Richard T. Cupitt is a Senior Advisor at Stimson. His areas of expertise include WMD nonproliferation, export controls, strategic planning, national security and emerging technologies, and foreign policy. Dr. Cupitt rejoined Stimson after serving as a Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security in 2023-2024, and then as a Senior Advisor (Consultant) to the AUKUS Senior Advisor in the Office of the Secretary of State. Previously, Dr. Cupitt directed the Partnerships in Proliferation Prevention Program at the Stimson Center from 2017-2023 and the was the Director of the International Nuclear Security Forum hosted at Stimson. From 2012-2016, he served as the Special Coordinator for U.N. Security Council resolution 1540 at the State Department following his work from 2005-2012 as an Expert for the UN Security Council’s 1540 Committee, monitoring and facilitating implementation of the resolution in all U.N. Member States, from export controls to securing dual-use materials to combating the financing of proliferation.
Dr. Cupitt has held academic positions at American University, Emory University, Georgetown Law School, George Mason University, the University of North Texas, and the University of Georgia, including leadership positions for many years at the Center for International Trade and Security at Georgia. He has been a visiting scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a member of the NASEM Committee on Laying the Foundation for New and Advanced Nuclear Reactors, and a consultant on projects for State Department, the Department of Energy, several U.S. national commissions, U.S. national nuclear laboratories, and various international organizations.
He has produced four books and more than 20 peer-reviewed articles on nonproliferation and related topics, along with dozens of other security or trade-oriented publications.
To learn more about how Cupitt got his start in WMD nonproliferation, export controls and foreign policy, read his My Story.
