Nuclear Weapons Policy Fund

Longview partners with Giving What We Can to manage donations to our funds.

Nuclear policy is shaped by a remarkably small circle of around 200 decision-makers globally, who are influenced by the ideas they encounter, the staff who brief them, and the incentives they face.

Longview’s Nuclear Weapons Policy Fund supports three mechanisms with strong track records of reaching these decision-makers:

Applied research that puts implementation-ready proposals on the shelf for when political windows open.
International dialogues that maintain communication channels when official diplomacy is frozen.
Talent development that places technically trained experts in the government roles where policy is actually shaped.

We commission work on neglected problems, co-fund with partners to prevent duplication, and maintain the capacity to act quickly. Policy windows, personnel transitions, and geopolitical moments of flux all reward speed.

Our grantmaking focus areas

Future-proofing nuclear deterrence. Emerging military technologies, including AI-enabled targeting, space-based capabilities, and advanced missile defense, are reshaping the strategic balance and challenging existing deterrence frameworks. We fund rigorous analysis of how these capabilities affect stability, command and control, and escalation risk, with particular focus on the AI-nuclear intersection.
Managing the nuclear competition. With New START expired and no successor under negotiation, the future size and purpose of each major power’s nuclear arsenal are more contested than they have been in decades. We fund research on what arms control could look like in a post–New START world, how to bring reluctant parties to the table, and when escalation risks are highest.
Other areas we consider. We also welcome proposals on escalation control and conflict termination, NATO—Russia nuclear dynamics, consequences of nuclear use, civilizational resilience, and field infrastructure.

Active funding opportunities

The Consortium to Reduce Nuclear Dangers is currently accepting applications for its second call for proposals to support nuclear risk reduction projects globally. The first round received nearly 500 applications and awarded $5.4M from over $68M in promising proposals. The deadline is May 29. Apply here.

If you’re interested in supporting the Fund or learning more about our work, please reach out to carl@longview.org.

Featured Grants

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Making one of the foundational Cold War–era arms control agreements enforceable.

The Outer Space Treaty bans nuclear weapons in orbit, but there is no way to verify compliance. A team at MIT is testing whether cosmic particles could change that: nuclear warheads produce distinctive signatures when struck by these particles, potentially allowing detection from orbit. If viable, the approach could deter the covert deployment of space-based nuclear weapons.

Perry World House, University of Pennsylvania

Drafting the agreements the world will need when diplomacy becomes possible.

Perry World House is drafting two agreements on AI-nuclear risk: an "Autonomous Incidents Agreement" to manage encounters between AI-enabled military systems, and an operationalization of the Biden–Xi commitment to keep humans in control of nuclear launch. The team conducts Chinese-language research and convenes dialogues with former US and Chinese officials to test and refine the drafts, so that when a political window opens, the groundwork is already done.

Council on Strategic Risks (CSR) and the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab (BRSL)

Placing AI-nuclear expertise where national security decisions get made.

The people shaping US AI and nuclear policy increasingly lack the technical background to navigate their intersection. CSR and BRSL run a six-fellow program that pairs AI specialists with nuclear experts, supports collaborative research, and places them into government roles across Defense, State, Energy, and Capitol Hill.

Disclosures

The Nuclear Weapons Policy Fund is managed by Longview Philanthropy with support from Giving What We Can. Donations to the Nuclear Weapons Policy Fund through Giving What We Can’s website are donations to Giving What We Can. All funds are disbursed based on recommendations by Longview Philanthropy.

Fund Managers

Carl Robichaud

NUCLEAR WEAPONS POLICY PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Carl leads Longview’s program on nuclear weapons policy and co-manages Longview’s Nuclear Weapons Policy Fund. For more than a decade, Carl led grantmaking in nuclear security at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a philanthropic fund that grants over $30 million annually to strengthen international peace and security. Carl previously worked with The Century Foundation and the Global Security Institute, where his extensive research spanned arms control, international security policy, and nonproliferation.

Matthew Gentzel

NUCLEAR WEAPONS POLICY PROGRAM OFFICER

Matthew conducts grant investigations for Longview’s program on nuclear weapons policy and co-manages Longview’s Nuclear Weapons Policy Fund. His prior work spanned emerging technology threats and policy assessment, with a particular focus on how advancements in AI may shape the future of influence operations, nuclear strategy, and cyber attacks. He has worked as a policy researcher with OpenAI, as an analyst in the US Department of Defense’s Innovation Steering Group, and as a director of research and analysis at the US National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. Matthew holds an MA in strategic studies and international economics from Johns Hopkins SAIS and a BS in fire protection engineering from the University of Maryland.