Miller: Preventing War Among the Great Powers

James N. Miller, former under secretary of defense for policy, has joined the Belfer Center as a senior fellow. At the Center, Miller is leading a project on preventing war among the great powers. His objective is to develop recommendations to deal with changing dynamics of crisis management and escalation control that may arise from the deployment of increasingly advanced military capabilities, including in space and cyberspace.

“From Ukraine and the South China Sea to cyberspace, identifying potential crises between great powers, and finding ways to prevent them before they start, is one of the Belfer Center’s highest priorities,” said Director Graham Allison. “We are grateful that Jim Miller, one of America’s most seasoned and respected practitioners of national defense strategy, is coming back to the Center where he was once a young postdoc to lead a study of the future of great power conflict.”

“I am extremely pleased to join the Belfer Center,” Miller said, “and grateful to work with such a talented team on the future of great power crisis and conflict. After doing my graduate work here years ago, it’s like returning home.”

As under secretary from May 2012 to January 2014, Miller advised Defense Secretaries Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel on strategy, policy, and operations, and served as the department’s deputy for National Security Council policymaking and crisis management.