| This week, we bring out a special edition newsletter featuring a series of publications from our project on Advancing Nuclear Fail-Safe in the Asia-Pacific.
Against the backdrop of increased threats and risks of nuclear weapons use, the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network, in collaboration with the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Euro-Atlantic Security Leadership Group (EASLG), European Leadership Network (ELN), and partners in the Asia-Pacific, underscore the importance and benefits of independent, internal “fail-safe” reviews in nuclear-armed states. Such reviews would strengthen safeguards against the unauthorised, inadvertent, or mistaken use of nuclear weapons, including in the event of a false warning of attack.
As part of this effort, APLN collaborated with regional non-governmental partners to convene three individual high-level workshops with senior experts, former government officials, and military officers of China, India, and Pakistan. Senior experts from the United States joined each discussion. The ELN convened similar country workshops in France and the United Kingdom. Workshop summaries of each meeting are featured in this special newsletter.
Additionally, we feature APLN’s related publications on nuclear risk reduction approaches in the Asia-Pacific. We will continue our efforts towards nuclear risk reduction in the Asia-Pacific as part of this project and otherwise.
As always, we highlight recent activities from our network, including analyses on Indian foreign policy, the Alaska summit and its implications, the Philippines’ military modernisation, and more. |
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The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Euro-Atlantic Security Leadership Group (EASLG), Asia-Pacific Leadership Network (APLN), and the European Leadership Network (ELN) have worked since March 2020 to highlight the benefits of independent, internal “fail-safe” reviews in nuclear-armed states. These reviews would be effective unilateral nuclear risk-reduction steps, not requiring any negotiation, treaty, or verification.
The initiative to encourage independent nuclear fail-safe reviews globally derives from the U.S. 1992 Final Report of the Federal Advisory Committee on Nuclear Failsafe and Risk Reduction (initiated by Senator Sam Nunn and directed by Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney) and two NTI reports on cyber-nuclear threats, Nuclear Weapons in the New Cyber Age and U.S. Nuclear Modernization: Security & Policy Implications of Integrating Digital Technology.
NTI Co-Founder and Co-Chair Sam Nunn first proposed that nuclear-armed states conduct fail-safe reviews in remarks commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in March 2020. Nunn and NTI Co-Chair and CEO Ernest J. Moniz underscored the proposal with co-authored essays published in Foreign Affairs in December 2020 and April 2023.
In December 2021, the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act mandated an independent fail-safe review of all U.S. nuclear systems. The law required the secretary of defense to charter an independent review of the safety, security, and reliability of nuclear weapons and related systems. This U.S. nuclear fail-safe review was concluded in 2024.
In February 2023, at the Munich Security Conference, the EASLG issued a statement on Advancing Global Nuclear Fail-Safe, calling on all nuclear-armed states to conduct their own internal fail-safe reviews. In May 2024, NTI provided support to APLN and ELN to encourage internal fail-safe reviews in their regions. Since then, APLN and ELN have hosted fail-safe workshops with non-governmental partners in China, India, Pakistan, France, and the United Kingdom to discuss nuclear fail-safe—producing agreed summaries of each of these meetings. NTI and the networks are continuing this work through 2025 and into 2026.
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Read the workshop summaries here:
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Nuclear ‘Fail-Safe’ Reviews and Risk Reduction Approaches in South Asia
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Adil Sultan analyses nuclear risks between India and Pakistan, highlighting the Balakot incident from 2019 and the Brahmos missile misfiring in 2022 as examples of the dangers posed by miscalculation, unauthorised actions, and the lack of crisis management mechanisms in South Asia. He argues that there is an urgent need to conduct regular nuclear fail-safe reviews by India and Pakistan to build confidence, reduce the risk of accidents and misjudgements, and prevent nuclear escalation during serious military crises.
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Integration of Artificial Intelligence in Nuclear Systems and Escalation Risks
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Sameer Patil and Rahul Rawat argue that the integration of emerging technologies – particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI) – into nuclear systems will heighten global nuclear risks by increasing the likelihood of miscalculation, faulty judgment, and unintended escalation. They call for a closer examination of these risks, including in the context of India’s nuclear arsenal, and explore ways to mitigate the dangers posed by AI in nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) systems through robust risk reduction and fail-safe measures.
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APLN has over 170 members from 23 countries in the Asia-Pacific.
Each week we feature their latest contributions
to global and regional security debates.
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| Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore’s former Ambassador to the United Nations, interviewed Ambassador Shivshankar Menon and discussed India’s relations with the United States, China, Pakistan and ASEAN. |
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| Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, Resident Senior Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), wrote for South China Morning Post and explained why Beijing’s support for Pakistan means New Delhi must always take into account a potential China–Pakistan combine in its foreign and security policy. |
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| C. Raja Mohan, Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore’s Institute of South Asian Studies, wrote for the Indian Express, noting that Delhi must avoid slipping into permanent conflict with its neighbours, which would only invite greater meddling by the major powers. He argued that India must support diplomacy with long-overdue economic reforms and renewed domestic political unity on key national issues. |
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| Huong Le Thu, Deputy Director of the Asia Program at the International Crisis Group, will speak at an online event on Monday, 25 August (9pm Washington, DC) on the Philippines’ military modernisation. She and fellow panelists will discuss how Manila is upgrading its armed forces, strengthening defence partnerships, and using diplomacy to complement deterrence efforts. |
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