Tom Z. Collina
As director of policy Tom brings 30 years of Washington, DC experience in nuclear weapons, missile defense and nonproliferation issues to Ploughshares Fund. He has worked extensively as a researcher, analyst, and advocate to strengthen the efforts to end US nuclear testing, rationalize anti-missile programs, extend the Nonproliferation Treaty, and secure Senate ratification of the New START Treaty among others.
Prior to joining Ploughshares Fund in 2014, Tom served as Research Director of the Arms Control Association. He was the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Institute for Science and International Security and the Director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, among other leadership positions. He has published widely in major magazines and journals and has appeared frequently in the national media, including The New York Times, CNN, and NPR. He has testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and regularly briefs congressional staff. Tom has a degree in International Relations from Cornell University.
Tom recently published The Button: The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump, which he co-authored with former US Secretary of Defense and Stanford professor of international relations, William J. Perry.
Read the new op-ed from the authors of The Button in The New York Times: Who Can We Trust With the Nuclear Button? No One.
Download a high resolution photo of Tom Collina.
Select Publications and Media Appearances
- Who Can We Trust With the Nuclear Button? No One., The New York Times, June 22, 2020
- Why Are We Rebuilding the 'Nuclear Sponge'?, The National Interest, November 6, 2019
- How to Stave Trump's Lust for Nukes, POLITICO, September 10, 2019
- The Cruise Missile Could Be Mattis's Nuclear Crisis, The National Interest, January 20, 2017
- Barack Obama urged to take nuclear weapons off high alert to stop Donald Trump 'blowing up planet', The Independent, January 6, 2017
- How President Trump Might Radically Rethink US Nuclear Policy, Foreign Policy, November 16, 2016
- The Non-Nuclear Option, Moyers and Company, September 2, 2016
- Your Call: Modernizing U.S. nuclear arsenal could cost $1 trillion, KALW - San Francisco, August 4, 2016
- America Would Never Be the First to Use Nukes. So Why Say We Might?, The National Interest, July 28, 2016
- The Iran Deal is Working. Don’t Mess With Success, The Hill, July 15, 2016
- How to Slow President Trump From Pushing The Nuclear Button, Defense One, June 30, 2016
- A Good Iran Deal, Defense One, June 23, 2016
- Russia views US missile defense system as a 'threat', CNN, May 13, 2016
- What Obama Really Needs to Say in Hiroshima, Foreign Policy, May 10, 2016
- The Ugly Truth About Nuclear Terrorism, National Interest, April 11, 2016
- As Leaders Gather For Nuclear Summit, A Look Back At Progress And Pitfalls, NPR, April 4, 2016