The Program: “After the INF Treaty” On August 2, the United States left the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which barred the deployment of all ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 to 5,500 kilometers by the United States and the Soviet Un-ion. With the Treaty no longer in force on either the U.S. or Russia, competitive dynamics are beginning to set in. In particular, U.S. departure from the Treaty had long been supported by proponents of a more robust defensive posture against China in the Asia-Pacific. Since 1987, Beijing has built itself as a true missile power, possessing an arsenal of hundreds of ballistic and cruise missiles with INF-proscribed ranges. 95 percent of China’s missile arsenal falls into this limit. What are the challenges that arise for global stability and U.S. national security in the aftermath of the INF Treaty? What are the likely policy pathways ahead? Finally, will Asia become ground zero to a new U.S.-China missile arms race?

Presenter: Ankit Panda is an award-winning American writer, analyst, and researcher specializing in international security, defense, geopolitics, and economics. His work has appeared in a range of publications, including the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, the Diplomat, the Atlantic, the Daily Beast, Politico Magazine, and War on the Rocks.

He is currently a senior editor at the Diplomat, where he writes daily on security, geopolitics, and economics in the Asia-Pacific region and hosts a popular podcast. He is also an adjunct senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, where his work focuses on nuclear and conventional force developments in Asia, deterrence, and nuclear strategy.

Panda is director of research for Diplomat Risk Intelligence, a political risk firm. He is a contributing editor at War on the Rocks, a weekly columnist for the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, and an analyst for NK Pro, a specialist North Korea-focused service. He previously worked at the Council on Foreign Relations. Panda has been a Korea Society Kim Koo Fellow, a German Marshall Fund Young Strategist, and a Carnegie Council on Ethics in International Affairs New Leader.

Panda has additionally published scholarly research in journals including the Washington Quarterly, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and India Review. He is additionally a contributor to the International Institute on Strategic Studies’ Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment and Strategic Survey. Panda is also a consultant for a number of governments, international institutions, and corporations. He is a frequent participant in Track-2 and Track-1.5 dialogues in Asia, Europe, and North America.

Panda is a graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He lives in New York City and tweets at @nktpnd.