The Latest
Our Programs
The Defense, Emerging Technology and Strategy Program focuses on defense policy issues, security strategy execution, and new technologies that have emerged as pivotal to the future of international security, with a focus on space, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and synthetic biotech.
The Arctic Initiative integrates insights from cutting-edge scientific research, Indigenous knowledge, and policy analysis, to improve understanding of Arctic climate change; develop responsive policies and actions; and train the next generation of interdisciplinary Arctic experts and leaders.
The Middle East Initiative provides topical timely analysis on energy, diplomacy, foreign conflict resolution and more.
The Applied History Project promotes the use of historical reasoning to illuminate current challenges and choices in both the public and private sectors.
The Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program brings science and technology into the design of public policy, exploring some of the world's most challenging problems - from nuclear negotiations with Iran to privacy concerns about big data.
The Intelligence Project is building a new generation of practitioners serving a rapidly changing world, focusing on history, geopolitics, and emerging technologies, linking intelligence agencies with Belfer researchers, faculty and students to enrich education and support public policy decision-making.
The Project on Managing the Atom conducts and disseminates both timeless and topical policy-relevant research on nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, and nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
The Environment and Natural Resources Program examines cutting-edge issues at the intersection of environmental, climate, and science policy considerations, conducting policy-relevant research on energy technologies, grid decarbonization, hydrogen, biofuels, and climate finance.
The Geopolitics of Energy Project explores the intersection of energy, security, and international politics. The project aims to improve understanding of how energy demand and supply shape international politics – and vice versa.
The Africa Futures Project drives debate and research on critical issues of African politics and governance; climate change and the global energy transition; conflict and security; and geopolitics as they shape our collective future.
The International Security Program addresses the most pressing threats to U.S. national interests and international security, supports supports young scholars with its fellowship program and sponsors and edits the quarterly journal International Security.
This is just a sampling of the Belfer Center's research programs, projects, and special initiatives. To explore more about our various research programs, visit our Programs page.
Upcoming Events
See what's happening at Belfer
Listen to World Review: a Podcast with with Ivo Daalder
Each Friday, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder brings together leading journalists and experts to break down what’s happening, why it matters, and what comes next.
A Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs podcast from Harvard Kennedy School.
Intelligence
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Article‘Intelligence’ in Function but Not in Name: Analyzing Terminology and Trends in the Job Market
From Intelligence Project
War in Ukraine
Nuclear power
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Article
Structure Amid Change: The Global Nuclear Order And The Soviet Collapse
From Managing the Atom
U.S. Foreign Policy
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BooksChapter in Book: Keeping Our Nation's Promise: 9/11 and the Stories That Still Shape Us
From Program on Diplomacy and Statecraft
Interest Areas
Our research spans a variety of key issues across the globe, at the nexus of science and international affairs
Middle East & North Africa
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ArticleBook Review: The Cauldron and the Making of the Modern Middle East
From Intelligence Project
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Reports & Papers
10 Chinese and Pakistani Nuclear Postures and Strategies
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Reports & Papers
Egypt as a Middle Power: Short-Term Efficacy vs. Long-Term Fragility
Artificial Intelligence
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Reports & PapersA Pre-mortem on The First Major AI-Enabled Terrorism Event and The Choices That Could Enable it: Plus 9 Predictions
From Emerging Technology, Scientific Advancement, and Global Policy
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Explainer
Computational Statecraft: An Overview
Energy
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Reports & Papers
Bits-to-Watts: Connecting Markets and Prices for Compute and Power
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Policy Briefs
EU Tech Sovereignty Package Policy Brief
Science & Technology
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Reports & Papers
Anticipatory Arms Control for the AI Age
Belfer in the News
Our experts contribute to the news with critical, timely insight and perspective
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In The NewsThe Most Dangerous Thing Is Certainty
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The Strategic Discipline of Imagination: Lessons from 9/11 for the Threats Ahead
Twenty-five years later, what can we learn from pre-9/11 warnings about catastrophic terrorism and institutionalizing imagination, to emerging challenges in biology, AI, and cyber?
Explore the Belfer Reading Brief on 9/11 and the Failure of Imagination
America's Achilles' Heel: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Terrorism and Covert Attack
From International Security Program
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JFK Jr Forum
25 Years Later: The Lessons and Legacy of September 11, 2001
Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students -
Reports & Papers
Countering Terrorism With "Blue Sky" Thinking