Michèle Flournoy to Join Belfer Center as a Senior Fellow

Cambridge, Mass.  -  Michèle Flournoy has rejoined Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs as a Senior Fellow after stepping down from her position as U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

Flournoy left the Pentagon in February after serving for three years as the highest-ranking woman in the history of the Department of Defense.  In that role she was the principal adviser to the secretary of defense in formulating national security and defense policy.

In 2007, Flournoy co-founded the Center for a New American Security, a non-partisan Washington-based research center that develops pragmatic approaches to security policy issues. She served as CNAS president until she moved to the Pentagon. Last month Flournoy was appointed to the CNAS Board of Directors.

Before establishing CNAS, Flournoy was a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and was a distinguished research professor at the National Defense University.

Flournoy received her undergraduate degree from Harvard and a masters’ degree in international relations from Balliol College at Oxford University, where she was a Newton-Tatum Scholar.

From 1989-93, Flournoy was a Research Fellow in the Belfer Center’s International Security Program, focusing on nuclear proliferation and defense policy issues.

As a non-resident Senior Fellow, Flournoy will visit the Kennedy School several times a semester, working with faculty, fellows and students on international security policy matters. 

“We are delighted that Michèle is coming home to Harvard to share with us her deep understanding of the Pentagon’s policy-making process at a critical time when the United States is rethinking its approach to national defense and is facing extraordinary budget challenges,” said Graham Allison, director of the Belfer Center.

Flournoy’s prior Pentagon experience included stints during the Clinton Administration as principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction, and deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy. She is also a member of the Defense Policy Board, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group.

For more information contact:

James Smith, communications director, Belfer Center:  James_smith@hks.harvard.edu, direct 617-495-7831, cell 617-750-5584

Or:

Sharon Wilke, associate director of communications, Belfer Center: Sharon_wilke@hks.harvard.edu, direct 617-495-9858, cell 781-799-2866