200E McGowan
Monterey, CA 93940
Email Address
pbleek@miis.edu
Phone Number
831.647.6442
Philipp C. Bleek
Assistant Professor
Philipp C. Bleek is Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of International Policy and Management and Fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. His research and teaching focuses on the causes, consequences, and amelioration of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons proliferation. During the 2012-13 academic year, he will take a faculty leave to serve as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs under a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship in Nuclear Security.
Dr. Bleek is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the Truman National Security Project. He has held fellowships at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Center for a New American Security. He served on President Obama's nonproliferation policy team during the 2008 campaign and has been a consultant to the U.S. government on proliferation issues. He has taught at Georgetown University and in the Department of Defense Senior Leader Development Program. He began his work on nonproliferation issues as a Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow working at the Federation of American Scientists and the Arms Control Association.
Dr. Bleek holds a PhD from Georgetown University's Department of Government, a master in public policy from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and a bachelor of arts from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Expertise
Causes, consequences, and amelioration of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons proliferation.
Courses
Courses offered in the past four years.
▲ indicates offered in the current term
▹ indicates offered in the upcoming term[s]
IPOL 8654 - Sem:NucWpnsProlifratn &theM.E.
Many analysts believe we are on the verge of a cascade of nuclear weapons proliferation in the Middle East, prompted principally but not solely by Iran’s nuclear activities. But others regard such dire predictions as overstated, and key regional actors are pushing forward efforts to work toward a region free of weapons of mass destruction. This seminar will begin by thoroughly delving into the literature on why states do and don’t pursue nuclear weapons. We will then apply this literature to key countries in the Middle East. We will conclude by assessing three competing visions of the role of nuclear weapons in the future of the region--a highly nuclearized region, relative status quo, and a highly denuclearized region--and think systematically about how much traction theory and empirics give us on which is more likely to emerge and the conditions under which each is more or less likely to emerge. We will touch on chemical and biological weapons but our focus will be on nuclear weapons.
Spring 2011 - MIIS, Spring 2012 - MIIS
NPTG 8574 / IPOL 8574 - Intro to WMD Nonproliferation ▹
This course surveys the issues surrounding the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and ballistic missiles. It also provides an introduction to nuclear and radiological terrorism, and an overview of the international nonproliferation regime.
The course is divided into three main parts: Part 1 provides an overview of the trends and technologies of WMD proliferation. Part 2 considers the nonproliferation regime in detail, concentrating on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the conventions banning chemical and biological weapons, supplier regimes and export controls, and verification and compliance issues. Part 3 returns to challenges to the nonproliferation regime, including states of proliferation concern known or believed to be developing WMD outside or in defiance of the NPT, CWC, and BWC and tensions within the nonproliferation regime, and discusses the range of international, multilateral, and unilateral responses to these challenges
Spring 2011 - MIIS, Fall 2011 - MIIS, Spring 2012 - MIIS, Fall 2013 - MIIS
NPTG 8658 - Sem: CBRN Terrorism ▹
The goal of this seminar is to develop the skills necessary to analyze the motivations and capabilities of non-state actors to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction (WMD), more specifically chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons and materials, for terrorist purposes. Through class discussions, simulation exercises, and individual research, students will review the technical aspects of CBRN, examine the history of CBRN use by terrorists, assess CBRN terrorism threats and vulnerabilities, and assess policy responses to CBRN terrorism. Students are required to have substantial background knowledge of either CBRN or terrorism before joining the seminar. The principal learning outcome of the seminar will be a research or policy paper focused on the threat of, or response to, incidents of CBRN terrorism.
Fall 2013 - MIIS
