Nuclear Issues

The Belfer Center's Graham Allison, Nicholas Burns, Ashraf Hegazy, Joseph S. Nye, and Stephen Walt consider the U.S.'s shifting foreign policy in the Middle East.

"I summarized my own takeaway from the Iran simulation in a poor-man's version of Yogi Berra: if the river is pushing your raft to where you don't want to go, if you just hang on, you'll get there. My second: if you don't want to go where the river is pushing your raft, you better get off."

"In July, 2009, President Obama announced the first Global Nuclear Summit to 'develop steps that can be taken together to secure vulnerable materials, combat nuclear smuggling and deter, detect, and disrupt attempts at nuclear terrorism.' ... Because the goals and objectives of the summit mirror a long-time focus and effort of the Belfer Center, it is not surprising that a number of current and former Center experts are involved in various aspects of summit planning and nuclear terrorism prevention efforts."

Two groups focusing on nuclear weapons, both chaired by James Schlesinger – former secretary of energy, defense, and central intelligence and head of the Belfer Center International Council – recently released reports detailing the threats facing and challenges of the United States’ nuclear stockpile and policy.

Kurt Campbell and Michèle Flournoy, both alums of the Belfer Center, founded The Center for a New American Strategy in February 2007. The organization has grown into an intellectual, nonpartisan national think tank focusing on national security and defense.

Iran has quickly risen to the top of the United States' foreign policy agenda. The reason is simple, according to Belfer Center director Graham Allison: "Two words: Nuclear weapons." On top of that, the Bush administration accuses Iran of undermining U.S. attempts to bring peace to Iraq.

International Security is America's leading journal of security affairs. It provides sophisticated analyses of contemporary security issues and discusses their conceptual and historical foundations. The journal is edited at the Belfer Center and published quarterly by the MIT Press. Questions may be directed to: IS@harvard.edu