EMERGENCY RESPONSE
RichardMasoner
July 14, 2008
A Tax Credit for Volunteerism
Magazine or Newspaper Article, The Louisiana Weekly
Hurricane Katrina devastated our region in 2005. With the help of volunteers, we have been rebuilding. If oil prices rise high enough to make travel unaffordable for volunteers, our resurrection will falter.
Summer 2008
"Divining Nuclear Intentions: A Review Essay"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 1, volume 33
By William C. Potter and Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova
Although projections of nuclear proliferation abound, they rarely are founded on empirical research or guided by theory. Even fewer studies are informed by a comparative perspective. The two books under review—The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation: Identity, Emotions, and Foreign Policy, by Jacques Hymans, and Nuclear Logics: Alternative Paths in East Asia and the Middle East, by Etel Solingen, are welcome exceptions to this general state of affairs, and represent the cutting edge of nonproliferation research. Both works challenge conventional conceptions of the sources of nuclear weapons decisions and offer new insights into why past predictions of rapid proliferation failed to materialize and why current prognoses about rampant proliferation are similarly flawed. While sharing a number of common features, including a focus on subsystemic determinants of national behavior, the books differ in their methodology, level of analysis, receptivity to multicausal explanations, and assumptions about decisionmaker rationality and the revolutionary nature of the decision. Where one author emphasizes the importance of the individual leader’s national identity conception in determining a state’s nuclear path, the other explains nuclear decisions primarily with regard to the political-economic orientation of the ruling coalition. Notwithstanding a tendency to overinterpret evidence, the books represent the best of contemporary social science research and provide compelling interpretations of nuclear proliferation dynamics of great relevance to scholars and policymakers alike.
June 26, 2008
With Private Dollars at Stake, Delays Hurt
Magazine or Newspaper Article, The Times-Picayune
In a public hearing last week, the New Orleans City Council tangled with the Office of Recovery and Development and Administration over a state tax credit program to promote cultural activities. Some council members felt their districts were being ignored. The mood turned contentious. As a result of this debate, approval of funding for the city's 17-zone recovery plan was put off -- at Dr. Ed Blakely's request -- for at least another week.
szbluewater
June 16, 2008
"Spirit of Chinese People"
Op-Ed, The Korea Times
By Shacheng Wang, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2007-2008
Shacheng Wang, a predoctoral fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, writes about the response of the Chinese people to the earthquakes that hit Sichuan Province in the spring of 2008. Faced with such a castastrophe, the Chinese people have united in assisting the victims and have shown their true spirit, Wang says.
AP Photo
April 15, 2008
Actions Now for the Day After: Findings of the Preventive Defense Day After Project
Testimony
By Dr. Ashton B. Carter, Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project, Harvard & Stanford Universities
PDP Co-Director Ashton B. Carter testifies before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
April 15, 2008
PDP Co-Director Carter testifies before Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Press Release
PDP Co-Director Dr. Ashton B. Carter testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs at its hearing on "Nuclear Terrorism: Confronting the Challenges of the Day After."
April 4, 2008
Continued Leadership Development in New Orleans
Press Release
The Broadmoor Project partners with the HKS Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative to bring "Building Effective Partnerships: Increasing community-level resources and impact through cross-sector alliances."
AP Photo
March 3, 2008
Homeland Security: How to Improve Interoperability for State and Local Responders
Policy Memo
By Erica Chenoweth, Associate, International Security Program and Susan Clarke
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.
March 2008
Broadmoor Project Announces 2008 Summer Internships
Announcement
The HKS-Broadmoor Project for Community Engagement in New Orleans is pleased to announce 3 paid summer internships in the Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans.
AP Photo
February 25, 2008
"In China, a Beacon of Heroism"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Xiaohui (Anne) Wu, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
"In facing the disaster, China lacked the well-established infrastructure, an adequate crisis management system, and well-trained disaster-relief professionals like in Western countries. Yet it was the ordinary people who made up for those deficiencies. The solidarity and cooperation of the Chinese people, which the government swiftly and effectively mobilized, restored the country to normal operations quickly. Some foreign observers exclaimed that another country affected by a disaster of the same scale would have been paralyzed."
