60 Items

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center Newsletter

Evaluating the Nuclear Posture Review

In February, the Pentagon released a new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), a comprehensive overview of the nation’s nuclear forces, their disposition, and plans for the future. Here, Belfer Center experts share their assessments of this NPR and the future of America’s nuclear capabilities.

Audio - National Review Online

For the Defense: Ash Carter

| Dec. 07, 2017

Ash Carter is a physicist and a defense-policy expert, having served in government periodically for decades. He was secretary of defense from 2015 to 2017. He has spent his academic career at Harvard, where he is today. In this “Q&A,” Jay Nordlinger asks him about some of the biggest issues: nuclear proliferation, North Korea, Iran, the size of the U.S. military. He also asks about the relation between our servicemen and the general American population. Is there too great a gulf between them? Do people sentimentalize our military? Is it okay to say “Thank you for your service”?

Defense Secretary Ash Carter speaks with members of the media after delivering remarks at the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex at Moffett Field, Calif., Aug. 28, 2015.

(DoD Photo)

Analysis & Opinions - USA Today

Iran Deal Features Defense Backstop

| September 4, 2015

Nineteen years ago, I was in Ukraine when the last nuclear warheads, orphaned during the Soviet Union’s breakup, rolled out of the country. As an assistant secretary of Defense at the time, I had worked with Washington colleagues and foreign counterparts to eliminate those nuclear weapons and thus one danger at the dawn of the post-Cold War world. Together — with bipartisan support in Congress led by Sens. Sam Nunn, a Democrat, and Richard Lugar, a Republican — we succeeded.

Today, the Iran deal provides the opportunity to address an even greater nuclear threat. Congress should support it because, once implemented, the deal will remove a critical source of risk and uncertainty in a vitally important but tumultuous region.

This image provided by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency shows a Standard Missile - 3 (SM-3) being launched from the Japanese destroyer JS Myoko during a joint missile defense intercept test.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - The Wall Street Journal

The Way Forward on Missile Defense

| June 17, 2010

"Iran's continued pursuit of an illicit nuclear program and North Korea's rash intimidation after sinking a South Korean navy ship are but the most recent reminders of the real need for effective U.S. missile defenses," write Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Ashton Carter.

Press Release

Harvard Kennedy School’s Ashton Carter Nominated as Pentagon’s Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics

| February 26, 2009

President Barack Obama announced Monday that he has nominated Dr. Ashton B. Carter to serve as Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.