September 8, 2026
William Potter
Professor Potter at the UN
I am delighted to send greetings to the MIDD Community as we formally mark the opening of the new office of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) on the Middlebury College campus. It was my privilege to found CNS 37 years ago in Monterey and to preside over its rapid development into the world’s largest nongovernmental organization devoted to preventing the spread and use of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Middlebury, Vermont now joins the CNS family of offices in Monterey, Washington, DC, and Vienna, Austria.
My CNS colleagues and I are proud to have played a leading role in training the next generation of nonproliferation specialists in the United States and abroad. Having witnessed the exceptional skills of Middlebury students and alumni in all our offices, we welcome the opportunity to deepen our engagement with the Middlebury College community.
My connection with Middlebury is both personal and professional, as my youngest son was a Feb who majored in Russian and comparative literature. I have been fortunate to have lectured on multiple occasions on the Vermont campus and to have collaborated for twenty years with many Middlebury faculty members and students—a number of whom excelled in my semester-long arms control negotiation simulation class and subsequently participated in “real world” multilateral negotiations. My CNS colleagues also have offered numerous winter term courses in Vermont for over a decade, and the center has long hosted a paid summer undergraduate nonproliferation fellowship program in Monterey involving dozens of the brightest Middlebury undergraduates, as well as those from other top universities and colleges.
We look forward to this new chapter for CNS at Middlebury College, and we are especially excited to have Professor Stephen Herzog lead CNS activities on the campus. Beginning this fall, he will teach undergraduate courses in the International and Global Studies Program on pressing international security challenges, host visiting speakers from around the world, mentor students, and provide a direct connection to the wider CNS international network.
In this way, CNS Vermont will offer students an on-campus window into Middlebury’s global reach. Through the CNS network, that reach extends from CNS headquarters in Monterey, with its close ties to West Coast technology and industry communities, including Silicon Valley, to the foreign policy community in Washington, DC, and European and United Nations institutions in Vienna. Middlebury students will have unusual opportunities to connect their academic education directly to the policy world through work with leading CNS experts, engagement with visiting practitioners, and opportunities to attend major nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation conferences at the United Nations and other international fora.
CNS prides itself as an innovator—in pedagogy and research—and today is a leader in analyzing the intersection of AI and weapons of mass destruction. It works closely with major AI firms in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, alongside governments, national laboratories, and international organizations. CNS will also create exciting opportunities for Middlebury faculty and students to participate in cutting-edge, externally funded research projects and internships. We hope students and faculty across Middlebury will see CNS Vermont as a natural part of campus life. On behalf of CNS, we look forward to welcoming you into our classrooms and speaker events.
