The Federation of American Scientists is a nonprofit policy research and advocacy organisation founded in 1945.
The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) envisions a world where cutting-edge science, technology, ideas and talent are deployed to solve the biggest challenges of our time. It embeds science, technology, innovation, and experience into government and public discourse in order to build a healthy, safe, prosperous, and equitable society.
FAS was founded in 1945 to meet national security challenges with evidence-based, scientifically driven, and nonpartisan policy, analysis, and research. After the devastating bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a group of atomic researchers, deeply concerned about the use of science for malice, created an organisation committed to using science and technology to benefit humanity. The group they created — the Federation of Atomic Scientists — soon became the Federation of American Scientists in recognition of the hundreds of scientists across diverse disciplines who joined together to advance science policy and counter scientific misinformation.
FAS’s Nuclear Information Project provides the public with reliable information about the status and trends of the nuclear weapons arsenals of the world’s nuclear-armed countries.
The Project, called “one of the most widely sourced… for nuclear warhead counts” by the Washington Post, uses open sources such as official documents, testimonies, previously undisclosed information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, as well as independent analysis of commercial satellite imagery as the basis for developing the best available unclassified estimates of the status and trends of nuclear weapons worldwide.
The impact-focused evaluator Longview Philanthropy has granted to the Nuclear Information Project.
Note that we and Longview are both part of Effective Ventures — see our transparency page.