E 200 CNS Building
Email Address
wpotter@miis.edu
Phone Number
831.647.4154
Language(s)
Русский
William C. Potter
Professor, Director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
He has served as a consultant to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the RAND Corporation, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He has been a member of several committees of the National Academy of Sciences and currently serves on the National Academy of Sciences Nonproliferation Panel. His present research focuses on nuclear terrorism and forecasting proliferation developments.
He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy, and served for five years on the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters and the Board of Trustees of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research. He currently serves on the International Advisory Board of the Center for Policy Studies in Russia (Moscow).
He was an advisor to the delegation of Kyrgyzstan to the 1995 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review and Extension Conference and to the 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008 sessions of the NPT Preparatory Committee, as well as to the 2000 and 2005 NPT Review Conferences.
Expertise
Nuclear nonproliferation, illicit nuclear trafficking, and nuclear terrorism; Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT); the International Atomic Energy Agency; the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and nuclear politics; the sources of nuclear weapons decisions; U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control; Nuclear-Weapons- Free Zones (NWFZs); nuclear safety and security; and nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation education.
Dr. Potter interviewed on Russia Today
Education
PhD, MA, Political Science, University of Michigan; BA, Political Science, Southern Illinois University
Publications
Dr. Potter has contributed chapters and articles to over one hundred scholarly books and journals.
Author:
- Chinese and Russian Perspectives on Achieving Nuclear Zero (2009)
- Nuclear Profiles of the Soviet Successor States (1993)
- Soviet Decisionmaking for Chernobyl: An Analysis of System Performance and Policy Change (1990)
- Nuclear Power and Nonproliferation: An Interdisciplinary Perspective (1982)
Co-Author:
- The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism (2005)
- Tactical Nuclear Weapons: Options for Control (2000)
Editor:
- Verification and SALT: The Challenge of Strategic Deception (1980)
- Verification and Arms Control (1985)
- International Nuclear Trade and Nonproliferation (1990)
Co-Editor:
- Engaging China and Russia on Nuclear Disarmament (2009)
- The Global Politics of Combating Nuclear Terrorism: A Supply Side Approach (forthcoming, 2009)
- Dangerous Weapons, Desperate States (1999)
- Dismantling the Cold War: U.S. and NIS Perspectives on the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program (1997)
- Soviet Decisionmaking for National Security (1984)
- The Nuclear Suppliers and Nonproliferation (1985)
- Continuity and Change in Soviet-East European Relations (1989)
- International Missile Bazaar: The New Suppliers' Network (1994)
Courses
Courses offered in the past four years.
▲ indicates offered in the current term
▹ indicates offered in the upcoming term[s]
IPOL 8516 - NPT Simulation
This course is a simulation of the 2012 NPT Preparatory Committee meeting, the first of three PrepComs leading up to the 2015 NPT Review Conference. It will entail a multilateral negotiation with respect to the implementation of the NPT, including the entire range of issues addressed in the 2010 NPT Review Conference Final Document (e.g., issues related to nuclear disarmament, nonproliferation, peaceful use, and regional security—with special reference to the Middle East). Students will assume the roles of negotiators from approximately one dozen national governments, including the United States, Russia, China, Egypt, South African, Ireland, and Iran. The base point for the simulation is the existing “real world” situation. Representatives from national governments and international organizations will participate in the class both in person and via teleconferencing. It is anticipated that at least several students from the simulation class will have an opportunity to attend the spring 2012 NPT Prep Com.
Fall 2011 - MIIS
IPOL 8586 - US-Russian START+ Simulation
This course is a simulation of U.S.-Russian nuclear arms reduction talks. Students will assume the roles of U.S. and Russian arms control negotiators representing organizations such as the Department of State, National Security Council, Department of Energy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Strategic Rocket Forces, etc. They will be charged with negotiating a follow-on accord to the "New START Treaty", which was concluded this past spring and is currently being considered for ratification by the U.S. Senate and the Russian Duma. It is anticipated that the Monterey negotiation simulation will anticipate and possibly parallel actual U.S.-Russian nuclear negotiations. As the heads and other members of the "real world" delegations often have been involved in CNS/MIIS activities, an effort will be made to engage them directly or indirectly in class deliberations. Dr. Nikolai Sokov, a former Russian arms control negotiator, will assist in the class as will other CNS experts. For a copy of the text negotiated by last year's student negotiators, please see the CNS website.
Fall 2009 - MIIS, Fall 2010 - MIIS
