Foreign Policy for America 2026 Leadership Summit

With expanding great power competition and the breakdown of nonproliferation norms, a growing number of countries have embarked on nuclear modernization and expanding nuclear arsenals. The Trump administration has announced an unprecedented request for a $1.5 trillion dollar defense budget. Current estimated costs for maintaining the current U.S. nuclear arsenal and modernizing the entire program run to nearly $1 trillion over the next 10 years. The Trump administration has also set in motion the Golden Dome project, a multi-layered missile defense system to neutralize nuclear threats to the U.S. homeland, projected to cost $3.6 trillion over the next 20 years. This panel will discuss rising nuclear risks, the costs and trade-offs imposed by the new nuclear arms race, and potential ways forward. 


Speakers:

1. Hon. Corey Hinderstein, Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; former principal Deputy Administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
2. Hon. Mallory Stewart, CEO, Council on Strategic Risks; former Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability, U.S. Department of State
3. Mr. Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Moderator:
- Geoff Brumfiel, Senior Editor and Correspondant, NPR

The conventional debate over the pace and scale of an inevitable energy transition has been upended by stark and messy realities. Energy systems built for a more stable and predictable world are coming under strain from surging electricity demand, the weaponization of energy and supply-chain interdependence, intensifying great-power competition, and accelerating climate impacts that are no longer distant or abstract, but immediate and destabilizing at home and abroad.

This panel brings together leaders from Congress, local government, and civil society to discuss practical solutions to new energy security imperatives, including how clean energy can anchor a new affordability and abundance agenda. The conversation will examine where policy, markets, and international frameworks are falling short, what is working, and how to accelerate deployment through smarter energy, industrial, and trade policy; more robust energy and economic statecraft; and new approaches to mobilizing public and private capital. The core question is simple and urgent: can we build fast enough to turn clean energy into a durable foundation for lower costs, stronger and more impactful partnerships, and real energy security?


Speakers:

1. Mayor Alyia Gaskins, Alexandria, VA
2. Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49)
3. Lauren Sidner, Senior Advisor, MIT Clean Economy Project
4. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (VA-10)

Moderator:
Zack Colman, Climate & Energy Reporter, POLITICO