MIT Security Studies Program
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The MIT Security Studies Program is a graduate-level research and Educational Program based at the Center for International Studies at MIT.
The Security Studies Program (SSP) is a graduate-level research and educational program providing insightful analysis of national and international security issues. We are based under the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA. What began in 1976 as the Defense and Arms Control Studies Program, has today become a renowned program with a particular focus in four areas:
1) Understanding the vast geo-political shifts now underway in Asia;
2) Controlling the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
3) Designing strategies to deal with fragile states and the volatile politics they often generate;
4) Assessing how U.S. national security policy can best address all these challenges. The expertise and work of our faculty, senior advisors and affiliates help educate and inform the public, media, government decision makers, organizations and the MIT community on issues of national and international interest. In addition to hosting graduate students based under MIT’s Department of Political Science, our program is home to three prestigious fellowships: the Grand Strategy, Security, and Statecraft Fellowship Program; the Stanton Nuclear Security Fellowship Program; and the Military Fellowship Program. Our graduate students and fellows have gone on to pursue careers in think tanks, government, academia and the private sector.
10/11/2026
Thank you, Eric Evans, former director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory, for your discussion, “Technology Priorities for National Security,” at last week’s Wednesday Seminar.
10/09/2026
In our upcoming Wednesday Seminar, Georgia Institute of Technology Professor Lennart Maschmeyer examines the limits of AI through the gaps between offensive and defensive capabilities. Learn more: https://ssp.mit.edu/events/2026/deception-and-detection-why-ai-empowers-cyber-defense-over-offense
🗓️10/14 at noon ET
📍MIT community can join in person at E40-496
📡Bookmark the livestream
https://youtube.com/live/A-sxLmqpdEI
10/08/2026
Former Grand Strategy, Security, and Statecraft Fellow Joshua A. Schwartz and coauthor Sabrina B. Arias release a new study that provides one of the few causally identified tests of local policy makers’ climate policy preferences.
Read the paper via Perspectives on Politics:
Think Globally, Act Locally: The Determinants of Local Policy Makers’ Support for Climate Policy | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core Think Globally, Act Locally: The Determinants of Local Policy Makers’ Support for Climate Policy
10/07/2026
We are pleased to announce that SSP Research Affiliate Fiona Cunningham has been awarded the 2025 Edgar S. Furniss Book Award for Under the Nuclear Shadow: China’s Information-Age Weapons in International Security (Princeton University Press, 2025).
🎉Congratulations, Fiona!
The award, presented by the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, is conferred on a first book in English that makes an exceptional contribution to the understanding of international, national, or human security. Learn more: https://mershoncenter.osu.edu/news/fiona-cunningham-receives-2025-edgar-s.-furniss-book-award
10/06/2026
Join us for tomorrow's Wednesday Seminar, in which Eric D. Evans, former director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory, will examine national security technology priorities for improving defense and deterrence capabilities. Learn more: https://ssp.mit.edu/events/2026/technology-priorities-for-national-security
🗓️10/7 at noon ET
📍MIT community can join in person at E40-496
📡Bookmark the livestream
https://youtube.com/live/4o97tGOCKNU
10/05/2026
Thank you, Pierre Chao, for your discussion, “Structure, Dynamics and Evolution of the US Defense Industry,” during last week’s Wednesday Seminar.
10/03/2026
Mariana Budjeryn, senior researcher at the Center for Nuclear Security Policy, examines the history of Ukraine’s nuclear disarmament and the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
📰Read her full piece via European Policy Institute in Kyiv - EPIK:
Promises undelivered: the Budapest Memorandum reappraised - EPIK Russia’s battlefield strategy in Ukraine has plateaued and, if nothing radically changes, Russia cannot expect any significant progress on the battlefield in 2026.
10/02/2026
In our upcoming Wednesday Seminar, Eric D. Evans, former director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory, will examine national security technology priorities for improving defense and deterrence capabilities. Learn more: https://ssp.mit.edu/events/2026/technology-priorities-for-national-security
🗓️10/7 at noon ET
📍MIT community can join in person at E40-496
📡Bookmark the livestream
https://youtube.com/live/4o97tGOCKNU
10/01/2026
The Security Study Program’s fall newsletter is now available. 🚨Early Warning has all the program’s activities, stories, and special events. Plus, catch up on faculty, fellows, alumni, and associate news, including publications, appearances, podcasts, and more.
Check it out: https://mailchi.mp/mit/earlywarningfall2026
📬Subscribe now to receive quarterly updates from your favorite newsletter, Early Warning, directly to your inbox: https://ssp.mit.edu/about/early-warning/subscribe
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