Science and Security Board

The Science and Security Board (SASB) is a select group of globally recognized leaders with a specific focus on nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies. The SASB provides the Bulletin with objective external perspectives on trends and issues in these fields and connects the organization to outside experts.

The board’s responsibilities

Members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board and Juan Manuel Santos, chair of The Elders and former president of Colombia, unveil the Doomsday Clock on January 28, 2025 at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. It is now 89 seconds to midnight. Left to right: Daniel Holz, Herb Lin, Juan Manuel Santos, Robert Socolow, and Suzet McKinney. (Photo by Jamie Christiani/Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)

Setting the hands of the Doomsday Clock

Bulletin president and CEO Rachel Bronson speaks with member of the Science and Security Board during the 2024 Doomsday Clock announcement.

Representing the Bulletin at public events

Bulletin editor-in-chief John Mecklin (center) speaks with Bulletin Science and Security Board member Steve Fetter following the 2023 Doomsday Clock announcement.

Serving as the Editorial Advisory Board of the Bulletin

Members of the Science and Security Board join a panel of experts in virology and infectious disease to discuss how the biosecurity landscape is shifting at the Bulletin’s 2023 Pathogens Project Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. From left to right: Science and Security Board member Suzet McKinney, Director of the High-Level Isolation Unit at the National Centre for Infectious Disease Poh Lian Lim, Principal Scientist and Director of Virology at the NIH/NIAID/Integrated Research Facility Jens Kuhn, Science and Security Board member Asha George, and Distinguished Research Professor at Dalhousie University Françoise Baylis.

Providing editorial and program advice to the Bulletin staff

Members of Bulletin leadership watch the 2023 Doomsday Clock announcement.

Advising the governing board and the President and CEO on man-made existential threats

Bulletin Science and Security Board member Jon B. Wolfsthal (left) greets Siegfried Hecker (right), chair of the Bulletin's Board of Sponsors, at a luncheon following the 2023 Doomsday Clock announcement.

Identifying new experts as contributors to the Bulletin and for SASB membership

Science and Security Board members

Steve Fetter

Professor of public policy at the University of Maryland and former environmental and security lead in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Inez Fung

Atmospheric scientist and founding director of the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center

Asha M. George

Executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense

Alexander Glaser

Co-director of Princeton's Program on Science and Global Security

Daniel Holz (Chair)

University of Chicago professor with expertise in black holes, gravitational waves, and existential risk

Robert Latiff

Retired US Air Force major general and adjunct professor at the University of Notre Dame

Herbert Lin

Senior research scholar and Hank Holland Fellow at Stanford University

Suzet McKinney

Principal/director of Life Sciences for Sterling Bay

Steven E. Miller

Director of the International Security Program at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

David A. Relman

Microbiologist and Infectious Diseases Clinician, early pioneer in the modern study of the human microbiome, and a professor in medicine and in microbiology & immunology at Stanford University (on leave)

Scott D. Sagan

Professor at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation

Ambuj Sagar

Professor of Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Manpreet Sethi

Distinguished fellow at the Centre for Air Power Studies in New Delhi

Robert Socolow

Environmental scientist, theoretical physicist, and professor emeritus of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University

Jon B. Wolfsthal

Director of global risk at the Federation of American Scientists and former national security affairs special assistant to US President Barack Obama

Alex Bell, President and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Alexandra Bell

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists President and CEO

Jerry Brown

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Executive Chair

Dave C. Kuhlman

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Chair (Does not set the Doomsday Clock)

Thoughts from Science and Security Board members

Suzet McKinney reviews remarks ahead of the 2023 Doomsday Clock announcement.

"It takes a great deal of courage and compassion to take responsibility for issues you had no hand in creating, which makes me immensely hopeful to see the huge numbers of people who read the Clock statement and take its warning seriously."

— Suzet McKinney