Dr. Brad Roberts
Director of the Center for Global Security Research
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Dr. Brad Roberts has served as director of the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory since 2015.
From 2009 to 2013, he was deputy assistant secretary of defense for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy. In this role, he served as policy director of the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review and Ballistic Missile Defense Review and led their implementation. Prior to entering government service, Dr. Roberts was a research fellow at the Institute for Defense Analyses and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, editor of The Washington Quarterly, and an adjunct professor at George Washington University. Between leaving the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2013 and assuming his current responsibilities, Dr. Roberts was a consulting professor at Stanford University and William Perry Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC).
While at CISAC, he authored a book entitled The Case for US Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century, which won the Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title in 2016.
Doctorate in international relations, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Masters, London School Economics and Political Science
Bachelors in international relations, Stanford University
Recent Publications
• The "New" Cognitive Dimension of Competition and War: Calibrating the Problem and NATO's Response, CGSR Research Paper, January 2024 (with Lesley Kucharski).
• The Inflection Point and the U.S. Nuclear Security Enterprise, CGSR Occasional Paper, October 2023 (with co-editor William Tobey).
• NATO's Nuclear Deterrent: Fit for Purpose?, Journal for Strategic Analysis, September 2023.
• Morality and Nuclear Weapons, CGSR Occasional Paper, July 2023.
• Deterring a Nuclear-armed North Korea, CGSR Occasional Paper, May 2023.
• China’s Emergence as a Second Nuclear Peer: Implications for U.S. Nuclear Deterrence Strategy, A Report of a Study group convened by CGSR, Spring 2023 (with study group chair).
• Rethinking Mutual Vulnerability in an era of US-China Strategic Competition, Pacific Forum, May 2022.
• Stockpile Stewardship in an Era of Renewed Strategic Competition, CGSR Occasional Paper, April
From 2009 to 2013, he was deputy assistant secretary of defense for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy. In this role, he served as policy director of the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review and Ballistic Missile Defense Review and led their implementation. Prior to entering government service, Dr. Roberts was a research fellow at the Institute for Defense Analyses and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, editor of The Washington Quarterly, and an adjunct professor at George Washington University. Between leaving the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2013 and assuming his current responsibilities, Dr. Roberts was a consulting professor at Stanford University and William Perry Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC).
While at CISAC, he authored a book entitled The Case for US Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century, which won the Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title in 2016.
Doctorate in international relations, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Masters, London School Economics and Political Science
Bachelors in international relations, Stanford University
Recent Publications
• The "New" Cognitive Dimension of Competition and War: Calibrating the Problem and NATO's Response, CGSR Research Paper, January 2024 (with Lesley Kucharski).
• The Inflection Point and the U.S. Nuclear Security Enterprise, CGSR Occasional Paper, October 2023 (with co-editor William Tobey).
• NATO's Nuclear Deterrent: Fit for Purpose?, Journal for Strategic Analysis, September 2023.
• Morality and Nuclear Weapons, CGSR Occasional Paper, July 2023.
• Deterring a Nuclear-armed North Korea, CGSR Occasional Paper, May 2023.
• China’s Emergence as a Second Nuclear Peer: Implications for U.S. Nuclear Deterrence Strategy, A Report of a Study group convened by CGSR, Spring 2023 (with study group chair).
• Rethinking Mutual Vulnerability in an era of US-China Strategic Competition, Pacific Forum, May 2022.
• Stockpile Stewardship in an Era of Renewed Strategic Competition, CGSR Occasional Paper, April