Christopher Yeaw

Background

About Christopher Yeaw

Dr. Christopher Yeaw is the Associate Executive Director for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Programs at the National Strategic Research Institute, U.S. Strategic Command’s University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). An integral component of the University of Nebraska, NSRI leads and leverages collaborative efforts with other academic institutions, National Laboratories, FFRDCs, UARCs, and non-profit organizations. NSRI’s responsively and enduringly supports the US government in successfully executing the strategic deterrence, nuclear and counter-WMD missions with world class research and analysis. The Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Programs Department leads thought and collaborates across the entire range of strategic and nuclear issues: deterrence policy, threat analysis, weapon design, strategic materials, NC3, wargaming, nonproliferation, counter-terrorism, and education. 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 CADENSE, a nuclear weapons think tank at LTRI. From 2010- 2015, Dr. Yeaw served in a Senior Executive position 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, having received his PhD in nuclear engineering and engineering physics from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Next, he served as a lead nuclear weapons technical intelligence officer with Defense Intelligence Agency. 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 time he was a member of the first U.S. 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, Rhode Island, where he also founded the STRATCOM-sponsored Deterrence & Escalation Game and Review (DEGRE) nuclear war game series.