Biography

Owen R. Coté, Jr. joined the MIT Security Studies Program in 1997 as Associate Director. Prior to that he was Assistant Director of the International Security Program at Harvard's Center for Science and International Affairs, where he remains co-editor of the Center's journal, International Security. He received his Ph.D. from MIT, where he specialized in U.S. defense policy and international security affairs. He is the author of The Third Battle: Innovation in the U.S. Navy's Silent Cold War Struggle with Soviet Submarines, a book analyzing the sources of the U.S. Navy's success in its Cold War antisubmarine warfare effort, and a co-author of Avoiding Nuclear Anarchy: Containing the Threat of Loose Russian Nuclear Weapons and Fissile Material. He has written on the sources of innovation in military doctrine, the future of war, nuclear and conventional force structure issues, and the threat of nuclear terrorism.

CV

[Teaching]

Publications|Selected Publications

Owen R. Cote, Jr., “One if by invasion, two if by coercion: US military capacity to protect Taiwan from China,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 12, 2022

Owen R. Cote, Jr., “Taiwan's submarine-building plan,” Strategic Comments Vol. 27, No. 1 (2021)

Owen R. Cote, Jr., “Invisible nuclear-armed submarines, or transparent oceans? Are ballistic missile submarines still the best deterrent for the United States?” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Vol. 75, No. 1 (2019)

Owen R. Cote, Jr., “Assessing the Undersea Balance Between the U.S. and China,” in Thomas G. Mahnken, ed., Developing Competitive Strategies for the 21st Century: Theory, History and Practice (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2012)

Owen R. Cote Jr. (ed), Do Democracies Win Their Wars? (Cambridge, MA.: M.I.T. University Press, 2011) (With Michael E. Brown, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller (eds))

Owen R. Cote Jr. (ed), Contending With Terrorism: Roots, Strategies, and Responses (Cambridge, MA.: M.I.T. University Press, 2010) (With Michael E. Brown, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller (eds))

Owen R. Cote Jr. (ed), Going Nuclear: Nuclear Proliferation and International Security in the 21st Century (Cambridge, MA.: M.I.T. University Press, 2010) (With Michael E. Brown, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller (eds.))

Owen R. Cote Jr. (ed), Primacy and Its Discontents (Cambridge, MA.: M.I.T. University Press, 2009) (With Michael E. Brown, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller (eds))

Owen R. Cote Jr., “An Agenda for Submarine Force Experimentation,” The Submarine Review, April 2009, pp. 31-38

Owen R. Cote, Jr. (ed), New Global Dangers: Changing Dimensions of International Security (Cambridge, MA.: M.I.T. University Press, 2004) (With Michael E. Brown, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller (eds))

Owen R. Cote, Jr. (ed), Offense, Defense, and War (Cambridge, MA.: M.I.T. University Press, 2004) (With Michael E. Brown, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller (eds))

Owen R. Cote, Jr., “The Personnel Needs of the Future Force,” in Cindy Williams, ed., Filling the Ranks: Transforming the U.S. Military Personnel System (Cambridge, MA.: M.I.T. Press, 2003), pp. 55-68

Owen R. Cote, Jr., “The Look of the Battlefield,” Aviation Week & Space Technology, Vol. 159, No. 24 (December 2003), pp. 72-73

Owen R. Cote, Jr., “Weapons of Mass Confusion,” Boston Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 9 (April/May 2003) pp. 26-27

Owen R. Cote, Jr., “The New War Machines,” Technology Review, March 2003

For a complete list of publications

[Books]

Media

Quoted in "Taiwan's planned submarine fleet cound forestall a potential Chinese invasion for decades," CNN.com, December 20, 2020.

Quoted in "Taiwan is Building Eight New Submarines--They Alone Could Destroy A Chinese Invasion Fleet," Forbes.com, December 2, 2020.

Quoted in "Confusion as Russia denies US claim of breakthrough in nuclear arms talks," The Telegraph, October 14, 2020.

Quoted in "The Russian Navy: A Submarine Powerhouse?" The National Interest, September 6, 2019.

Quoted in "Some experts question defense value of submarines," thehour.com, June 16, 2018.

[News]