ACA's 2026 Annual Meeting takes place as wars continue to affect millions of lives and wreak havoc on cooperative systems designed to ensure global peace and security. At the same time, the world continues to drift closer to the nuclear brink. Nuclear armed states are building up their capabilities while key treaties that served as guardrails against nuclear catastrophe have expired or are under threat.
Our speakers and panelists will delve into these pressing nuclear nonproliferation, disarmament, and weapons-related security challenges, and discuss how we can move towards a safer world.
2026 ACA Annual Meeting Agenda
8:15am: Registration Opens
9:00am: Welcome and Introduction of Keynote speaker
9:15am: Keynote Speaker - Ambassador Do Hung Viet, President of the 2026 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference (live by video)
10:05am: Repairing the NPT Regime: Following the 2026 Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, what is the status of the treaty and what steps can be taken to reinforce its core principles and objectives?
- Adam Scheinman, former Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation
- Lynn Rusten, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy
- Daryl G. Kimball, ACA's Executive Director and participant in the past seven NPT Review Conferences (moderator)
10:50am: Break
11:00am: Special Message
- Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Executive Secretary Robert Floyd (video recording)
11:30am: Special Video Message from the Winners of the 2025 Arms Control Person of the Year Award
- Libby Flatoff, ACA Program and Policy Associate (introduction)
11:45am: Pre-lunch break
12:05pm: Keynote Speaker
- John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on the Catholic Church's perspectives on nuclear weapons and the imperative of disarmament (live by video)
1:00pm: Post-lunch break
1:20pm: Preventing Further Proliferation in the Middle East: Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia. How will the ongoing war affect nuclear policies and problems in the region?
- Kelsey Davenport, ACA's Director for Nonproliferation Policy
- Sharon Squassoni, research professor at George Washington University and formerly with the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, State Department, and the Congressional Research Service
- Thomas Countryman, ACA Board Chair, and former Assistant Secretary of State for Int. Security and Nonproliferation (moderator)
2:15pm: Pathways Toward Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament Diplomacy: After the expiration of New START, how can the five NPT nuclear-weapons states productively engage in diplomacy to halt and reverse the arms race? What are possible formats and proposals that can inform and guide a “new era” of arms control?
- Amy Nelson, Director for the Future Security Scenarios Lab at New America and a Senior Fellow in the Future Security Program at the New America Foundation
- Matthew Sharp, senior nuclear fellow at the Center for Nuclear Security Policy at the Mass. Institute of Technology. He served at the US Department of State, most recently as acting deputy assistant secretary for nuclear affairs
- Tong Zhao, Senior Fellow with the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace
- Xiaodon Liang, ACA Senior Policy Analyst for Nuclear Weapons Policy and Disarmament (moderator)
3:00pm: Closing Remarks and Thanks
- Daryl Kimball, ACA Executive Director
The 2026 Annual Meeting will run from approximately 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on Tuesday June 2 at the National Press Club. Lunch is included for all in-person registrants.
Journalists with an accredited media outlet are invited to request complimentary press access. Availability is limited.