Progressive Foreign Policy
Global Nuclear Weapons Arsenals
Missile Defence
Nuclear-Climate Nexus
Matt Korda is a Senior Research Fellow for the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, where he co-authors the Nuclear Notebook––an authoritative open-source estimate of global nuclear forces and trends. Matt is also an Associate Researcher with the Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), and co-authors the nuclear weapons chapters for the annual SIPRI Yearbook. Previously, he worked for the Arms Control, Disarmament, and WMD Non-Proliferation Centre at NATO HQ in Brussels. Matt is also the co-director of Foreign Policy Generation––a group of young people working to develop a progressive foreign policy for the next generation.
He received his MA in International Peace & Security from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, where he subsequently worked as a Research Assistant on nuclear deterrence and strategic stability. He also completed an internship with the Verification, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC) in London, where he focused on nuclear security and safeguards. He received a BA in European Studies from Victoria College at the University of Toronto.
Matt’s research interests and recent publications focus on nuclear deterrence and disarmament, progressive foreign policy, and the nexus between nuclear weapons, climate change, and injustice. Matt’s work has been widely published and quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, Associated Press, The Toronto Star, Forbes, CBC, Politico, The Nation, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Defense One, Inkstick, Outrider, 38 North, Arms Control Wonk, and others.
Matt is a listed Expert member of the Forum on the Arms Trade program and a Member of the Canadian Pugwash Group. He was also the Ploughshares Fund’s 2020 Olum Fellow, a 2019 alumnus of the Wilson Center’s Nuclear History Boot Camp, a 2019 CSIS Nuclear Scholar, and a 2018 alumnus of IGCC’s Public Policy and Nuclear Threats Boot Camp.
Current Work: Tracking global nuclear forces (published bi-monthly in FAS’ Nuclear Notebook and annually in the SIPRI Yearbook); comprehensive study on the United States’ intercontinental ballistic missile force (ICBM Information Project); progressive foreign policy (Foreign Policy Generation).
The FAS Nuclear Notebook is one of the most widely sourced reference materials worldwide for reliable information about the status of nuclear weapons and has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1987. The Nuclear Notebook is researched and written by the staff of the Federation of American Scientists’ Nuclear Information Project: Director Hans […]
New satellite images show that the construction of a double-fenced security perimeter is underway at a weapons depot near the town of Asipovichy in central Belarus.
The FAS Nuclear Notebook is one of the most widely sourced reference materials worldwide for reliable information about the status of nuclear weapons, and has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1987. The Nuclear Notebook is researched and written by the staff of the Federation of American Scientists’ Nuclear Information Project: Director Hans […]
On 14 April 2023, the Belarusian Ministry of Defence released a short video of a Su-25 pilot explaining his new role in delivering “special [nuclear] munitions” following his training in Russia. The features seen in the video, as well as several other open-source clues, suggest that Lida Air Base––located only 40 kilometers from the Lithuanian border and the […]
In early-February 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) had informed Congress that China now has more launchers for Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) than the United States. The report is the latest in a serious of revelations over the past four years about China’s growing nuclear weapons arsenal and the deepening […]
Russian noncompliance with New START Treaty makes retaining limits on strategic nuclear forces even more important.
On 27 October 2022, the Biden administration finally released an unclassified version of its long-delayed Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). The classified NPR was released to Congress in March 2022, but its publication was substantially delayed––likely due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Compared with previous NPRs, the tone and content come closest to the Obama administration’s […]
On 27 October 2022, the Biden administration finally released an unclassified version of its long-delayed Nuclear Posture Review. Here’s what you need to know.
A new Air Force environmental assessment reveals that it considered basing ICBMs in underground railway tunnels––or possibly underwater.
Two weeks ago, the IPCC released their most dire warning yet – that we have just three years to prevent the most catastrophic storms, natural disasters, and droughts human civilization might ever see. We are getting closer and closer to the temperature that scientists have warned us for decades would do irreversible damage to our societies and […]
For the first time ever, a nuclear-armed state accidentally launched a missile at another nuclear-armed state. How did this happen?
India just tested a “new generation” nuclear-capable ballistic missile. We take a deep dive into why the missile is so special, and what it means for India’s nuclear forces.