Nuclear Issues

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s most recent announcement on Iran policy has raised some eyebrows. He indicated on Monday morning that the Trump administration will not renew waivers to importers of Iranian crude and that other suppliers (meaning Saudi Arabia) have agreed to increase production in to ensure the global oil market remains well-supplied. Skeptics question whether — after last summer’s debacle — there is sufficient trust between Washington and Riyadh for this arrangement to work. What skeptics may not have digested is that, while timing remains a problem, this is a classic win-win situation. It is a near-perfect example of the very limited universe of occasions when transactional diplomacy could actually work.

In the wake to the highly anticipated encounter between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, the Center for International Security and Governance hosted a lecture and panel discussion with Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, Executive Director of the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School, on June 14^th 2018. Dr. Enrico Fels, who was also scheduled to participate in the panel discussion, regrettably had to cancel his participation last minute due to personal reasons.

Observing the US' global role under President Donald Trump, one is inclined to describe being in this era as "present at the destruction."

Nicholas Burns' interview op-ed with NowThis news: Trump is only making Iran stronger.

As a centuries-old state approach to affect the behavior of other states, sanctions have been and are likely to remain controversial for basically two reasons: They often do not have the desired effect on government behavior or they can badly hurt civilians. But as an alternative to the devastation of modern warfare, let alone the horrors of nuclear war, sanctions have a well deserved place in the tool box of diplomacy.

Amb. Nicholas Burns on North Korea's Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in meeting today

Former American Diplomat and Professor at JFK School of Government at Harvard University, Nicholas Burns gives his insight on the relationship between North and South Korea following the historical summit of the two nations.

Each year, the Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School welcomes new pre- and post-doctoral fellows and visiting researchers to a select team of scholars exploring the critical role that science and technology play in everyday life.