Cassandra Varanka is NTI’s director of legislative affairs. Since joining NTI in July 2025, she has focused on developing and advancing legislative strategies to shape impactful policy outcomes that further the organization’s agenda in the U.S. government.
In a political climate that feels more divided than ever, it seems nearly impossible to agree on anything—except, as it turns out, arms control. A YouGov poll commissioned by NTI and ReThink Media found that 91 percent of Americans support capping U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, including 89 percent of Trump voters.
NTI endorses the bipartisan Biosecurity Modernization and Innovation Act of 2026, led by Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). This bill creates an important opportunity to incentivize a safe and secure U.S. bioeconomy through strengthened biosecurity policy.
New START, the last remaining arms control treaty capping U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, expires on February 5. This marks the beginning of a dangerous new era. For the first time in several decades, there will be no limits on nuclear weapons, less visibility into Russian nuclear weapons activities, and fewer tools to manage a crisis between the world’s two largest nuclear powers.
Global health security —the ability to protect against the negative impacts of disease outbreaks — is too important to be left solely to the public sector. Industry has a vital interest in helping countries better prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.
Funding from the Bezos Earth Fund will support the creation of an orderbook for new nuclear reactor builds in the United States.
New NTI | bio paper calls on tool developers and other AIxBio stakeholders to implement a managed access approach—allowing only validated users to access those biological AI models that contribute to biosecurity risks—to help reduce the risk that such tools will be deliberately misused to cause harm.
Managed access will be critical for reducing biosecurity risks related to the misuse of biological AI tools. By working to develop best practices for each element of this framework—risk levels, tiered access, and practices to verify legitimacy—developers of biological AI tools and the broader life sciences community can reduce risks while maintaining the benefits of these tools.
As the last remaining U.S.-Russia nuclear limitations treaty expires on Feb. 5, an overwhelming majority of Americans (91 percent) say the United States should negotiate a new agreement with Russia to either maintain current limits on nuclear weapons or further reduce both countries’ arsenals.
Mirror life operates outside the assumptions that underpin modern biosafety, biosecurity, and medical surveillance, meaning the policy challenge is not only what to regulate — but how to govern a technology that doesn’t yet exist.
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