For the Press

At its plenary meeting from June 23 and 24 in the Netherlands the NSG adopted by consensus important new guidelines that strengthen controls over the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing facilities, equipment and technology.  The NSG decision is consistent with the recommendations of a recent report by the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School has announced the 2011–2012 Stanton Nuclear Security Fellows. Robert L. Brown, James Platte, and Wilfred Wan have been selected to spend a year in residence at the Belfer Center where they will conduct research under the auspices of the Center's International Security Program and Project on Managing the Atom. Supported by a generous gift from the Stanton Foundation, the fellowships begin in September 2011.

Researchers from the United States and Russia today issued a joint assessment of the global threat of nuclear terrorism, warning of a persistent danger that terrorists could obtain or make a nuclear device and use it with catastrophic consequences. The first joint threat assessment by experts from the world’s two major nuclear powers concludes: “If current approaches toward eliminating the threat are not replaced with a sense of urgency and resolve, the question will become not if but when, and on what scale, the first act of nuclear terrorism occurs.”

The Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, located at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, is pleased to announce the Spring 2011 Fisher Family Fellows. The 2011 Fellows include the former Brazilian Minister of External Relations, Celso Amorim; the former UN Special Representative to Afghanistan, Kai Eide; and renowned Washington Post columnist, David Ignatius. All three fellows will be delivering public addresses and working closely with Harvard Kennedy School degree students in Cambridge.

CAMBRIDGE, MA— The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University announced today that the 2011 Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership will be given to Refrigerants, Naturally!, an alliance of corporations substituting environmentally-harmful fluorinated gases ("F-gases", such as CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs) with natural refrigerants in their commercial refrigeration installations. Natural refrigerants are climate and ozone friendly gases that exist naturally in the biosphere, i.e. ammonia, carbon dioxide, and hydrocarbons.

Dubai-UAE - The European Union is trying to diversify its sources of energy imports and reduce reliance on Russian natural gas. Accordingly, it has started to reach out to Gulf countries for a secure source of this natural resource. In order to assess whether broadening the strategic relationship between the EU and the GCC is to the benefit of both sides, Europe's energy security challenges first need to be examined, according to Justin Dargin, Research Fellow at The Dubai Initiative and Fulbright Scholar of the Middle East.

On Thursday, March 10th, 2011, Congressman Peter King (R-NY) will begin Congressional Hearings questioning the role of mosques and religiosity in radicalizing the Muslim population of the United States. A large scale national survey of the Muslim American population finds that involvement with the mosque, and increased religiosity increases civic engagement and support for American democratic values. The study, the Muslim American Public Opinion Survey (MAPOS) was completed in 2008, and interviewed 1,410 Muslim American respondents across the nation on issues of religion, civic engagement and public policy in the United States, and is currently being sponsored by a research grant from the Social Science Research Council. The study was lead by principal investigators Dr. Karam Dana and Dr. Matt A. Barreto.

In Joseph S. Nye's THE FUTURE OF POWER, he offers a rigorous analysis of the international fault lines of the twenty-first century, discussing issues such as nuclear proliferation, radical Islam, and the return of Asia. He shows how U.S. power and influence can best be deployed to help resolve critical global issues.

The Future of Diplomacy Project, the newest research initiative to be launched by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, announces its resident and non-resident research fellows for Fall 2010. "Our research fellows bring a blend of practical and academic expertise in diplomacy to the Harvard community, which is instrumental to the critical examination of international conflict resolution mechanisms today," said Future of Diplomacy Project Director Nicholas Burns.

The Harvard Kennedy School and Brandeis University will inaugurate the new Crown-Belfer Middle East Seminar series on September 29, featuring Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.