Peer-Reviewed Publications

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• “Globally Critical Infrastructure: the Unique Risks and Challenges,” Risk Analysis, November 11, 2025

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• "Sherlock Drone: Drone Forensics and Global Security," RUSI Journal, Vol 169, No. 6, November 26, 2024 (Lead author with Marcel Plichta)

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• "Breaking the Drone Shield: Drone Counter-Countermeasures," Joint Force Quarterly, Vol 113, June 2024, (Lead author with Marcel Plichta)

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• "Logic of Rampage Terrorism," Studies in Conflict and Terrorism,  February 25, 2024 (Lead Author with Gary Ackerman and Herbert Tinsley)

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• "The Plague Beckons: On Drone Swarm Proliferation," Global Policy / ORF, February 12, 2024

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• "Existential Terrorism: Could Terrorists Destroy Humanity?" European Journal of Risk Regulation, August 4, 2023 (Lead author with Gary Ackerman)

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• “A Plague of Locusts? A Preliminary Assessment of the Threat of Multi-Drone Terrorism,” Terrorism and Political Violence, May 20, 2022 (Lead author with Gary Ackerman and Philipp Bleek)

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• “InfoSwarms: Drone Swarms and Information Warfare,” Parameters,52, no. 2 (2022)

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• “Swarming Destruction: the CBRN Implications of Emerging Drone Swarm Technology,” The Nonproliferation Review, 25, January 2019, (Lead author with Philipp Bleek)

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• “Avatars of the Earth: Radical Environmentalism and CBRN Weapons,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, May 2018, (Lead author with Philipp Bleek)

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Other Studies and Book Chapters

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• Florian Jehn, …, Zachary Kallenborn, …, Matt Boyd, “No Place to Hide? Regional Resilience and Vulnerability to Global Catastrophic Risk,” Earth ArXiv, March 27, 2026 (undergoing peer-review)

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• Gary Ackerman, Theodore Wilson, Zachary Kallenborn, et al, “Biothreat Benchmark Generation Framework for Evaluating Frontier AI Models: III: Implementing the Bacterial Biothreat Benchmark (B3) Dataset,” BioArXiv, (to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal)

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• Gary Ackerman, Zachary Kallenborn, et al, “Biothreat Benchmark Generation Framework for Evaluating Frontier AI Models: II: Benchmark Generation Process,” BioArXiv (to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal)

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• Gary Ackerman, Brandon Behlendorf, Zachary Kallenborn, et al, “Biothreat Benchmark Generation Framework for Evaluating Frontier AI Models: I: The Task-Query Architecture,” BioArXiv (to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal)

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• "Drone Swarms" in The De Gruyter Handbook on Drone Warfare, 2024

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• "Terrorism and International Order," in Jordan Becker, and Joshua Woodaz, eds., Order, Counter-Order, Disorder? Regional and Global Security Orders in the Shadow of Sino-American Competition, West Point Press, 2024 

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• “Going Viral? Implications of COVID-19 for Bioterrorism,” Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel 15, no. 5, May 2022 (with Gary Ackerman and Philipp Bleek)

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• “An Analysis of Drone Swarms as Weapons of Mass Destruction,” USAF Center for Strategic Deterrence Studies, May 13, 2020

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• “Chemical and Biological Weapons,” in Brent Steel, Eds., “Science and Politics; an A-Z Guide to Issues and Controversies,” CQ Press, May 2014, (Lead author with Kelly Erickson)

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• “Disarming Syria of its Chemical Weapons: Lessons Learned from Iraq and Libya,” Nuclear Threat Initiative, October 31, 2013, (Lead author with Raymond Zilinskas)

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Proceedings

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• “Terrorism and International Order,” in Jordan Becker, and Joshua Woodaz, eds., “Order, Counter-Order, Disorder?” West Point Press – International Security Seminar 2023

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• “Opioid Attack and the Implications for Counter-terrorism Medicine,” Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, October 11, 2021 (with Derrick Tin, Gregory Ciottone, Alexander Hart, and Atilla Hertelendy)

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• “Rise of the Unmanned Vehicle: an Imminent Public Health Threat Mandating Counter Terrorism Medicine Preparedness for Potential Mass Casualty Attacks,” Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, forthcoming, (with Derrick Tin, Gregory Ciottone, Alexander Hart, Atilla Hertelendy, and Amalia Voskanyan)

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• “Armed, Fully Autonomous Drone Swarms (AFADS): Weapons of Mass Destruction?” International Studies Association (ISA) International Security Studies Division Conference, October 13, 2017

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• “Avatars of the Earth: Assessing the Threat of Eco-Radical Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Terrorism,” (Lead author with Philipp Bleek), ISA Conference, March 2016

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• “Complex Pore Spaces Create Record-Breaking Methane Storage System for Natural-Gas Vehicles,” (with Peter Pfeifer, et al), Chaos: an Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, 17, 2007

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• “Hockey Pucks: the Energy of the Future,” (Lead author with Peter Pfeifer), 2007 Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum (MU), 2007

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Opinions and Commentary​

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• “A Critique of the Goal of World Peace,” Global Catastrophic Risk Institute, March 20, 2026

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• “Arming the Kurdish Resistance with Drones,” Irregular Warfare Initiative, March 12, 2026

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• "Stop Saying 'Uncrewed' Vehicles," Modern War Institute at West Point, August 15, 2025

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• "From Autonomy to Swarming: The Evolving Non-state Actor Drone Threat," Homeland Security Today, June 16, 2025 (Lead author with John Sullivan)

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• "Verifying Who Pulled the Trigger," LawFare, March 30, 2025

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• "Droning On," CBRNe World, February 28, 2025

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• "AIn't All There," CBRNe World, January 9, 2025

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• "Here are Four Ways to Defend Against Unmanned Ground Vehicles," C4ISRNet, April 25, 2024

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• "Terrorists on the Rampage," Irregular Warfare Initiative, April 11, 2024, (Lead author with Gary Ackerman and Herbert Tinsley)

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• "Swarm Clouds on the Horizon? Exploring the Future of Drone Swarm Proliferation" Modern War Institute at West Point, March 20, 2024

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• "Why a Nuclear Weapons Ban Would Threaten, not Save, Humanity," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 10, 2024

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• "Policy Makers Should Plan for Superintelligent AI, Even if it Never Comes," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, December 21, 2023

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• "Why Cheap Drones Pose a Significant Chemical Terrorism Threat," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, November 21, 2023

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• "Send in the Robots: Counter-Terrorism Response and Emerging Drone Technology," Small Wars Journal, November 17, 2023 (Lead Author with Derrick Tin, and Greg Ciottone)

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• "War Books: Drone Warfare," Modern War Institute at West Point, October 20, 2023

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• "Determining the True Extent of Terrorism's Existential Threat," Irregular Warfare Initiative, September 12, 2023, (Lead author with Gary Ackerman)

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• "Power Grids and Plumbing: The Link Between Irregular Warfare and National Critical Functions," Irregular Warfare Initiative, July 12, 2023

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• "The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and American Security," 19FortyFive, June 15, 2023

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• "Drone Swarms and Amphibious Operations," Small Wars Journal, May 30, 2023

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• "Time for a Commission on Information Warfare," Small Wars Journal, May 12, 2023

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• "Release the Robot Hounds: Providing Unmanned Ground Vehicles to Ukraine," Center for Strategic and International Studies, April 3, 2023, (Lead author with Marcel Plichta)

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• "The Biden Administration Overestimates Radiological Risks and Underplays Biothreats," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 17, 2023

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• "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's... Time to Plan for Drones in Other Domains," Modern War Institute at West Point, January 5, 2023

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• “Assessing the Risk to Soft Targets from Drones,” Homeland Security Today, September 4, 2022

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• “The Role of Electronic Warfare, Cyber, and Space Capabilities in the Air Littoral,” Atlantic Council, August 30, 2022

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• “Information Warfare in the Air Littoral: Talking with the World,” Atlantic Council, August 30, 2022

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• “Why COVID-19 Probably Hasn’t Helped Bioterrorists, Despite Fears,” (with Gary Ackerman and Philipp Bleek), Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, August 11, 2022

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• “Necro-Aeronautics: Raising Undead Aircraft for War,” War on the Rocks, August 10, 2022

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• “Bring Back the Anti-Rail Landmine,” Small Wars Journal, July 25, 2022

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• “Swarming Terror,” Small Wars Journal, June 30, 2022

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• “Can a Focus on Innovation Save NATO?” the National Interest, June 23, 2022

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• “Is it too Late to Stop Autonomous Weapons?” The National Interest, June 13, 2022

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• “Seven (Initial) Drone Warfare Lessons Learned from Ukraine,” Modern War Institute at West Point, May 12, 2022.

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• “From Electronic Warfare to Cyber and Beyond: How Drones Intersect with the Information Environment on the Battlefield,” Modern War Institute at West Point, April 27, 2022

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• “Indian Drones Prepare for Flight,” (with Sameer Patil), Gateway House Indian Council on Foreign Relations, March 22, 2022

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• “Russia May Have Used a Killer Robot in Ukraine; Now What?” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 15, 2022

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• "Send in the Quadcopters: Arm Ukrainian Citizens with Simple Drones," DefenseOne, March 3, 2022

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• “Giving an AI Control of Nuclear Weapons; What Could Possibly Go Wrong,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, February 1, 2022

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• “Swarm Talk: Understanding Drone Typology,” Modern War Institute at West Point, December 10, 2021

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• “A Cascading Catastrophe: Drone Risks to Critical Infrastructure,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, November 26, 2021

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• “Swords and Shields: Autonomy, AI, and the Offense-Defense Balance,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, November 22, 2021

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• “The Swarm Mother,” Army Mad Scientist Blog, November 22, 2021

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• “Thousands of Afghan Refugees Await Rescue. Here’s What the US Needs to Do,” DefenseOne, November 9, 2021 (with Mike Edwards)

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• "Applying Arms Control Frameworks to Autonomous Weapons," The Brookings Institution, October 5, 2021

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• "A Weapon of Mass Destruction Strategy for the 21st Century," War on the Rocks, September 8, 2021 (with Al Mauroni, Seth Carus, and Ron Fizer)

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• "Israel's Drone Swarm Should Worry Everyone," DefenseOne, July 7, 2021

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• "If a Killer Robot Were Used, Would We Know?" Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, June 4, 2021

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• "Was a Flying Killer Robot Used in Libya? Quite Possibly," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 20, 2021

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• "Meet the Future Weapon of Mass Destruction, the Drone Swarm," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, April 5, 2021

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• “National Security Needs Both Futurists and Traditionalists,” War on the Rocks, April 1, 2021

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• “Drones are Proving to Have a Destabilizing Effect, Which is Why Counter-Drone Systems Should be a Key Part of US Military Aid to Partners,” Modern War Institute at West Point, December 9, 2020

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• “A Partial Ban on Autonomous Weapons Would Make Everyone Safer,” Foreign Policy, October 14, 2020

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• "In a Robot War, Kill the Humans," DefenseOne, August 27, 2020

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• "How Big of a Deal are Drone Swarms?" U.S. Army Mad Scientist Laboratory, August 17, 2020

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• "In Defense of 'WMD': A War of Words and the Challenge of Swarms," War on the Rocks, July 23, 2020

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• "Pay Every American $1,000 to Download a Contact Tracing Application," Slate, July 21, 2020

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• "Build a National Counter-Drone Network," DefenseOne, July 6, 2020

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• "Swarms of Mass Destruction: The Case for Declaring Armed and Fully Autonomous Drone Swarms as WMD,” Modern War Institute at West Point, May 28, 2020

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• “AI Risks to Nuclear Deterrence are Real,” War on the Rocks, October 10, 2019

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• “If the Oceans Become Transparent” Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute, October 2019

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• “A New Age of Terrorism: New Mass Casualty Terrorism Threats,” Army Mad Scientist Laboratory, September 26, 2019

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• “A New Age of Terrorism: the Future of CBRN Terrorism,” Army Mad Scientist Laboratory, September 9, 2019

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• “What if the U.S. Military Neglects AI? AI Futures and U.S. Incapacity,” War on the Rocks, September 3, 2019

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• “The Race Is On: Assessing the US-China Artificial Intelligence Competition,” Modern War Institute at West Point, April 16, 2019

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• “Lord of the Drones: Fellowship of the Drone,” CBRNEWorld, February 2019, (Lead author with Philipp Bleek)

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• “Drones of Mass Destruction: Drone Swarms and the Future of Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear Warfare,” War on the Rocks, February 14, 2019, (Lead author with Philipp Bleek)

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• “Academic Paywalls Harm National Security,” DefenseOne, December 14, 2018

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• “The Era of the Drone Swarm is Coming and We Need to be Ready for it,” Modern War Institute at West Point, October 25, 2018

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• “Swarming Sea Mines: Capital Capability?” Center for International Maritime Security, August 29, 2017