Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear Threat Initiative

Who we are

What we do

-45%
thanks, in part, to cultural phenomena like 1983’s The Day After, which 100 million Americans saw and helped convince President Reagan that a nuclear war wasn’t winnable. Public support for nuclear buildup went from 61% to 16% over just four years.
80%
Across demographics and party affiliation, overwhelming majorities desire a future without nukes, even if only half think it’s possible. Storytelling can help people imagine it.
60%
and are uncertain about the ultimate benefit or harm nuclear weapons could bring to them personally.
12,000
down from a Cold War peak of 70,000—a reduction of 80 percent. But for the first time in four decades, the number of nukes in the world is projected to go up, not down. Culture helped turn the tide before and can do it again.

Reveal the fragility of nuclear weapons systems. Every day is a dangerous gamble that no technology will fail, no person will make a mistake, and no leader feels the pressure to retaliate in a crisis.

Don't portray nukes as failure-proof, guarantors of security. We’ve been lucky so far, but luck won’t last forever.

When nukes are used, show it all. Make sure audiences know what really happens.

Don't hide the impacts to public health, the environment, global supply chains, and the rule of law. A nuclear weapon used anywhere would have effects everywhere.

Expose the hidden and unjust costs of nuclear weapons. The danger isn’t just detonation.

Don't forget that mining, producing, testing, and storing materials for nuclear weapons has poisoned the land and sickened frontline communities that are often low-income, rural, or minority—including right here in the United States.

Showcase the unsung heroes who have historically and continue to prevent nuclear catastrophe: the survivors, activists, diplomats, veterans, journalists, whistleblowers, and scientists.

Don't limit characters to diplomats, spies, and presidents. Everyday people have saved the world before, and they’ll do it again.

Give people hope. Since the 1980s—against all odds—we have verifiably eliminated 80 percent of global nuclear stockpiles, even when relations have been strained.

Don't depict progress as impossible or normalize freezing diplomatic channels. Talking to adversaries is especially important when relations are frosty—that’s when misinterpretations and miscalculations are most likely.