Postdoctoral Scholars Award: Remote Sensing, Open-source Analysis, and Citizen Nuclear Intelligence

在这个项目中，一名博士后研究员将参与公民核情报的制作及其在构建关于核技术和大规模杀伤性武器的公共辩论中的作用的研究。该项目的成果将有助于增进对核扩散和大规模毁灭性武器的了解，展示不同的知识群体如何以不同的方式构建核扩散风险，以及这些风险在后9/11时代如何发生变化。这个项目的结果将在学术期刊和军备控制期刊上发表。他们将对STS和政策研究以及核安全研究方面正在进行的讨论作出贡献。他们还将更清楚地了解核情报产品是如何制造和使用的，从而使军备控制分析人员能够更好地与政策制定者接触，使政策制定者能够更好地解释和部署核情报，以避免代价高昂的外国对抗，并减缓大规模杀伤性武器的扩散。此外，这项工作将有助于评价信息技术在向公众通报复杂的技术和社会问题方面可以发挥的作用。本项目围绕三组研究问题展开。PI将确定开源核情报分析中的工具、实践和主题，以及它们如何与情报和核保障机构的传统分析实践进行比较和相互作用。他还将讨论开源社区的知识产品如何影响美国国内关于核技术和大规模杀伤性武器的公共辩论的框架，以及这些影响国家采购和外交政策的程度。最后，他将探讨开源社区的知识框架，以及它们所激发的国家行动，如何在全球舞台上与国际机构、联盟和核事件互动。为了解决这些问题，他将采用一种混合方法。特别是，他将对公开情报产品、与核扩散相关的新闻媒体、向决策者通报核活动的政府文件等各种文件进行定性媒体分析。他还将对开源分析人士、卫星图像供应商任务委员会、政府决策者、记者以及能源部和国际原子能机构的核安全专家进行正式采访。在此过程中，他将借鉴目前由他的导师开创的STS理论，并补充正在进行的与核能和风险相关的STS项目。

General Audience SummaryIn this project, a postdoctoral research fellow will engage in a study of the making of citizen nuclear intelligence and its role in framing public debates about nuclear technology and weapons of mass destruction. The results of this project will serve to enhance understanding of nuclear proliferation and weapons of mass destruction by showing how distinctive knowledge communities frame nuclear-proliferation risks in distinctive ways, and how those are changing in the post-9/11 era. The results of this project will be communicated in academic journal, and in arms-control periodicals. They will contribute to ongoing discussions in STS and policy studies, and in nuclear security studies. They will also provide a clearer understanding of how nuclear intelligence products are made and used, which could thereby enable arms-control analysts to better engage with policy makers and enable policy makers to better interpret and deploy nuclear intelligence in national efforts to avoid costly foreign confrontations and slow the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In addition, this work will help appraise the role that information technologies can play in informing publics about complex technological and societal problems.Technical SummaryThis project centers around three sets of research question. The PI will determine what are the tools, practices and themes present in open-source nuclear intelligence analyses, and how these compare and interact with the traditional analysis practices of intelligence and nuclear-safeguards institutions. He will also address how the knowledge products of open-source communities affect the framing of public debates within the US about nuclear technologies and weapons of mass destruction, and the extent to which these shape national procurements and foreign policy. Finally, he will explore how the knowledge frameworks of open-source communities, and the national actions they inspire, interact on a global stage with international institutions, coalitions, and nuclear events. To engage with these questions, he will adopt a mixed methods approach. In particular, he will us qualitative media analysis of various documents including open-source intelligence products, news media related to nuclear proliferation, and government documents that reveal how decision makers are informed about nuclear activities. He will also conduct formal interviews with open-source analysts, tasking committees of satellite-imagery vendors, government decision makers, journalists, and nuclear-safeguards experts in the Department of Energy and at the International Atomic Energy Agency. In doing so, he will draw on current STS theories pioneered by his mentor, and complement ongoing STS projects related to nuclear energy and risk.