Events

Foreign language continues to serve as an essential tool for professionals in the national security space. Building and sustaining a robust workforce able to engage with partners and competitors is critical for the United States and its allies. Attaining sufficient language capabilities across the U.S. government workforce remains not only an aspirational objective, but one central to a well-functioning national security system. Whether a diplomat posted overseas, an intelligence analyst trying to understand a turn of phrase in comments by a national leader, or a defense attaché conversing with partner militaries, language is the connectivity that allows individuals and organizations to communicate and avoid misunderstandings.

Experience and training in foreign languages are as diverse as the alphabets and accents used in practice. Finding a consistent approach to developing language capabilities at scale is as important today as it has ever been. Properly resourcing training programs, building robust curriculums, and empowering individuals throughout all career stages are just a few of the ideas shaping the conversation. Although progress has varied throughout the last two decades, there remains a constant theme throughout the American experience. Whether native speakers or trained professionals, languages open doors of opportunity and help better understand nuances within societies around the world. Are we doing enough to ensure the language capability we need for national security?

Please join the Intelligence Project of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs for a virtual roundtable discussion on the role of language in national security. Moderated by Intelligence Project Director Mark Pascale, the panel will explore a range of subtopics related to language and the role it plays within diplomacy, intelligence, and the military.

Arm to Disarm: building Europe’s advanced conventional weapons to deter and engage Russia

MTA Seminar with Paul van Hooft, convening at 10am on November 15. We will meet on Zoom here. For Harvard affiliates, we will be in Nye C.

Rabia Akhtar presented at the weekly MTA Seminar. 

Her talk was titled: "Strategic Stability, Crisis Communication, and Shared Nuclear Responsibilities in South Asia"

Join Russia Matters and the Davis Center for a talk by Dr. Domitilla Sagramoso of King’s College London (Department of War Studies) on the war in Ukraine. Dr. Sagramoso, an expert on Russian foreign and security policy focusing on the post-Soviet space, will discuss the dynamics that led to the war in Ukraine and the chances of a negotiated outcome.

In-person option is open for Harvard University ID holders only.

Webinar option is open to the public. 

Speaker

Dr. Domitilla Sagramoso, Senior Lecturer in security and development, Department of War Studies, King’s College London.
 
Her most recent publication, “Russian Imperialism Revisited: From Disengagement to Hegemony” (Routledge, 2020), examines Russia’s policies toward the former USSR states since 1991, within the framework of “Hegemony” and “Neo-Empire” theories of international relations. She is also an expert on Islamist jihadism in the Russian North Caucasus and has published extensively on these topics in various academic journals (Europe-Asia Studies, International Affairs, Perspectives on Terrorism, New Perspectives).

Moderator

Olga Kiyan, graduate student, Harvard University.

MEI will host a panel discussion moderated by Tarek Masoud on the recent events in Israel and Gaza with Edward P. Djerejian, Shai Feldman, Abdel Monem Said Aly, and Khalīl Shikaki, with an introduction from Meghan O’Sullivan. 

This event will be limited to HUID holders only. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED - NO EXCEPTIONS.
 

Professor Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland, Professor Shai Feldman of Brandeis, and Former Ambassador to Israel and Syria Edward Djerejian will discuss the ongoing events in Israel/Palestine with MEI Faculty Chair Professor Tarek Masoud.

On April 14, 2023, the Belfer Center's Cyber Project will host a symposium, Future of Technology and Supply Chain Security.  Taking place during Supply Chain Integrity Month, this symposium aims to drive discussion on innovative methods to mitigate a variety of risks posed to cyber supply chains in order to ensure a resilient and defensible cyberspace. 

This event, an hour-long (in-person and streamed) public panel titled Methods to Secure Cyber Supply Chains, will feature a brief introduction by the Belfer Center Co-Director Eric Rosenbach. The panel will be moderated by David Sanger (NY Times), and feature Camille Stewart Gloster (Office of the National Cyber Director), Edlyn Levine (America’s Frontier Fund), and Val Cofield (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency). 

Doors open at 9:00 and the event will start at 9:30. Breakfast will be provided.

The Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) invites you to attend a discussion of MTA Senior Research Associate Mariana Budjeryn’s book: Inheriting the Bomb: The Collapse of the USSR and the Nuclear Disarmament of Ukraine (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023). Matthew Bunn will provide introductory remarks and Steve Miller will serve as a discussant during the session. For those attending in-person, light breakfast and refreshments will be served at 10:30am. The talk and webinar will begin at 11:00am EDT.

While this event is on the record, the event organizers prohibit any attendees, including journalists, from audio/visual recording or distributing parts or all of the event program without prior written authorization. 

The Belfer Center’s Defense Project is excited to announce a virtual panel event focusing on resistance to Russian aggression. This event will be moderated by National Security Fellow Guido Torres.

The panel will be comprised of four experts in security from around the world. 

Audience members are encouraged to engage in discourse during the event.

For more questions about this event, please reach out to Guido "G" Torres at guidotorres@hks.harvard.edu. 

More than 10 years after the outbreak of the Libyan revolution and the departure of Colonel Muammar al-Qadhafi, Libya continues to experience sharp political divisions and difficulties in unifying institutions and agreeing on a constitution. Following the open postponement of the December 24th elections and despite internal efforts, there is still no fixed date for elections in order to end the transition period and realizes the people's aspirations for a democratic political system that guarantees economic well-being, social stability and equitable distribution of wealth.

In recent years, Libya has also been the scene of foreign interventions from many states that have taken advantage of Libya's fragility and carried out proxy wars that have left the Libyan people with great frustration. At the international level, the attempts to reach a solution were challenging and despite huge efforts deployed, the United Nations promising road map unfortunately didn't went to its end. The Libyan file is being delayed in the international agenda following the Russian-Ukrainian war.

How long will Libya stay in this situation? How can a political agreement be reached to end the internal divide? What role do the Libyan Presidency Council and other national institutions have in finding a Libyan solution? How can we put an end to external interference? Can Libya play a role in stabilizing international oil markets, especially after the return of production? What role does Libya play in Africa's open conflict between the West, Russia and China?

The discussion will be hosted by Former Prime Minister of Tunisia Dr. Youssef Chahed. The other featured panelists for this discussion will be: Stephanie T. Williams, former SG special representative for Libya and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL); Frederic Wehrey, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace’s Middle East Program; Khaled Kaim, former Deputy Foreign Minister of Libya; and Mohamed “Moin” Mansour Kikhia, Chairman of the Libyan Democratic Institute.

The times listed above for this event are in Eastern Daylight Time. The event will take place from 4:30pm - 5:45pm Libyan Time.