Belfer Center Summer 2019 Newsletter

In our cover article, “Acting on the Climate Crisis,” we asked six Belfer Center experts what must be done now to reduce the amount of climate change taking place and to limit its harm to people and ecosystems.  John P. Holdren, Henry Lee, Robert N. Stavins, Afreen Siddiqi, Kelly Gallagher, and Halla Hrund Logadottir share their views on the steps they believe are most urgently needed for climate mitigation and adaptation.

Also in this issue, we highlight the detailed joint statement issued recently by the Elbe Group, one of the few channels of communication currently open between the U.S. and Russia. In “Elbe Group Provides Blueprint for Improved U.S.-Russia Relations,” the former military and intelligence officers specify actions they are urging their respective governments to take to improve U.S.-Russia relations and prevent a possible catastrophe.

With today’s reliance on economic statecraft to achieve  geopolitical objectives, the Center kicked off the Economic Diplomacy Initiative this semester with a seminar featuring Kai-Fu Lee, founding President of Google China. Advised by Faculty Co-Chairs Nicholas Burns and Lawrence Summers, and led by Center Executive Director Aditi Kumar, the Initiative will work with students to explore the intersection of economic and international affairs.

The Center’s Technology and Public Purpose Project (TAPP) staff spent a day in the Capitol recently meeting with congressional staff about “Big Tech and Democracy.” They identified and discussed policy approaches to the dilemmas of big tech platforms and other technological innovation that will be required by the 116th Congress in order to shape technological innovation for the good of the society.

In early May, former intelligence officers, policymakers, and cyber experts gathered for a full-day conference on “Ethical and Moral Issues in the Intelligence Community,” organized by the Intelligence Project. The notable group of participants discussed the types of ethical issues that confront intelligence officers and how best to create an ethical intelligence service.

In the build-up to the 2020 elections, the Center’s Defending Digital Democracy Project (D3P) is expanding its work with states and the cybersecurity community and assisting campaigns not only in the U.S. but also in countries around the globe. Several student members of the D3P team have just released a report titled “Dealing with Disinformation: Lessons from Taiwan and Korea” that provides important takeaways for the U.S. based on how other democratic countries combat disinformation.

In our Spotlight section, we feature Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, departing Intelligence Project Director and former longtime intelligence officer, and our Q&A is with Karen Elliott House, Belfer Center Senior Fellow and journalist and expert on Saudi Arabia. Our Staff Spotlight this issue is on Amanda Sardonis, Associate Director of the Environment and Natural Resources Program. We also wish the best to Jean Woodward, Associate Director of the National Security Fellows Program, who is retiring after 32 years at Harvard.  

And there's much more.

Climate Change

• Acting on the Climate Crisis
• The “Big Melt” on Primetime

Technology, Democracy, and Elections

• Big Tech and Democracy
• D3P Helps States Increase Security for 2020 Elections
• Dealing with Disinformation: Lessons from Taiwan and Korea
• U.S.-China Cybersecurity Group Explores Mutual Interests, Goals

Global Relations and Security

• Elbe Group Provides Blueprint for Improved U.S.-Russia Relations
• Center Expands Focus on Economic Diplomacy and Its Global Impacts
• International Council Members Join in Lively Discussions of Critical Global Issues

Featured Conferences

• Inaugural Summit Grapples with Changes in Korean Security Landscape
• Ethical and Moral Issues in the Intelligence Community
• Scholars Examine Current Choices and Challenges Through the Lens of History
• Women in Power Conference

Featured Members of the Center

• Staff Spotlight: Amanda Sardonis
• Q&A with Karen Elliott House
• Spotlight on Rolf Mowatt-Larssen
• Katlyn Turner: Spotlighting Nuclear Waste and Emerging Technologies
• Anina Schwarzenbach: Linking Discrimination, State Institutions & Violent Extremism
• Farewell to: Jean Woodward

Additional Features

• From the Director
• Hot Off the Presses
• News and Impact
• International Security Journal Highlights
• Congratulations to Belfer Center Members

Photo Gallery

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Digital Edition