Press Release
From the Director
I am pleased to write my first Director’s Foreword for the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Annual Report. In 2023, the Belfer Center launched a celebration of its 50th anniversary, commemorating a half-century of excellence in researching the world’s toughest challenges and shaping policy responses. We are proud of the impact the Belfer Center has had in the policy arena. This reach is amplified by our more than 1,700 former fellows and staff now in government, academia, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector around the world.
However, 2023 was not simply about honoring our legacy. We are squarely focused on how Belfer will meet the moment today and in the decades to come.
Belfer’s mission is as relevant today as it has been at any other time in our history. We bridge the gap between scholarly rigor and real-world impact, combining the best of academic research with practical policy solutions. Our university setting allows us to draw on experts in every field, as today’s complex challenges require thinking from every discipline. It also allows us to step back from the daily whirlwind of policymaking and focus on innovative solutions to global challenges, including those just over the horizon. Finally, we are fortunate to have a diverse student body that brings fresh perspectives and its own experiences to the forefront of our work every day.
Given these strengths, Belfer is uniquely positioned to tackle some of our world’s most consequential questions. How do we navigate the evolving landscape of great power competition and rapid technological change? How can we sustain the “long peace” that has kept us safe from great power war for more than 75 years? What role will industrial strategies play in managing global competition and addressing technological risks? How will the world finance the energy transition, particularly in the Global South? How should we approach emerging technologies like AI, quantum, and biotechnology in the realm of national security?
These are just some of the questions that drive us. Increasingly, we will focus our work at the intersection of three consequential drivers of today’s world: great power competition, technology and geopolitics, and the energy transition. While we will continue some of the Center’s excellent work that falls outside these domains, my focus and energy will be directed at what I am calling “the Belfer Overlap.”
This diagram helps convey both the existing “sweet spot” of the Belfer Center’s work and the direction for future growth. In fact, 2023 featured a wide range of work that leveraged these attributes.
2023 Highlights
Our experts contributed more than 250 insight and analysis pieces in the world’s most respected publications, including “The Path to AI Arms Control” in Foreign Affairs, co-authored by Graham Allison and Henry Kissinger. It would turn out to be Kissinger’s last published work.
New analysis from the Project on Managing the Atom indicates the dangers of nuclear war have grown significantly in the last decade.
The Environment and Natural Resources Program’s reports on hydrogen as an energy source attracted strong interest from both U.S. and European policymakers and private sector leaders.
Belfer Center experts and guests generated new insights and analysis on the war in Ukraine. Belfer researchers began publishing a weekly report card to track developments in the war. Students also examined key foreign policy questions stemming from the war through constructive conversation and debate in a study group directed by Senior Fellow and former Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was a guest of the Belfer Center at a virtual event in February 2023, when he discussed the roots of the war with Russia and the determination of the Ukrainian people.
Artificial intelligence remained a key focus of the Belfer Center with experts like Bruce Schneier examining its implications on every aspect of society, including how A.I. can aid democracy or destroy it.
The Middle East Initiative convened candid, fact-based, and respectful discussions, including a retrospective on the Iraq War and a series of special events focused on the conflict in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
Recommendations by the Arctic Initiative helped shape Department of Homeland Security’s approach to tackling the impacts of rapid climate change in Alaska.
Eric Rosenbach launched the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy Program. DETS is off to a dynamic start with a series of publications and high-level speakers such as General Paul Nakasone, Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command.
In his new book, Spies, Calder Walton revealed a Russian plot to assassinate a defector on U.S. soil in 2020. Spies was one of four books published by Belfer Center scholars.
The Korea Project brought together five senior negotiators from past U.S. administrations for an event examining main lessons learned in their negotiations with North Korea.
The Belfer Center’s work on our world’s most consequential questions benefited greatly from additions to our ranks of faculty, staff, and Senior Fellows in 2023.
Mark Pascale joined the Belfer Center as the new Director of the Intelligence Project, succeeding Paul Kolbe. Mark is one of the most accomplished U.S. intelligence officers in recent history with the unique distinction of having served as Chief of Station in three of the most challenging operational environments in the world and multiple tours throughout the Middle East, East Asia, and the former Soviet Union.
Rana Mitter, the Harvard Kennedy School’s new ST Lee Chair in U.S.-Asia Relations, brings deep expertise from his tenure at the University of Oxford, where he led the University China Center.
Ulrich Krotz joined us during the fall semester as the Pierre Keller Visiting Professor of Public Policy, sharing a wealth of insights into European affairs. Krotz holds distinguished positions at the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals and Sciences Po Paris.
Visiting from the University of Michigan, Associate Professor of Public Policy Yuri Zhukov shared his scholarship and expertise on Russia, Ukraine, and the complex dynamics of the conflict.
Karen Donfried, President Biden’s former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, joined as a Senior Fellow after leading intense engagements with Europe in the wake of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Stephen J. Hadley, the 20th U.S. National Security Advisor, a position he held under President George W. Bush, also came on board as a Senior Fellow. He brings unparalleled understanding of how the U.S. government grapples with national security challenges and works with allies and partners in every part of the world.
John Tien, who served as the 8th Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, joined the Center as a Senior Fellow. As a former HKS student and Belfer Center National Security Fellow, his is a true homecoming.
With these and many others in our ranks, we are better equipped than ever to take on the formidable challenges that lie ahead.
Finally, we’re proud of our alumni who have been nominated and appointed to prominent roles this year. Kurt Campbell, former Senior Fellow, was appointed as Deputy Secretary of State; Cait Conley, former Executive Director of the Defending Digital Democracy Project, was appointed Senior Advisor to the Director of the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA); Lauren Zabierek, the former Executive Director of the Cyber Project, was appointed Senior Policy Advisor with CISA; and Ambassador Richard Verma, former Senior Fellow, was sworn in as Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources.
As we move forward, please stay engaged and join us in forging new paths of understanding and action to shape a more secure and peaceful world. Together, we can continue to make a profound impact for the next 50 years and beyond.
With excitement and determination for the journey ahead,
Meghan L. O'Sullivan