Two years ago, Venkatesh (Venky) Narayanamurti and  Laura Diaz Anadon, director and associate director of the Belfer Center’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy program, set the stage for the Center’s energy research team to zero in on the challenges facing energy and the natural resource essential to it in many countries around the world—water. This article reviews some of their work to date.

Fifty years ago this October, as the Cuban Missile Crisis intensified, the world stood   on the brink of a nuclear war. During 13 terrifying days in October 1962, people around the globe watched as President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Khrushchev searched for a way to move their countries—and the world—away from the nuclear cliff.

The Belfer Center commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October by encouraging fresh thinking on lessons learned from that dangerous confrontation—and how those lessons can be applied to crises encountered today.

Harvard Kennedy School students convened at the Kennedy School on October 27 to simulate a meeting of the National Security Council to resolve a modern-day crisis. The simulation, developed entirely by a team of HKS students, coordinated by HKS student Leon Ratz, was co-sponsored by the Belfer Center and the Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership. The event was timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

As visitors step through the doors of the Kennedy Memorial Library for events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, they will find on display Picasso's 1963 Rape of the Sabine Women - on loan from Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. The connection between Picasso's painting and what is widely accepted as the most dangerous moment in human history was brought to light for many by Malcolm Wiener, a member of the Belfer Center’s International Council and the person for whom Harvard Kennedy School’s Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy was named.

The Summer 2012 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This edition highlights Belfer Center involvement with the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit and other activities to help shape debate on national and global security. We also spotlight Henry Kissinger’s return to Harvard and his remarks about power and politics, James Baker’s acceptance of the 2012 Great Negotiator Award, and Graham Allison’s cover story in TIME magazine describing decisions behind the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. And more....

Several times each week, the Belfer Center library is filled with students, faculty, and fellows eager to listen, challenge, and exchange information and ideas triggered by the day’s presentation. Many of these talks are by one of the Center’s more than 70 research and senior fellows. This article features a few of the talented women and men who are current and former faculty, fellows, staff and associates of the Belfer Center whose work is making significant contributions in public and private sectors around the world.

The Spring 2012 Issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This edition highlights Belfer Center founder Paul Doty, who died in December at age 91. His many contributions include founding the journal International Security, discussed in the Spotlight section of the newsletter.

Dozens of members of the Belfer Center community are currently serving or have until recently served in positions within the United States government. The group's experience and expertise span many of the international challenges confronting the nation today.

The Winter 2011-2012 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features news, analysis and insight by Belfer Center scholars on issues that include increasingly important info-tech policy challenges and the first U.S.-Russian joint threat assessment on nuclear terrorism. The Center’s deepening impact on defense policy is highlighted with an article about the recent appointments of Ashton B. Carter and Eric Rosenbach to senior Pentagon posts and a Q&A with Carter, the new deputy secretary of defense. Additional articles focus on issues ranging from the Palestinian bid for statehood to Calestous Juma’s role in Lagos’ launch of the first innovation advisory council in Africa.

The U.S. Senate on Friday unanimously confirmed Ashton B. Carter as Deputy Secretary of Defense, the second highest-ranking official in the Department of Defense.  Carter, who has served as Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics since 2009, is on leave from the Belfer Center’s board of directors. He was co-director of the Center’s Preventive Defense Project until leaving for government in 2009 and served as the director of the Center from 1990-93.