Young Voices in International Security: Zoe Melton

NTI’s “Young Voices” series generally highlights early-career professionals making their mark as part of the community of experts and practitioners tackling today’s existential threats. Occasionally, we will highlight very young voices—including high school and college students—to focus on the need for new generations of leaders to tackle nuclear and biological threats and to give them a platform for their ideas.

 For this post, NTI Communications intern Evelyn Hunter spoke to Zoe Melton, a rising 9th grader from Portola Valley, California, who has developed a strong interest in the history of nuclear weapons development and the Cold War, evolving modern-day nuclear threats, and the need for bold new leadership.

Tell us a little about yourself, Zoe, and how you got interested in nuclear issues?

I am 14 years old, I live in California, and I am a rising freshman in high school. Some of my hobbies are tennis, basketball, and skiing. My favorite place in the world is Jackson Hole, Wyoming!

I love history and my fifth-grade teacher encouraged me to do my own research. Over the last few years, I studied World War II and the Cold War, which sparked my interest in nuclear issues. If we were so close to nuclear war 60 years ago, could it happen again?

For a paper on the nuclear threat at the end of the last school year, you wrote that “there are three common myths about the nuclear threat.” Can you tell us about those?

The first myth is that the threat of nuclear war ended after the Cold War. But the threat has evolved in more dangerous ways. There are currently nine countries with nuclear weapons and rogue nations and terrorist organizations are attempting to acquire nuclear capabilities.

The second myth is that nuclear materials are safely guarded. According to NTI, the Russian Federation only protects 25% of its nuclear material, leaving enough poorly secured material to make tens of thousands of weapons.

The third myth is that the public can’t prevent the nuclear threat. If we educate ourselves on the key issues, we can hold our elected officials accountable. We can also support organizations like NTI that take productive steps to make our world safer.

What surprised you most about nuclear weapons in your research?

I was surprised by the threat of cyberattacks on our nuclear infrastructure. For my research, I interviewed NTI board member Ray Rothrock, a venture capitalist and an investment expert in nuclear energy, information technology infrastructure, and cybersecurity. Mr. Rothrock described a scenario where terrorists could use a cyberattack to make a country believe that a nuclear weapon had been launched, potentially causing that country to launch one in response. Terrorists are not deterred by mutually assured destruction, so if they had the opportunity, they could attempt something so drastic.

You also wrote: “My generation understands climate change, and we are right to be concerned about it as an existential threat to our future. It was a slow-moving disaster that was either ignored or not understood by prior generations. Now, my generation must frantically try to undo a century’s worth of mistakes. The same can be said about the nuclear threat. We think of it as a history lesson, fading away after the Soviet Union fell in 1991. But it continues to evolve as an existential threat to our planet. If we ignore it, we allow it to grow.” Do any of your friends and classmates worry about nuclear threats?

No. My classmates don’t talk about nuclear threats at all, and it is rarely discussed at my school. We are taught that we can do something about climate change. We can use renewable energy; we can try to live environmentally friendly lives, and we can eventually vote for leaders who share our values. In contrast, we have no roadmap with the nuclear threat. My presentation was the first time most of my peers learned about the nuclear threat.

What do you think young people can do to learn more and get involved?

As I wrote in my paper, in a 2023 survey conducted by the Chicago Council of Global Affairs, 61% of Gen Z admitted that they don’t know enough about nuclear weapons to assess the benefit or harm to them personally. Remarkably, 56% of Baby Boomers admitted the same thing.  The nuclear threat is no longer a conflict between the US and the Soviet Union. With our new, more complex landscape, the average citizen feels uninformed and helpless. We think that there is nothing that we can do, so we don’t engage on the issues.

NTI helped me by providing the educational resources that I needed to understand the issues. The NTI Education Center includes tutorials and teaching tools that gave me the background that I needed to write my paper. I believe that NTI can create a new generation of advocates through education and mentorship.

Will you continue to work to spread awareness about nuclear issues?

Yes. I believe that nuclear war is an existential threat to the world, and it is not well understood by our society. By educating ourselves about the possibility of a nuclear conflict, we are helping to prevent it. When the world’s citizens understand the threat, they can support policies and elected officials that will take the next steps to reduce the threat of nuclear war.