Professor Andrew Futter

Professor Andrew Futter specialises in contemporary nuclear weapons issues, specifically emerging technologies and their impact on nuclear strategy, stability and arms control. His work is centred on raising international awareness of nuclear risks, and shaping the climate of ideas that ensures governments and policymakers can make the best decisions possible.  

The world of nuclear weapons and technology is constantly evolving. But the responses and attitudes of our government and policymakers to these new risks just aren’t keeping up. There are new pathways towards escalation, new vulnerabilities, new technologies that blend nuclear and non-nuclear weapons. Our world isn’t prepared for the scale of nuclear war that could become reality.  

Professor Futter’s research has been heavily influential in raising international awareness of these new nuclear threats, encouraging governments and policymakers to modernise their thinking and decisions. Ultimately, his work seeks to ensure that we’re all working towards the same goal: for the nuclear button never to be pressed again.  

Professor Futter's work is primarily concerned with contemporary nuclear weapons issues and how disruptive technologies are impacting nuclear strategy, stability and arms control.

Professor Futter is currently leading the European Research Council funded “Towards a Third Nuclear Age” research project. This project seeks to examine the technological, geopolitical and normative shifts that are transforming the current global nuclear order. Learn more information about the project and team.

“Deterrence, disruptive technology and disarmament in the Third Nuclear Age”, Hiroshima Organisation for Global Peace, (April 2022),

"Disruptive technology and nuclear risks: Whats new and what matters", Survival, (forthcoming 2022)

"Strategic conventional weapons and the onset of a Third Nuclear Age", European Journal of International Security, (2021) 6:3, pp,257-277 (with Benjamin Zala)

The politics of nuclear weapons, 2nd Ed, (Palgrave, 2020)

“Nuclear war, public health, the COVID-19 epidemic: Lessons for prevention, preparation, mitigation, and education”, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 76:5, (2020)  pp.271-276 (with Richard Lilford, Samuel Watson & Peter Chilton)

A perfect storm? Coronavirus, Brexit, the Integrated Review, Scottish Independence and the future of Trident, The RUSI Journal, 165: 5-6, (2020) pp.92-99 (with Bleddyn Bowen)

"Emerging non-nuclear technology and the future of global nuclear order" chapter in The Nobel Peace Institute, "Nuclear Disarmament: A Critical Assessment", (Routledge, 2019)

Hacking the Bomb:  Cyber Threats and Nuclear Weapons (Georgetown University Press, 2018)

"Cyber semantics: Why we should retire the latest buzzword in security studies", Journal of Cyber Policy, 3:2 (2018) 201-216.

"Democracy versus deterrence: nuclear weapons and political integrity", Politics, 38:4 (2017) 500-513 (with Stephen Cooke)

"Questioning the Holy Trinity: why the US nuclear triad still makes sense", Comparative Strategy, 35:4 (2016) 246-259 (with Heather Williams)

“War Games redux? Cyber threats, US-Russian strategic stability and new challenges for nuclear security and arms control”, European Security, 24:2 (2016) 163-180

Ballistic Missile Defence and US National Security: Normalisation and Acceptance after the Cold War (New York & Basingstoke, Routledge: 2013, pb 2015) 230pp

Professor Futter is interested in supervising doctoral projects looking at contemporary nuclear weapons issues.

He currently supervises the following PhD students:

• Ludovica Castelli - The nuclear proliferation complex in the Middle East
• Jack O’Doherty - The evolution of US nuclear counterforce doctrine
• Katie Titherington - Roosevelt, Truman and the psychology of dropping the bomb
• Jim Howe - US nuclear power for space propulsion
• Sam Canter - Comparing the three US military offset strategies
• Anu Damale - Responsible uses of emerging technology in space
• Deden Habibi - Indonesia and space

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