Ankit Panda

Folks, I'm taking another stab at a newsletter: introducing Nukesletter (a revamp of my old newsletter from a couple years ago). Brief takes (longer form than what I'll share here) on my work, thinking, and interests. Take a look and subscribe here: panda.substack.com/p/introducin...

CNN, citing a DIA assessment: "The US military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months" www.cnn.com/2025/06/24/p...

This assessment is about to be heavily politicized, as we see in the story below.

An underexplored angle in the MOP discourse is that we've given every future potential proliferator with reasonably mountainous terrain pretty good data on designing passive defenses robust to the most capable non-nuclear munitions that exist.

Amazing things are happening.

If you're in DC on Sept. 2, I'll be on this panel at the Aerospace Corporation's Space Policy Forum debating the suitability of space warfighting capabilities for the US. (Inadvisable, IMO.) csps.aerospace.org/events/2026-...

ROK proliferation scenarios and windows of vulnerability coming into focus m-en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN2026...

"A newly released JASON study says plutonium in the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile is aging slowly and that observed degradation does not currently threaten weapons performance." www.exchangemonitor.com/jason-study-...

Some books are more enjoyable and interesting to read than others, and it’s fine for this to be idiosyncratic. If you don’t like what you’re reading, read something else. There are many good books.

Genuinely a good nonproliferation outcome here. The idea of getting buy-in from the government could be usefully applied to the situation with Iran, but alas.

"The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will soon remove nuclear material stored at a clandestine site in Syria" www.axios.com/2026/08/10/s...

Pretty stunning leak this soon: "An Iranian assassination threat against President Donald Trump prompted an extraordinary operation last month in which he flew secretly from Turkey on an alternate military aircraft" www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

First bear visit of the season in the Catskills.

🚨 Job Alert: We’re hiring for a research assistant at @carnegienpp.bsky.social. Come work with me and the rest of the team. Details below; apply by the 18th of August: carnegieendowment.applicantpro.com/jobs/4169113