About the Authors

Ambassador Thomas Graham

Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr. is former acting director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency under President Clinton, and the special representative of President Clinton for Arms Control, Nonproliferation and Disarmament. He served as General Counsel of ACDA during the presidencies of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He is the author of several books on nuclear arms control, U.S. foreign policy, and American politics.

Dr. David Bernell

David Bernell is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the School of Public Policy at Oregon State University. His research and teaching focus on international relations, American domestic and foreign policy, and US energy policy. He is the author of the books Constructing US Foreign Policy: The Curious Case of Cuba, and The Energy Security Dilemma: US Policy and Practice. Prior to coming to OSU, he served as an appointee in the Clinton Administration with the US Office of Management and Budget, and with the US Department of the Interior.

And Our Work Together…

We started writing together in early 2023, but we have known each other and have been working together since 2014, beginning with a class we team-taught on nuclear arms control and nonprolifeation at Oregon State University.

We started writing these articles on American and global politics after countless conversations about politics over the years (which included David getting to hear a number of wonderful and fascinating stories from Tom about his career at the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency). Then in 2023 we decided to join the larger conversation going on all around us in publications all over the internet. It was the war in Ukraine — and the monumental significance that we both believed it held for the health and future of democracy around the world — that started us down this path.