Kelsey Davenport

Kelsey Davenport (@KelseyDav) is the Director for Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association, where she focuses on the nuclear and missile programs in Iran, North Korea, India, and Pakistan and on international efforts to prevent proliferation and nuclear terrorism. She also reports on developments in these areas for Arms Control Today and runs the Arms Control Association’s project assessing the effectiveness of multilateral voluntary initiatives that contribute to nonproliferation efforts.

She is the lead author of the P4+1 and Iran Nuclear Deal Alert newsletter, which assesses developments related to the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, and the North Korea Denuclearization Digest, which tracks efforts to negotiate with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. Kelsey is also the co-author of a series of seven reports assessing the impact of the Nuclear Security Summits on efforts to prevent nuclear terrorism. Kelsey joined the Arms Control Association in August 2011 as a Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow.

Kelsey has been quoted in numerous publications, including the Washington Post, The New York Times, Foreign Policy, Newsweek, Reuters, Christian Science Monitor, Vox, and The Guardian and has provided commentary on NPR, CBC, CNN, ABC, MSNBC, Fox News, al-Jazeera, and C-Span. She has published opeds in various outlets, including TIME, Reuters, CNN, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and Defense One.

Kelsey is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the National Committee on North Korea. She was selected to the CSIS Mid-Career Cadre in 2018 and serves on the Board of Directors for the Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship.

Prior to joining the Arms Control Association, Kelsey worked a think tank in Jerusalem researching Middle East security issues. She holds a masters degree in peace studies from the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and a bachelor of arts summa cum laude in international studies and political science from Butler University. She is also on LinkedIn.