International Security

Juliette Kayyem asks: What would happen if a major piece of our infrastructure disappeared in the dark? How do we respond to what could be a lengthy disruption to a lifeline of the region's maritime and transportation networks?

Europe after the Russo-Ukrainian War must develop a new security structure to defend against any Russian aggression. The safest option is a non-offensive, confidence-building defense. This option includes proposals such as the “spider in the web” strategy and the “porcupine” strategy to provide for European security in a region threatened by Russian expansion—without relying on the threat of nuclear war. 

Emergency-management agencies in the United States and other Western powers have far-reaching capabilities to save lives. But their abilities are not magical. Fundamentally, people need to be partners in their own safety, advises Juliette Kayyem.

Juliette Kayyem argues that although the emergency social-safety provisions helped those most in need, the use of Title 42 was a brutal and unforgiving policy that essentially ended asylum in the United States.

Juliette Kayyem writes the Boston Marathon's most enduring legacy is the democratization of "stop the bleed," which—like the Heimlich maneuver and CPR before it—gives regular people the ability to save lives with a modest amount of training. We can and should be outraged that so many civilians face the kinds of injuries—whether from IEDs or, more often, from mass shooters—that produce sudden blood loss. But being prepared for such events is better than the alternative.

Juliette Kayyem analyzes the social-media platform's crisis that has become a real-world crisis

With rational decision-making, the likelihood of strategic nuclear exchange should be zero. But emotions can create uncertainty, contradicting the expectations of the rational cost-benefit assumptions undergirding deterrence theory.

North America has survived a tumultuous three decades since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. What characterizes our shared region today? What sort of region can advance our shared interests and well-being over the next generation? This volume from the Wilson Center and Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center offers an agenda for how the region’s leaders can forge inclusive and effective strategies that ensure North America’s next decades build upon past successes—while addressing serious shortcomings.

The authors argue that emergencies and disasters know no borders, and responses demand cooperation. Highlighting examples of successful cooperation— as well as a few notable failures—they call for a comprehensive North American Emergency Management Compact to address growing challenges that result from a changing climate and interwoven connections.

Juliette Kayyem writes that to treat the crisis phase of the pandemic as complete is not the same as declaring that the country's battle against COVID is over or that many Americans' unmet needs are irrelevant. It is to say that many of the persistent systemic problems revealed by the coronavirus can be addressed, if elected representatives choose, without requiring a declared emergency as a pretext for action.