The project
Intense political discussions have repeatedly taken place around NATO Nuclear Sharing, particularly the stationing of US nuclear weapons in Germany. The last round began in 2020 as part of the debate about a successor to the Tornado fighter aircraft. Three points are often problematic in these debates: In-depth knowledge is limited to a very small group of experts, technical information is often lacking in the debate, and a considerable amount of crucial information is subject to secrecy.
This website is a one-stop resource for technical, historical, legal, and political information. It is intended to serve as a reference for experts and decision-makers while at the same time providing factual knowledge on NATO Nuclear Sharing.
The website was created in cooperation between the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH) and the Foreign and Security Policy Division of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. The project participants Moritz Kütt, Giorgio Franceschini, and Milena Grünewald were responsible for the idea, design, and implementation. Moritz Kütt was the principal author of the German case study. It was first published in spring 2021.
The IFSH
The Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH) was founded in June 1971. It is one of the leading peace research institutes in Germany and is funded by the city of Hamburg. The IFSH studies the conditions of peace and security in Germany, Europe, and beyond. Its scientists look for answers from various perspectives and disciplines that combine social and scientific research competence. The IFSH provides its scientific expertise and research results to policymakers and society, including the German government, members of the specialist committees of the Bundestag, and international organizations. Nuclear sharing has been a central research topic for many years.
The Heinrich Böll Foundation
The Heinrich Böll Foundation, based in Berlin, is a political foundation with close ties to Alliance 90/The Greens.
The foundation sees itself as an agency for green ideas and projects, a reform policy future workshop, and an international network with partner projects in around 60 countries. Its primary mission is political education at home and abroad to promote democratic decision-making, socio-political commitment, and international understanding. It is guided by the fundamental political values of ecology, democracy, solidarity, and non-violence.
The project team
Moritz Kütt has been active as a senior researcher in the Arms Control and New Technologies research area at IFSH since August 2019. He is a physicist (Ph.D.) and political scientist (BA) and received his Ph.D. from TU Darmstadt in 2016 with a thesis on the role of open-source software for building trust in nuclear arms control. Before moving to Hamburg, he was a postdoctoral research associate with the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University. His research focuses on developing new approaches and innovative technologies for the verification of nuclear arms control, non-proliferation, and nuclear disarmament. He is currently working on the verification of the recently negotiated nuclear weapons ban treaty, as well as options for new confidence-building measures in the European arms control context.
Giorgio Franceschini is the Head of the Foreign and Security Policy Division at the Heinrich Böll Foundation. His work focuses on the current challenges of German and European foreign and security policy, especially in arms control, digitization, and new disruptive technologies. Before moving to the Böll Foundation in November 2017, he was a researcher at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) and the TU Darmstadt, as well as the chairman of the EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Consortium.
Milena Grünewald is a project officer in the Foreign and Security Policy Division of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.