Strategic Deterrence Redux: Nuclear Weapons and European Security

Teija Tiilikainen is the Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) since 2010. She is also Editor-in-Chief of Ulkopolitiikka – the Finnish Journal of Foreign Affairs. Dr Tiilikainen is a part-time professor at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy and Vice-Chair of the Board of the University of Helsinki. Previously, Dr Tiilikainen was the Director of the Network of European Studies at the University of Helsinki (2003-2009). She has also served as Secretary of State at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland from 2007 to 2008. Dr Tiilikainen was the Special Representative of the Prime Minister of Finland in the Convention on the Future of Europe in 2003.

Leo Michel is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Michel’s previous government positions included: Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies; Director for NATO Policy and Director for Non-Nuclear Arms Control in the Office of the Secretary of Defense; Deputy U.S. Representative to the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Consultative Commission; analyst in the Central Intelligence Agency; and legislative aide for a Member of Congress. Michel holds a M.A. from Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies and a B.A. from Princeton University.

Jarmo Viinanen is Ambassador and Senior Adviser for Arms Control at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Previously, he was the Ambassador of Finland to Sweden (2014-2016) and Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations (2009-2014). Between 2000 and 2009, Mr. Viinanen worked in the Office of the President of Finland as the diplomatic adviser to the President and subsequently as the Secretary General of the Office of the President. Besides his ambassadorial postings, Mr. Viinanen has served in Finnish missions in Vienna, Tel Aviv and Washington D.C.

Robert G. Bell served as the Senior Civilian Representative of the Secretary of Defense in Europe and the Defense Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from 2010 until 2017. As the Senior Civilian Representative, Bell was responsible for planning, recommending, coordinating, and monitoring Department of Defense policies, programs, and initiatives throughout Europe. As Defence Advisor, he was responsible for the formulation, coordination, and presentation of Department of Defense policies to the U.S. Ambassador to NATO. Before assuming that position, Bell was the Senior Vice President of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) from 2004 until 2010. Bell served as NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment from 1999-2003. From 1993-1999, he worked at the White House National Security Council (NSC) as a Special Assistant to President Clinton for National Security Affairs and as the NSC Senior Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control.

Tom Plant joined RUSI in June 2017 as the Director of its Proliferation and Nuclear Policy programme. His research interests include nuclear deterrence, arms control, proliferation issues – particularly in relation to North Korea – and UK nuclear policy. He is also Director of the UK Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI), a cross-generational network of over 900 members which encourages young scholars and professionals to engage with established experts on contemporary nuclear issues. Before joining RUSI he was a Principal Specialist at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), where he was responsible for technical oversight of arms control verification research programmes, including collaborations and exchanges with counterparts in China, Norway, Sweden and the US. Prior to that he held various posts at the Ministry of Defence and Foreign and Commonwealth Office, mostly focussed on non- and counter-proliferation issues in East Asia and the Middle East. During this time he spent a year seconded to King’s College London as a Research Fellow, working on a UK-funded project in support of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and remains a Visiting Senior Research Fellow with The Policy Institute at King’s. He holds a Masters in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and a Postgraduate Certificate in Systems Engineering from Cranfield University.

Bruno Tertrais is the Deputy Director of the Foundation for Strategic Research (Fondation pour la recherche stratégique, FRS), a non-profit organization and the main French center of expertise on international security and defence issues. Between 2001-2016 he was a Senior Research Fellow at the FRS. Previously, he served as the Assistant to the Director of Strategic Affairs at the French Defence Ministry (1993-2001) and as the Director of the Civilian Affairs Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (1990-1992). He was also a Visiting Fellow at RAND Corporation between 1995-1996. He has published widely on his areas of expertise, which include international relations and geopolitics, conflicts, US strategy, transatlantic relations, security in the Middle East and in Asia, nuclear proliferation, nuclear deterrence and military strategy. Bruno Tertrais is also a member of the editorial board of The Washington Quarterly and Strategic and Military Affairs. He holds a PhD from the Paris Political Science Institute.

Matti Pesu is a Senior Research Fellow in the Finnish foreign policy, Northern European security, and NATO research programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. He has led multiple research projects analyzing Finland’s security policy and NATO policy. Since the beginning of 2023, Pesu has been leading FIIA’s Nordic network.

Pesu has worked at FIIA since 2017 as a Visiting Fellow, Research Fellow, and Senior Research Fellow. He has also worked at Tampere University, the European Commission, and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. In 2012–2018, he was actively involved in the leading Finnish online magazine on international politics, The Ulkopolitist, most recently as a Managing Editor.

He has published extensively on Finnish foreign, security and defence policy, defence cooperation, Northern European security, nuclear deterrence, NATO, and the development of Euro-Atlantic Security. He is a frequent commentator on matters related to his field of expertise in both Finnish and international media (i.e. BBC, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The New York Times, Reuters, and Associated Press). Pesu’s analysis and research have been included in publications such as International Affairs, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, War on the Rocks, National Interest, and NATO Review.

Pesu completed his PhD in International Relations on the role of ideas in Finnish foreign policy at Tampere University in 2019.