Experts Offer Training, Mentorship to New Members of Congress

In early December, several of the Belfer Center faculty and senior staff took part in the Institute of Politics’ annual Bipartisan Program for Newly Elected Members of Congress. In collaboration with the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Congressional Institute, the program brought together more than 60 new members for three days of briefings and discussions with Harvard and other experts about issues important to policymakers.

Belfer Center Director and former Secretary of Defense (DoD) Ash Carter spoke about “Technology and Public Purpose: Emerging Technologies and Public Good,” while Juliette Kayyem, Director of the Center’s Homeland Security Project and former Assistant Secretary of Intergovernmental Affairs with the Department of Homeland Security, and Robert Stavins, Director of the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, participated in a panel on “Managing Catastrophes and Disaster Relief: Congress’ Role.” 

In a session on “America vs. Hackers: Preventing and Responding to Cyber and Information Attacks,” Center Co-Director Eric Rosenbach, who heads the Center’s Defending Digital Democracy Project (D3P) and was previously DoD’s “Cyber Czar,” joined D3P Senior Fellow and former Presidential Campaign Manager Robby Mook in discussing efforts to increase election security. Former UN Ambassador Samantha Power, the Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy, and Stephen Walt, the Robert and Renée Professor of International Affairs, engaged with members in a lively discussion of “America’s Role in the World,” while Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy Jason Furman, former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, focused in his panel on “Continuing Economic Growth: Policies, Challenges, and Politics.”