Michael Nacht

Thomas and Alison Schneider Professor of Public Policy

Michael Nacht holds the Thomas and Alison Schneider Chair in Public Policy. From 1998-2008 he was Aaron Wildavsky Dean of the Goldman School. He is a specialist in U.S. national security policy; science, technology and public policy; and management strategies for complex organizations.

He is the author or co-author of six books and more than eighty articles and book chapters on nuclear weapons policy; regional security issues affecting Russia and China, the Middle East and East Asia; cyber and space policy; counter-terrorism and homeland security; international education; and public management. He recently co-edited and co-authored Strategic Latency and World Power: How Technology Is Changing Our Concepts of Security published by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Center for Global Security Research.

Nacht served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs (2009-2010), after unanimous U.S. Senate confirmation, for which he received the Distinguished Public Service Award, the Department’s highest civilian honor. Previously, he was Assistant Director for Strategic and Eurasian Affairs of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1994-97), during which time he participated in five Presidential summits, four with Russian President Yeltsin and one with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

He is currently chair of the Policy Focus Area for the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium led by the U.C. Berkeley Department of Nuclear Engineering. He is also co-investigator of a new Department of Defense Minerva Research Project on “Deterring Complex Threats” with colleagues from UC San Diego.

He received a B.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics and an M.S. in Operations Research from New York University and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.

Contact and Office Hours

(510) 643-4038

Email Michael Nacht

Office 1893 LeRoy, Room 354

Office Hours

Wednesday 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM and by appointment

About

Areas of Expertise

US National Security Policy and International Relations
Science, Technology and Public Policy
Management Strategies for Complex Organizations

Curriculum Vitae

Download a PDF (110KB, updated 10-19-2014)

Research

Selected Publications

National Missile Defense: An American Perspective

Nacht, Michael. National Missile Defense: An American Perspective (Paris: French Institute of International Relations, November 2001), 32pp.

Weapons Proliferation and Missile Defense: New Patterns, Tough Choices

Nacht, Michael. "Weapons Proliferation and Missile Defense: New Patterns, Tough Choices," in Robert Lieber (ed.), Eagle Rules? Foreign Policy and American Primacy in the Twenty-First Century (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001).

Les Notes de L’ifri: Missile Defense and International Security in the 21st Century

Nacht, Michael. Les Notes de L’ifri: Missle Defense and International Security in the 21st Century (France: Ifri, 2001).

Missile defense appears as a topic of intense international debate every ten years. This happened in the 1960s and 1970s prior to the signing of the ABM Treaty (Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty); in the 1980s with the Strategic Defense Initaitive (SDI); and in the 1990s, following the Gulf War, with the GPALS project (Global Protection Against Limited Strikes). Today the NMD project (National Missile Defense)-re-designated MD (Missile Defense)- with the arrival of the Bush Administration- might well, unlike its forerunners, be progressively deployed. It could re-map strategic relations among the main world players, especially after the September 11th terrorist attacks.

National Missile Defense—The Politics: How Did We Get Here?

Nacht, Michael. “National Missile Defense--The Politics: How Did We Get Here?” The Washington Quarterly, vol. 23, No. 3, Summer 2000.

Download a PDF (71KB)

Skeptical Support: An American View of ESDI

Nacht, Michael. “Skeptical Support: An American View of ESDI,” INFO Security Policy: Change in the Strategic Environment of Switzerland, vol. 29, April 2000.