About the Wachenheim Program on Peace and Security

About the Program

The Wachenheim Program on Peace and Security at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is dedicated to conflict prevention and resolution. The program seeks to identify pathways to prevent, mitigate, and end conflict, as well as promote the conditions that engage a just and secure peace. It aims to generate debate on these issues and why they matter to the United States.

The program is currently focused on the following topics:

1. Securing Ukraine’s Future. Ensuring that Ukraine resists Russian aggression and survives as a secure, sovereign, democratic state is central to the future of European peace and security. The program will focus on three areas: exploring negotiated pathways to peace, ensuring long-term economic assistance and recovery, and restoring European security.
2. The Axis of Autocracies. Recent years have seen cooperation among China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea broadening and deepening, ushering in a new “Axis of Autocracies.” The group is not only cooperating to sustain support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, but also working to divide the United States from its traditional friends, partners, and allies, and to encourage resentment in the Global South toward the West. The program will identify strategies and policies to address this pressing challenge by the world’s leading autocracies.
3. Nuclear Security. The return of great power competition, Russia’s nuclear saber-rattling, China’s rapid build-up of its nuclear arsenal, and the collapse of the arms control architecture pose serious questions for U.S. nuclear strategy, the composition of its nuclear arsenal, and its arms control and non-proliferation policies. At the same time, technological advances including AI are blurring the lines between conventional and nuclear weapons. The program program, will undertake a 360 review of nuclear weapons in U.S. defense and deterrence strategy, analyze the current and future threat environment, and develop a redesigned nuclear strategy/posture and arms control regime. It will also explore the evolution of new nuclear threats and investigate the impact of AI and other emerging technologies on nuclear security and policy.
4. Non-State Threats. In many places around the world, insecurity and violence are perpetuated not by governments and official armies but by informal militias, militants, and organized crime rings. These non-state armed actors not only terrorize local populations but also undermine government control and even presence, as well as proliferate illicit economies. The program will examine the factors behind the increasing power of militias and organized crime networks across different regions, assess a broad set of existing policy approaches, and recommend new policies and measures that can curb their power and restore security.