Jeffrey Lewis

Jeffrey Lewis is the founding director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and a leading open-source intelligence analyst of nuclear weapons programmes worldwide. He is a co-founder of the 38 North project (North Korea monitoring) and runs the Arms Control Wonk blog and podcast, which have made him one of the most prominent public voices on nuclear proliferation.

Lewis specialises in satellite imagery analysis, open-source signals intelligence, and the technical assessment of nuclear and Ballistic missile capabilities. In the May 2026 Iran context, his methodology — combining commercial satellite imagery with technical knowledge of uranium enrichment and missile development — was the template for independent assessments of Iranian nuclear activity as the MOU negotiations hit the 9 May deadline.

His work is distinguished from think-tank commentary by its grounding in technical measurement: Lewis produces satellite assessments that governments and media cite alongside or instead of classified intelligence. He is often the first to identify new Iranian nuclear or missile developments through public commercial imagery.