31 Items

Ukrainian soldiers help a fleeing family to cross the Irpin river in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

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

The War in Ukraine: Insights From Multiple Fronts

| Spring 2022

Russia’s brutal invasion of a sovereign democratic country in February shocked the world. Moscow’s forces have targeted civilians across Ukraine, while Vladimir Putin has repeatedly threatened to unleash weapons of mass destruction. 

The Belfer Center is not a passive observer of this war. Our community of diplomats, national security analysts, intelligence officials, and generals, along with nuclear, energy, and cyber experts have been working non-stop to advance policy-relevant insights. 

President Joe Biden meets virtually with Chinese President Xi Jinping from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 15, 2021.

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

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

The U.S.-China Future: Competition and Collaboration With a Rising China

| Fall 2021

Whether they regard it as competitive, cooperative, or confrontational, virtually all observers agree that the U.S.-China relationship is consequential. From cyber norms and AI to military tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the global struggle to turn the tide on climate change, how Washington and Beijing manage their shared future will shape the globe for decades to come. Through research and relationship-building, the Center is dedicated to helping the U.S. and China collaborate and compete without conflict.

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

Staff Spotlight: Lovita Strain

| Fall 2021

When newcomers arrive to the Belfer Center, their onboarding goes beyond the traditional array of HR forms. Financial Associate Lovita Strain makes it a point to personally tell new staff, “Welcome to the family.” For Lovita, it’s less of a tradition than a heartfelt conviction. 

We are pleased in this issue to highlight our colleague and friend, Lovita Strain.

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

Staff Spotlight: Simone O'Hanlon

| Spring 2021

Simone O’Hanlon is Executive Assistant to Graham Allison, the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard Kennedy School and former Director of the Belfer Center. For 15 years, she has managed to keep one of Harvard's most active administrators and professors on schedule and organized. We asked her to share thoughts on her important work at the Center.

D3P Helps Safeguard 2020 Elections

| Fall 2020

A number of factors in the fall of 2020 made it easier for agents of disinformation to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election process and results—before, during, and after election day. Working to thwart them, however, was an army of well-trained election officials. Much of their training was carried out by the Belfer Center’s Defending Digital Democracy Project (D3P). 

Staff Spotlight: Erika Manouselis

| Fall 2020

A common element in Erika Manouselis’s life is bridges. At the United Nations, she helped Brazil’s Mission strengthen its relationships across distance and difference. At a law firm afterward, she helped immigrants reconnect with loved ones. As the Project Coordinator for the Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project and Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship, she works to connect policymakers, practitioners, and scholars with students from around the world. And most every day (in the current remote work era) Erika walks across some of the most iconic bridges in Manhattan. It’s a fitting pastime for someone who’s passionate about foreign policy and bringing people together.

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Staff Spotlight: Julia Martin

| Spring 2020

To say that the Middle East Initiative (MEI) has shaped Julia Martin’s life would be an understatement. When she was a graduate student at Harvard Divinity School, Julia invited a friend to join her for an MEI film screening of The Band’s Visit. Amr accepted. Before long, they became husband and wife, and they are now raising three children together. 

Today, Julia serves as MEI’s Assistant Director, managing its programs, budgets, and strategic planning.

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Spotlight: Tarek Masoud

| Spring 2020

Our Spotlight in this newsletter is on Prof. Tarek Masoud, Faculty Chair of the Middle East Initiative (MEI).  In talking about MEI, Masoud says the Initiative is one of the most important ways in which HKS and Harvard engages with the contemporary Middle East. “It’s a bridge," he says. "My goal to make it into a superhighway.”

 

 

 

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

Spotlight: Fran Ulmer

| Fall/Winter 2019-2020

Fran Ulmer is a Senior Fellow with the Belfer Center’s Arctic Initiative. She also is Chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and Global Board Chair of The Nature Conservancy. She has served in Alaska as Mayor of Juneau, State Representative, and Lieutenant Governor– the first woman elected to statewide office in the state. She also was Chancellor of the University of Alaska.

1994—Moscow’s Spaso House: Rolf Mowatt-Larssen (back center), then a declared CIA Representative to Russian Intelligence Services in Moscow, stands behind Yevgeniy Primakov, Director of the Russian External Intelligence Services (SVRR), with President Bill Clinton and a senior Russian Orthodox Church official at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence.

U.S. Embassy/Moscow

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Spotlight: Rolf Mowatt-Larssen

| Summer 2019

Rolf Mowatt-Larssen is departing as Director of the Belfer Center’s Intelligence Project. In that capacity, he has run the Recanati-Kaplan Foundation Fellowship, which educates rising thought leaders in national and international intelligence. He previously served for a quarter century in intelligence, both in the CIA, where he became station chief in Moscow, and the U.S. Department of Energy, where he was Director of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. After 9/11, he led Washington’s efforts to determine whether al Qaeda had WMD capabilities and to prevent a nuclear terrorist attack.