Science, Technology, and Public Policy

Russia’s preparation for malicious cyber activities began long before the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In fact, one could argue that preparations and operations have been executing for more than a decade. 

Please join the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program for an AI Cyber Lunch Seminar featuring Melissa Hathaway, President of Hathaway Global Strategies and former Senior Advisor to the Belfer Center's Cyber Project. In a talk entitled "Malicious Cyber Activities: Russia-Ukraine and the Surrounding Territories," Hathaway will discuss how Russia has honed its precision operations through a sophisticated execution and conquer of targets and access.

Q&A to follow. Buffet-style lunch will be served.

Registration: In-person attendance is limited to current Harvard ID holders. No RSVP is required. Room capacity is limited and seating will be on a first come, first served basis.

Members of the public are welcome to attend virtually via Zoom. Virtual attendees should register using the button below; upon registering, attendees will receive a confirmation email with a Zoom link. 

Recording: Please be advised that this seminar will not be recorded.

Accessibility: Persons with disabilities who wish to request accommodations or who have questions about access, please contact Liz Hanlon (ehanlon@hks.harvard.edu) in advance of the session.

Join the Arctic Initiative team for Arctic Climate Week at the Harvard Kennedy School! The week will feature events dedicated to understanding the climate impacts in the Arctic and their global implications. Register for Arctic Climate week events here. 

Join the Arctic Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center and the Polar Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center for an engaging Earth Day dialogue with Iceland's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gudlaugur Thór Thórdarson, about  Iceland’s Chairmanship of the Arctic Council on what is next. 

Speaker: Julius Weitzdörfer, Junior Professor of East Asian Law, Hagen University, Germany

Risks stemming from CBRN-terrorism (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear) are characterized by relatively low frequency, yet extraordinary potential impact. To help reduce the enormous potential costs associated with radiological and nuclear terrorism, drawing on cases from Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, this seminar seeks to derive and improve recovery policies towards a well-rounded, holistic approach to mitigating the risks of nuclear and radiological terrorism.

Everyone is welcome to join us online via Zoom! Register in advance for this meeting: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAoc-yhrjwrEtEXOUTdHqGhMvLscB5VO38u

The Arctic Innovation Lab is a project designed to promote solution-oriented discussions on the changing Arctic region. 

Come hear new ideas for a better Arctic and vote for your favorite one!

Opening remarks by Kenneth A. Howery, U.S. Ambassador to Sweden and Co-Founder of Paypal and the Founders Fund

A Climate Week Event co-organized by the Woodwell Climate Research Center and the Arctic Initiative

This session focuses on a warming-driven phenomenon—the rapid thawing of Arctic permafrost—that is contributing simultaneously to the most vexing of Arctic warming’s impacts both in the region and around the world. This session will target experts and non-experts who are interested in understanding the science and policy issues at the heart of this widely underestimated facet of the global climate-change challenge.

Register here.

Speakers: Giles David Arceneaux, Postdoctoral Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

Kyungwon Suh, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Political Science, Syracuse University

The deterrent capacity of a state's nuclear forces is dependent upon the platforms and delivery systems that constitute the arsenal. The mere possession of nuclear weapons does not provide a robust deterrent and nuclear states cannot credibly deter potential adversaries with nuclear threats in the absence of adequate delivery capabilities. The project presents a new dataset that measures the possession of seven nuclear delivery platforms across all nuclear powers from 1945–2019, including: submarine-launched missiles, strategic land-mobile missiles, strategic solid-fuel missiles, nuclear cruise missiles, multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, long-range ballistic missiles, and tactical nuclear weapons.

Everyone is welcome to join us online via Zoom! Please register in advance for this seminar: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcsf-6uqTwoHdZZJ3qqoP1Ohy78rsXBc5en

Each year the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative sends a delegation of students to attend the world’s largest Arctic gathering, the Arctic Circle Assembly. This year, after a competitive application process, four students were selected to represent Harvard at the Arctic Innovation Lab. Come and hear their presentations before they leave for Iceland to pitch their ideas for a changing Arctic. 

Lunch will be provided.

Please RSVP to brittany_janis@hks.harvard.edu by October 2 to secure your seat.

Speaker: Sébastien Philippe, Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

Most successful nuclear weapons programs have benefited from significant foreign assistance for the acquisition of nuclear materials, sensitive equipment, and know-how. Such assistance is often kept secret, even after states decide to put an end to their nuclear weapons programs or ambitions. This seminar will discuss the policy and verification implications of this source of opacity on the reconstruction of past nuclear military activities as part of non-proliferation or denuclearization agreements.  It will build upon an historical and technical analysis of nuclear assistance between France, Israel, and South Africa and conclude by discussing the impact of discovering previously hidden information on existing policies and ongoing diplomatic processes.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

Speaker:  Cameron Tracy, Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

States often spend vast sums on weapon production, yet have trouble mustering the resources necessary to eliminate stockpiled weapons for arms control and disarmament purposes. Stockpile reductions have proven particularly challenging with respect to weapons of mass destruction, for which weaponizability is embedded in materials rather than assembled devices. Their elimination commonly requires expensive, technologically demanding processes. U.S. chemical weapon and weapons plutonium stockpile reduction efforts provide useful case studies for investigation of the factors governing the success of reductions programs, as they faced similar challenges yet yielded divergent outcomes. This project involves comparative analysis of both reductions programs, focusing on the technical, organizational, and sociopolitical contexts that aided or hindered elimination.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.