Events

Join the Intelligence Project for a seminar with John J. Sullivan, former Deputy Secretary of State and Acting Secretary of State, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Russia from 2020-2022. Ambassador Sullivan will provide his perspective from his time in Moscow and share details of his forthcoming book, Midnight in Moscow: A Memoir from the Front Lines of Russia's War Against the West, which will be released in August 2024. In it, Ambassador Sullivan explores his time in Russia, including providing warnings in the lead up to the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and then supporting US policy as the war unfolded. He argues that Russia and the United States are effectively at war, and explores options for the US to stand up to the challenge posed by Russia. This seminar will be moderated by the Intelligence Project and will be in person only, open to the first 50 registrants with a Harvard ID. Light refreshments will be served.

Speaker: Jung Jae Kwon, Stanton Nuclear Security Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

How do non-nuclear allies of the U.S. try to generate deterrence without their own nuclear arsenal? How do the allies seek to employ their non-nuclear military capabilities even as they ultimately have to rely on the U.S. "nuclear umbrella" for security? While these questions have grown more important in an era of "integrated deterrence," existing scholarship on nuclear strategy or extended deterrence has largely overlooked the agency of allies. This project seeks to fill the gap. The speaker identifies three ways in which the allies have used their military capabilities to generate deterrent effects and develop a theory to explain and predict their behavior. He conducts case studies of U.S. allies, such as South Korea and Japan, to examine the causes of the variation in their behavior and draws on extensive fieldwork, elite interviews, and primary sources for empirical analysis.

Open to Harvard ID Holders Only: Admittance will be on a first come–first served basis. Coffee &Tea Provided.

Speaker: Matthew Borawski, Research Fellow, International Security Program

The U.S. defense industrial base proved ill-equipped to adequately surge ammunition production for Ukraine's fight against Russia, with the Department of Defense reporting it will take nearly three years to replenish the two million 155mm artillery rounds provided to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the United States assumes increased conventional risk to its own warfighting capabilities. How did U.S. munitions manufacturing erode, was it avoidable, and what is needed to reach sufficient capacity in the future? The answer to these questions should inform the larger, more critical question: How can the United States ensure a munitions shortage does not occur if U.S. military forces are committed to large scale combat operations in the future? Answering the research question could help the United States maintain its conventional superiority in a future conflict and minimize readiness impacts when providing lethal assistance to our Allies and Partners, including Ukraine and Taiwan. These effects would also improve our integrated deterrence strategy since robust production capacity remains a deterrent. Instead, the United States appears to be in a continuous spin-up/ramp-down cycle for ammunition production, which creates the cyclical crisis and preparedness paradox.

Invitation Only. Coffee &Tea Provided.

Speaker: David Kearn, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

The book project seeks to explain the divergence of views of within the strategic community after the signing of the SALT I Accords and the subsequent shift in U.S. strategic nuclear policy away from "assured destruction" to "nuclear warfighting" throughout the 1970s and culminating in the Reagan administrations "prevailing strategy."

Open to Harvard ID Holders Only: Admittance will be on a first come–first served basis. Coffee &Tea Provided.

Speaker: Sumin Lee, ACES Assistant Professor, Department of International Affairs, The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University

What are the long-term effects of wartime sexual violence on trust? Rape is an old feature of warfare, but the intergenerational transmission of such trauma in communities remains poorly understood. Scholars theorize how wartime sexual violence has disparate effects on social and political trust. While sexual violence sours public opinion of the state for its security failures, it forces affected communities to turn to private kinship and social bonds as a coping mechanism, increasing social trust in the long run.

Open to Harvard ID Holders Only: Admittance will be on a first come–first served basis. Coffee &Tea Provided.

Harvard Kennedy School Study Group led by Dr. Karen Donfried, Belfer Center Senior Fellow

Wednesdays, 4:30-6:00pm

Over the course of six sessions, a study group, led by Dr. Karen Donfried, will examine key foreign policy debates flowing from Russia’s war against Ukraine. The objective is to provide a deeper understanding of the geopolitics of the war in Ukraine and the implications for U.S. interests.

Eligibility requirements: Harvard graduate and post-graduate students, who can attend all six sessions. We will seek to accommodate several undergraduates. Applicants with a strong interest in foreign affairs are encouraged to apply. No specific experience or first-hand knowledge of the issues is required. 

• Apply online through this link by 12:00 PM on Tuesday, February 20, 2024. Late applications will not be considered.

Speaker: Eleanor Freund, Research Fellow, International Security Program

What factors explain variation in China's security cooperation with other states? Why has China formed alliances or deployed troops to fight alongside partners in some cases, while in others it has limited itself to the transfer of weapons or the signature of neutrality agreements? More generally, how can scholars measure and explain the range of security cooperation behaviors that states exhibit in both peacetime and war?

Open to Harvard ID Holders Only: Admittance will be on a first come–first served basis. Coffee &Tea Provided.

Meets: 4:45-6:00pm ET from February 14 to March 27 (excluding March 13)

In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, nearly all cooperation on Arctic science and conservation has ceased between the West and Russia, bringing to a halt thirty years of joint effort on fisheries and wildlife conservation, climate change research, protected areas management and other areas of environmental science.  

This six-session study group, led by Arctic Initiative Senior Fellow Margaret Williams, will explore the Arctic's unique environmental and cultural characteristics, as well as the key agreements and governance structures supporting environmental protection and sustainable development in the region. The group's objective is to evaluate the costs and benefits of renewing cooperation with Russia and develop recommendations that could be shared with key government agencies in the United States or other Western countries regarding future cooperation in the science and conservation arenas.

Classes will be a combination of presentations by the study group leader and guest speakers; student presentations; and at least one debate. Guest speakers will include scientists, Arctic experts from NGOs, and government representatives. Some minimal reading will be required before each session for all participants. 

Eligibility Requirements: Harvard graduate and post-graduate students, who can attend all sessions. Applicants with a strong interest in Arctic issues are encouraged to apply. No specific experience or first-hand knowledge of the issues is required.

The application deadline has passed.

As the two-year anniversary of the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches, join us for a wide-ranging conversation with the founders of the humanitarian organization Assist Ukraine, the Arctic-biologist-turned-activist Olga Shpak and the alpinist and conservationist Art Davidson. The panel will cover the war’s impact on Arctic science, the current situation on the ground in Ukraine, the process of providing aid to front-line defenders, and more.

Belfer Young Leader Fellow Vladyslav Wallace will moderate. Arctic Initiative Senior Fellow Margaret Williams will provide introductory remarks. Q&A to follow. No RSVP required. Seating is on a first come, first served basis. Refreshments will be provided.

Sponsors: The Harvard Kennedy School Ukraine Caucus and the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative

Speaker: Colleen Larkin, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

President Jimmy Carter entered office committed to reducing the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. foreign policy. He espoused the logic of mutually assured destruction and hoped for major arms control progress. Yet by the end of his presidency, he had embraced a competitive nuclear posture and accelerated the arms race. What explains this shift in Carter’s strategy? 

Open to Harvard ID Holders Only: Admittance will be on a first come–first served basis. Coffee &Tea Provided.