*In-person registration closed*

This year, the Central Intelligence Agency celebrates its 75th birthday. From the early days of the cold war and through the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, fall of the Soviet Union, 9/11 and the War on Terror, and the surging threats of the 21st century, the CIA has been at the center of US foreign policy and national security decision making. Stunning operational and analytic success has been interwoven with consequential failures and scandal.

On Friday, September 16, please join an illustrious group of intelligence authors, scholars, and retired high-ranking practitioners to discuss the past 75 years of the agency, including both well-known and little-known aspects of the agency's evolution and its current activities to further the nation's national security. The conference program and speaker bios are below.

This full-day conference, hosted by the Belfer Center's Intelligence Project, will take place at the Charles Hotel.

All participants are welcome to attend via Zoom. In-person registration is now closed. Registration is open to the public and is required. Please register via https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ncjpkgdrTpi10jxWSUadRg.

With departure of the last U.S. C-17 from Kabul on August 30th, 2021, the United States closed out the longest war in its history with a conclusion that was frustrating for all, and bitter for many. After winning battle after battle in the field, the United States lost the political struggle, no longer willing to bear the costs of fighting for goals that once seemed attainable, but were always out of reach.

Questions on what our Afghanistan withdrawal means are being asked and examined around the world. Will the Taliban in 2021 govern differently that 1996? Will new terrorist threats arise in South Asia? Will global al Qaida and ISIS be reinvigorated? Will America’s withdrawal prove to be a strategic pivot which will strengthen America’s ability to face more central challenges, or will it reflect America’s Suez moment? 

To consider these questions and others, please join the Belfer Center’s Intelligence Project in a special Zoom Webinar which will feature Intelligence Project Fellows and staff offering their views and perspective based on decades of dealing with intelligence operations and analysis in Afghanistan.

 Please register via Zoom Webinar link below.

Climate Change, Intelligence, and Global Security is a half-day conference co-sponsored by the Intelligence Project and the Environment and Natural Resources Program at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs along with the Center for Climate and Security. 

Headlined by John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, the conference will directly follow the April 22/23 Earth Day Leaders Climate Summit, and will emphasize the critical need for international cooperation and global leadership to collectively address the security threats posed by the climate crisis. We will convene senior climate experts, current and former intelligence officers, and leaders in the private sector and academia to facilitate productive dialogue and innovative solutions for combating the climate crisis. The four panels will examine climate change from a security perspective, discuss the role of the intelligence community in monitoring and mitigating the threats posed by climate change, explore new ways of thinking about international intelligence cooperation, and examine the role and contributions of the private sector.

This conference is virtual, open to the public, and free to attend.  Advanced registration is required. Please register individually for each session. 

The Intelligence Project will host a webinar with Belfer Center Senior Fellows Rolf Mowatt-Larssen and David Ignatius, on Wednesday May 20th from 11:15am-12:30pm. 

This session will be off-the-record. Priority registration will be given to Harvard students, staff, faculty, fellows, and affiliates. Please register below for access to the zoom link.

The Intelligence Project will host a seminar with Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, Former Director of Intelligence and Counterintelligence at the Department of Energy, from 12:00pm-1:30pm in the Belfer Center Library. Intelligence Project Director Paul Kolbe will moderate.  

Lunch will be provided on a first come, first served basis. Please RSVP below.

The Intelligence Project will host a lunch with Norman Roule, former National Intelligence Manager for Iran, from 12:00-1:15pm in One Brattle 350.

Lunch will be provided on a first come, first served basis. Please RSVP below.

The Intelligence Project will host a lunch with Bernard Hudson, Former Chief of Counterterrorism for the CIA, from 12:00-1:15pm in One Brattle 350. Paul Kolbe will moderate.

Lunch will be provided on a first come, first served basis. Please RSVP below.

The Intelligence Project will host the Fall Semester kick-off seminar from 12:00-1:30pm in the Allison Dining Room. Lunch will be provided on a first come, first served basis. Panelists will include:

The Honorable Mike Rogers, Former Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, Former Department of Energy Director of Intelligence & Counterintelligence; Former CIA Division Chief; Former CIA Chief of Station

BG (Ret) Kevin Ryan, Former Defense Attache to Russia; Founder, US-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism; Founder, Elbe Group

Kristin Wood, Former Deputy Director, Innovation & Technology Group, Open Source Center, CIA

Bernard Hudson, Former Chief of Counterterrorism for the CIA 

Norman Roule, Former National Intelligence Manager for Iran

Moderated by the new Intelligence Project Director:

Paul Kolbe, Former CIA Division Chief; Former CIA Chief of Station

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED. The Ethics of Intelligence is a full day conference hosted by the Intelligence Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. 

The conference will consist of four panels, a working lunch, and a reception. The morning sessions will focus on the purpose, role, and constraints of intelligence as a lever of statecraft while the afternoon sessions with address the moral and ethical questions raised by the means of intelligence. 

The conference is open to all and free to attend. However, advanced registration is required.

Location: The Wadsworth Room, Charles Hotel, 1 Bennett St, Cambridge MA

The Intelligence Project will host a lunch with James C. Lawler, Former CIA Senior Intelligence Case Officer, from 12:00-1:15pm in the One Brattle 350 conference room. Rolf  Mowatt-Larssen will moderate. 

Lunch will be provided on a first come, first served basis. Please RSVP.