official in the development and rollout of the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review. Formerly, he was the founder and director of the Center for Assurance, Deterrence, Escalation, and Nonproliferation Science & Education (CADENSE), a nuclear weapons think tank at the Louisiana Tech Research Institute.

From 2010 through 2015, Dr. Yeaw served as the first Chief Scientist of Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), which was established in 2009 to organize, train, equip, operate, secure and maintain all U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear-capable bomber forces.

Dr. Yeaw began his career in 1996 at the Naval Surface Warfare Center as a lead missile defense engineer following his graduation with a doctorate in nuclear engineering and engineering physics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Next, he served as a lead nuclear weapons technical intelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

After his tenure at DIA, Dr. Yeaw served as the Principal Advisor for Nuclear Matters to the Assistant Secretary for Verification and Compliance, during which he was a member of the first special diplomatic mission to Libya and led the initiation of the dismantlement of the Libyan covert nuclear weapons program. He then served as the Chief Scientist of the Department of Energy's Office of Intelligence.

Finally, prior to his AFGSC assignment, he was an Associate Professor and Director of the Mahan Scholars Research Program at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., where he also founded the USSTRATCOM-sponsored Deterrence & Escalation Game and Review (DEGRE) nuclear war game series.

Featured Presentations

SMA STRATCOM Effort Speaker Session, "Challenges to 21st Century Deterrence," with Lt. Gen. (Ret) Robert Elder, PhD, George Mason University; Mr. James A. Siebens, Defense Strategy & Planning Program, Stimson Center; and Dr. Christopher Yeaw, National Strategic Research Institute at the University of Nebraska. December 9, 2021.

Hudson Institute hosted panel, "China’s Coercive Missile Strategy and the U.S. Response," with Hudson Senior Fellow Rebeccah L. Heinrichs, Dr. Mark Lewis, Dr. Christopher Yeaw, and Hudson Fellow Timothy A. Walton. January 12, 2022.

Featured Publications

• The Nuclear Dimension of Hybrid Warfare | Countering WMD Journal | Fall/Winter 2022 
  China’s Historical Plutonium Production | Countering WMD Journal | Fall/Winter 2022 
  Escalatory Attraction of Limited Nuclear Employment | Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs | February 6, 2023 
  The Challenge of Russia’s Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons | October 29, 2021 
• 2018 Report on the Nuclear Posture Review | Dr. Yeaw served as principal Department of Energy drafter.
• The Future of Chinese Nuclear Policy and Strategy. C. Yeaw, A. Erickson, and M. Chase. Strategy in the Second Nuclear Age. Edited by T. Yoshihara and J. Homes, Washington, DC, Georgetown University Press, 2012.

Featured Media

• Editorial: To Deter China, Invest in Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons. Real Clear Defense. December 4, 2021.
• Video: Sleeping into Nuclear Nightmares. May 6, 2016