Our colleague and friend Ash Carter left us one year ago this week. As we reflect on all he brought to our lives and our nation, and face the challenge Hamas’ vicious terrorist attack that killed 1400 innocent Israelis, it is instructive to consider what the architect of President Obama’s strategy to defeat ISIS might say if asked how Israel should respond. Netanyahu has declared that “Hamas is ISIS, and we will defeat it just like the enlightened world defeated ISIS.” While noting important differences between ISIS and Hamas, I suspect he would have taken this invitation to restate lessons learned from our own campaign against ISIS.

Ambassador George Krol (ret.) recounts Ash Carter's unique qualities and the seminal role he played in developing U.S. policy toward the newly independent republics of the former Soviet Union in the mid-1990's.  "He left a lasting impression on all of us," Amb. Kool writes, "including, I contend, in many of the republics of the former USSR."

I never thanked him. But I know I will never again miss the opportunity to thank my heroes.

This essay takes an engineering approach to ensuring that the deployment of artificial intelligence does not confound ethical principles, even in sensitive applications like national security. There are design techniques in all three parts of the AI architecture–algorithms, data sets, and applications–that can be used to incorporate important moral considerations. The newness and complexity of AI cannot therefore serve as an excuse for immoral outcomes of deployment by companies or governments.

In the 90s, Ukraine made the decision to dismantle the thousands of former Soviet nuclear weapons left on its territory. Nearly 3 decades later, Russia has invaded Ukraine using its own nuclear arsenal to bully other nations from interceding. In this special episode of AT THE BRINK, we explore whether Ukrainian denuclearization was a fateful mistake and if a nuclear Ukraine could have prevented the Russian invasion.

In a Washington Post op-ed on 9/8/2021, six former Secretaries of Defense, including Ash Carter - now Director of the Belfer Center - urge Congress and President Biden to support legislation that would authorize construction of a National Global War on Terrorism Memorial.

Ashton Carter, Dick Cheney, William Cohen, Mark Esper, Robert Gates, Chuck Hagel, James Mattis, Leon Panetta, William Perry and Donald Rumsfeld are the 10 living former U.S. secretaries of defense.

To the engineers, coders, geneticists, and others on the front lines of innovation who may be considering public service, I want to make the case for a type of service you may not have previously considered: offering policy advice on science and technology issues to the United States Congress.

While some technologies are tearing us apart, the Tech Spotlight finalists, selected from over 200 submissions worldwide, are helping shape a better future.

Belfer Center Director Ash Carter on CNBC's Squawk Box talking about regulations and big tech.