Marion Messmer

Quenching the Nuclear Stockpile’s Thirst for Tritium Most accounts of the Manhattan Project tell a familiar story: American scientists relentlessly racing to design and build the fission bombs that would

“Tritium is the seemingly inconsequential item upon which everything else depends. Without it, there can be no modern nuclear weapons, and thus no nuclear deterrence”

Commentary from a senior NNSA official.

Good high-level overview, even if my work isn’t linked here.

"We still don't know happened with Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. That could be buried under the rubble of the nuclear sites, or it could be at a secure location."

@mgmessmer.bsky.social on the US-Israeli strikes against Iran and the risks around Iran's nuclear programme.

📢 Upcoming events

The MENA Programme’s coverage of the ongoing US–Israel war on Iran continues.

In our upcoming webinars, experts unpack the conflict’s implications for Iran and Iraq. 🧵

A brown penguin chick of some kind. It looks very much like a man in a suit. It is bedraggled and miserable

Made it to Friday but at what cost

Trump, the polls, and the war with Iran: What happened to the ‘President of Peace’? The president once saw opposition to wars as key to his popularity. But the Iran attacks show he is now more interested in spending political capital than saving it.

For years, Donald Trump railed against his predecessors for their misadventures in the Middle East. Now with Iran, Trump appears to have acquired a taste for regime change. https://bit.ly/46CXOGU

I think war is serious business, real life-and-death stuff, and should be taken seriously by people who initiate and prosecute it.

Sorry to get so partisan, but that’s how I feel.

"We still don't know happened with Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. That could be buried under the rubble of the nuclear sites, or it could be at a secure location."

@mgmessmer.bsky.social on the US-Israeli strikes against Iran and the risks around Iran's nuclear programme.

When I write a report for a court, 90% of my work is compiling, filing, ordering, correctly citing source material. It’s tedious but I do all my thinking while doing so. The remaining 10% is the actual writing which I, without the preparation, I could never achieve. There’s no way to outsource this.

a thing historians will marvel about when they study this era is the extent to which the "war is a thing that happens to poorer, browner people" class went about systematically dismantling every aspect of the global political order that confined the costs of war to poorer and browner people

Macron says France will increase size of its nuclear arsenal France will increase the size of its nuclear arsenal and strengthen its deterrent, with an increasing risk of conflicts globally crossing the nuclear threshold, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monda...

Pres. Macron says France will increase its nuclear arsenal. Not the first things that comes to mind amid all the tragedy and destruction, but it’s hard to see a successful NPT RevCon this year www.reuters.com/world/europe...

a cartoon character sits on a bus with an emergency exit sign behind him ALT: a cartoon character sits on a bus with an emergency exit sign behind him

I'll be there with some folks from my team!

showing up to my first NPT revcon like

European perspectives on the Non-Proliferation Treaty: Ireland In May, States Parties to the NPT will meet for the 11th Review Conference under difficult circumstances. In the second of our commentary series exploring different European perspectives, Ciarán Doyle...

Thanks to @theeln.bsky.social for giving Ireland the opportunity to contribute to this series. I gave some perspective on our commitment to the #NPT and nuclear disarmament in this piece.

europeanleadershipnetwork.org/commentary/e...

"Seize the immigration narrative from Reform" is simultaneously the saddest, dumbest and funniest political strategy I've ever heard

Me this morning

YouTube video by Chatham House Roberta Metsola – A new Westphalia to avoid western failure

Keynote address | A new Westphalia to avoid western failure

President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola (@president.europarl.europa.eu) delivers the keynote address at our 2026 Security and Defence conference.

Watch the livestream ⤵️

I'm constantly trying (/failing) to get this point across.

If you're a trained expert in a field, then it may be worthwhile to question the scientific consensus of your peers.

If you're not, the scientific consensus is absolutely the best you can do and it's arbitrary foolishness to disregard it.

I have just ordered a few of your UK editions - looking forward to reading :) I hope 2026 is going to turn out to be a better year for you and your family.

Pentagon aggressively lobbies EU against Buy European weapons push In previously unreported remarks, the U.S. administration warned Brussels that it will retaliate if Europeans “strong-arm American companies out of the market.”

A lot of this incoming, basically:

www.politico.eu/article/wash...

Work in arms control, have heard literally no one claim this www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/02...

Ukraine regained more territory than it has since 2023, largely because of Musk’s belated decision to deny Russian forces the use of Starlink. Which shows in turn how Musk has empowered Russian forces for the last two years.

There have been a few European developments recently that are good both for security and for the environment. I've been wanting to write a longer piece about this for a while now - this could become a interesting part of the European security offer.

New piece on the strategic vacuum in Washington when it comes to understanding what a more independent, sovereign Europe actually means.

I worry that even a more transatlantic-minded future administration will adapt very poorly to no longer being able to call all the shots in the alliance.

🧐 interesting!!!

"If you look at EU membership benefits, I think it's a net positive for every member of the European Union."

Oana Țoiu Minister of Foreign Affairs for Romania on the importance of EU membership.

Watch the event➡️ bit.ly/4qtpMvL

Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz - Reden von Rubio, Wan Yi und von der Leyen

„In der Substanz ist das das Gleiche wie bei Vance“ – dafür gab es „stehende Ovationen“. Stephan Detjen ist die Irritation deutlich anzuhören. Selten gab es eine so klare Einschätzung zu dem Sachverhalt wie heute im DLF.

I was thinking that. The message is a bit thin - and it is a fundamental challenge for allies if the US political system is polarised in a way that means you have to accept that an ally will threaten you every other election cycle.