International Security & Defense

20 Items

This photo taken from night video provided by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows a smuggler dropping children from the top of border barrier in Santa Teresa, N.M.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection via AP

Policy Brief - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Dismantling Migrant Smuggling Networks in the Americas

    Author:
  • Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera
| June 27, 2022

This paper proposes the dismantling of migrant smuggling networks through intelligence and targeted actions as important elements both of border security and enforcement and humanitarian migration management. In addition to these policies, the U.S. government should collaborate closely with other governments to cooperatively redesign asylum systems.

Trucks drive through floodwaters at the U.S.-Canada border crossing in Sumas, Washington. 

AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

Policy Brief - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Toward an Integrated North American Emergency Response System

| June 23, 2022

Establishing a North American approach is a key component to more comprehensive and effective emergency management structured to meet current and emerging threats. This paper briefly examines the history of emergency response coordination among the United States, Mexico, and Canada, highlighting some of the major bilateral, regional and non-governmental agreements.

In this March 27, 2019, file photo, vials of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine sit in a cooler at the Rockland County Health Department in Pomona, N.Y.

AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File

Testimony

Testimony of Juliette Kayyem Before the Members of the Joint Committee on Public Health

| Dec. 03, 2019

Juliette Kayyem writes that there are challenges our children face in this world. One of the risks they do not face — because science and medicine have found a cure — is a public health pandemic of diseases that used to kill our most vulnerable and youngest. 

Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, right, and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and former arrive for a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday, March 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Testimony - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Jeh Johnson Testimony on Russian Interference in the 2016 U.S. Elections

| Mar. 23, 2018

In 2016 the Russian government, at the direction of Vladimir Putin himself, orchestrated cyberattacks on our Nation for the purpose of influencing the election that year – plain and simple. The experience should be a wake-up call for our Nation, as it highlighted cyber vulnerabilities in our political process, and in our election infrastructure itself. Now, with the experience fresh in our minds and clear in our rear-view mirror, the key question for our leaders at the national and state level is this: what are we doing about it? The matter is all the more urgent given the public testimony of our Nation’s intelligence chiefs last month, before this very Committee, that the Russians effort continues into the ongoing 2018 midterm election season.

Farah Pandith at the 2015 PeaceGame in Washington, DC, an event that focused on countering violent extremism.

Dakota Fine/Foreign Policy

Testimony

The Rise of Radicalization: Is the U.S. Government Failing to Counter International and Domestic Terrorism?

| July 15, 2015

Thank you for inviting me to share my perspective and experience. My name is Farah Pandith, and for eleven years I served as a political appointee for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama, most recently as our government’s former first-ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities. I felt deeply honored to serve our nation at the highest levels in a post 9/11 environment and to work on an issue that is, in my opinion, one of this century’s most serious and misunderstood.

Protesters gather at the "Today, I Am A Muslim, Too" rally to protest against a planned congressional hearing on the role of Muslims in homegrown terrorism, March 6, 2011 in New York.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Quarterly Journal: International Security

The Exaggerated Threat of American Muslim "Homegrown" Terrorism

    Author:
  • Risa Brooks
| December 14, 2011

"...[I]nflating the terrorist threat could alienate Muslim communities in the United States. This would be a worrisome development, because those communities’ widespread rejection of terrorism and their ongoing willingness to expose suspected militants are two reasons why the homegrown threat remains small."

A police officer runs past "wounded and dead" during a mock disaster Oct. 15, 2003, in Bossier City, La. The "dirty bomb" scenario involved emergency agencies, the local Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness, & the U.S. Justice Dept.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Before Disaster Strikes: Rate and Raise Public Preparedness Now

| June 2009

More, more severe, and new types of disasters can be expected to occur as a result of new types of threats (e.g., biological, cyber, nuclear/radiological) and more as well as more severe threats due to increased global interconnectedness and climate change. Yet, most Americans are not adequately prepared to respond to or recover from a catastrophic disaster, and many expect the government to take care of them. Even those who have experienced many common disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes may not make appropriate preparations or exercise proper judgment in responding to new disasters that may require different responses. Although community disaster preparation is considered the purview of state and local governments, when a disaster strikes, the federal government is often called in to respond or to help with recovery. For example, New Orleans estimates that the federal government role in rebuilding that city will be $15 billion. Although all rebuilding costs cannot be averted, better citizen preparation and community standards have been shown to reduce the costs of catastrophes.

A responder using a dog patrols the grounds following a simulated radioactive "dirty bomb" attack Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2007, in Portland, Oregon.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Homeland Security: How to Improve Interoperability for State and Local Responders

| March 3, 2008

One of the most important lessons of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks is that, in order to respond successfully, local agencies must be able to exchange information in real time. In the past seven years, the federal government has given millions of dollars to state and local governments with the goal of improving interoperability programs. However, state and local politics often get in the way of effective use of the money. Our research provides insight and recommendations into how state and local governments can improve the effectiveness of these programs.