Potter, William

Potter, William

City:
Monterey, US
Affiliation:
James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies
Position:
Director
Expertise:
nonproliferation in the former Soviet Union

He received a bachelor’s degree in public Administration from Southern Illinois University in 1969. He later enrolled at the University of Michigan, where in 1976 he received a PhD in political science with a specialization in Soviet studies. William Potter acted as an adviser to the Kyrgyz delegation at the 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Since 1995, he has participated as a delegate in the work of each subsequent NPT Review Conference and the Preparatory Committee meeting. In 1999-2003, he was a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Issues and the Board of Trustees of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research. William Potter has been a consultant to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the RAND Corporation, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and several committees of the National Academy of Sciences, including the Nonproliferation Group. Doctor, Professor. Member of the international relations division of the Pacific Council on International Policy, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Adviser on nonproliferation to the UN Secretary General. Research interests: nuclear terrorism, forecasting proliferation developments, US-Russian relations, NPT review process, NAM nuclear politics. PIR Center Advisory Board member since 2014. 10/22 

Publications: 

  • Principles versus Pragmatism: The Nuclear Politics of the Non-Aligned Movement (2012); 
  • Principles versus Pragmatism: The Nuclear Politics of the Non-Aligned Movement (2012). 
  • The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism (2005); Tactical Nuclear Weapons: Options for Control (2000). 
  • 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).