First 100 Days: Mapping Policy Priorities for the Biden Administration

Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; former Assistant Secretary of Defense

Reunite a divided nation

As President-elect Biden said in his first public statement after being declared the victor in the most vicious presidential campaign in living memory: “I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but to unify. Who doesn’t see red and blue states, but a United States….Let us be the nation that we know we can be. A nation united. A nation strengthened. A nation healed.” He recognizes that his paramount challenge will be to reunite a deeply splintered nation.

Abraham Lincoln captured a profound truth when he declared: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” What Americans do now to renew the ties that bind us together and restore citizens’ confidence in our nation’s democracy will have a greater impact on our future than anything we do abroad.

So my advice is simply to applaud his recognition that the home front comes first. And my expectation is that if he leads a serious campaign that wins the war against coronavirus, and revitalizes the American economy by rebuilding the middle class, he will bring all Americans together in gratitude and pride in being citizens of this amazing country.

Margaret Bourdeaux, Security and Global Health Project Fellow; Physician, Global Health Policy Analyst

Establish a COVID Health Intelligence Center 

The most critical step the Biden administration needs to take with respect to controlling the COVID crisis is to rapidly establish a robust cross-agency COVID Health Intelligence Center.  

Currently, states are at sea when it comes to rapidly gathering and analyzing data regarding the effectiveness of their various COVID public health responses. While we know the general elements of an effective public health response—environmental modifications like improved indoor ventilation, promotion of behavior changes like social distancing and mask wearing, and contact tracing including supporting people asked to quarantine or isolate—without an organized, rapid, and cross-sector approach to assessment and implementation, we cannot refine these strategies to make them more effective, nor decrease the burden placed on the public in implementing them.  It’s like shooting at an enemy while blindfolded: we can aim in the general direction, but we can’t see what or who we are hitting. 

A federal cross-agency COVID Health Intelligence Center should focus on 1) standardizing data collection and analysis of public health approaches across states 2) rapidly conducting studies of the effectiveness of different public health strategies and 3) translating analysis into implementable guidance.

Matthew Bunn, Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom; James R. Schlesinger Professor of the Practice of Energy, National Security, and Foreign Policy 

Act quickly to reduce nuclear dangers

President-elect Biden will face a broad array of troubling nuclear dangers, from a growing chance of nuclear conflict to the ongoing risk of nuclear or biological terrorism. He will have to move quickly to extend the expiring New START treaty. He will have to act to rebuild restraints on Iran’s nuclear program, address its regional behavior, and build a less conflict-prone relationship. He needs to find ways to reduce the dangers posed by North Korea’s nuclear forces.  More broadly, he needs to act to strengthen the global nuclear order and reassert a U.S. role more focused on common security rather than an “America alone” approach.

Ash Carter, Belfer Center Director; former Secretary of Defense

Restore order and discipline to policymaking

The new administration’s highest priority, sad to say, is simply to restore good order and discipline to policymaking. Our heft in the world has shrunk because a critical ingredient of useful, lasting power is consistency. The strength of execution will also burgeon as the morale and initiative of public servants, military and civilian, is boosted.

Maria Barsallo Lynch, Defending Digital Democracy Project Executive Director

Adapt successful election processes to monitor, respond to disinformation in other areas

Influence Operations are a national security threat that not only target elections but also the fabric of our identity as a country. Although disinformation tactics were anticipated ahead of the 2020 election, the sheer volume of mis and disinformation surrounding the election process continued to overwhelm officials as they completed certifications.    

Reporting and response mechanisms have been vital to countering cyber and information threats to elections, as the ability to have an awareness of these incidents allows for a swift response in mitigating threats and sharing accurate information. Partnerships that scale up to support inter-agency and cross-sector collaboration in monitoring and responding to influence operations in preparation for Election day are important. The longer lifecycle of disinformation during the Election Season and the continuous nature of disinformation tactics necessitate a consideration for the continued coordination of such collaborations beyond Election Day. Recreating what has worked well in the election space for reporting disinformation incidents may also be helpful in other areas where such incidents may have serious repercussions- like with COVID-19 mitigation- in order to share accurate information with the public quickly. 

Paula Dobriansky, Future of Diplomacy Project Senior Fellow; former Ambassador and Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs

Determine best U.S. policies toward Cuba

In 2021, the United States will host the ninth Summit of the Americas.  Now is time to take stock of the Cuban regime's actions and ascertain the best future U.S. policies toward Havana. Cuba has trafficked annually 50,000 medical doctors who are effectively enslaved and forced to work in other countries.  Cuba's 2018 government figures indicate that slave labor brings in $7 billion a year and that is the regime's single largest source of revenue, accounting for 60% of its total foreign income.  A bold new approach, utilizing corruption-focused sanctions and other legal tools against Cuban officials and their accomplices should be adopted.  The Global Magnitsky Act of 2016, which authorizes sanctions to cut off Cuban officials from global financial services, should be invoked. 

Jeffrey Frankel, James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth; former member Council of Economic Advisers

Renew the expired fiscal stimulus

Renew the expired fiscal stimulus, adding aid to impacted state governments and spending on infrastructure investment.  It is predictable, however, that the Senate Republicans will try to block it, rediscovering the dangers of fiscal deficits as they do whenever a Democrat is in the White House (and only then).

John P. Holdren, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program Co-Director; former Science Advisor to President Obama

Bring COVID under control and fill departments with capable leaders

The most important first policy step would be to put in place a comprehensive, federal-government-led strategy for bringing the Covid-19 pandemic under control in this country. The most important first organizational step is to replace with capable people the great majority of Trump appointees across the leadership and deputy positions in key Administration departments, agencies, and offices; this will require immediate acting appointments in the positions requiring Senate confirmation, accompanied by nomination and vigorous support, in the Senate process, of impeccably qualified individuals to hold those positions permanently. Nothing that Biden and Harris could do will be more valuable than quickly restoring competence and integrity in those key posts that Trump has filled with ideologues and sycophants.

Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies

Create a President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in Society

In his 2009 inaugural address, President Barack Obama promised to restore science to its rightful place. Today, after four exhausting years of post-truth politics, it seems even more urgent for President-elect Joe Biden to make and keep the same promise. But how? The first thing I would do is abolish the increasingly politicized office of presidential science advisor and replace it with a more intellectually diverse and socially inclusive President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in Society….Many have called for a more independent role for science advice, with less opportunity for political influence. But history shows that science fares best in this nation when it is responsive to people’s skepticism, not insulated from it. A presidential council of science in society would help rebuild trust. It would ensure that science advice is not just technically sound but answerable to the rough and tumble demands of democracy. 

Morgan Kaplan, Executive Editor, International Security

Rebuild credibility and trust among allies

American leadership and trust among allies is in desperate need of repair. The key to improving U.S. credibility is to strengthen America’s commitment to diplomacy abroad and restore process in foreign policy decision-making at home. During the Trump administration, U.S. foreign policy has been erratic, devoid of deliberation, and marred with inconsistencies across different offices. Lack of coordination between the White House, State Department, and Pentagon have made it difficult for allies and adversaries alike to understand American intentions and anticipate American actions. The result has been a weakened ability to deter threats and reassure allies. To regain American reliability and strength abroad, a Biden administration must maximize policy coordination at home.

Aditi Kumar, Belfer Center Executive Director

Develop a competitive strategy for the digital economy

Across telecommunications, finance, social media, and a variety of other sectors, Chinese digital giants are rapidly breaking into international, and American, markets. The United States has expanded its use of export controls and investment screenings to hobble their progress, but urgently needs an offensive strategy to compete in the digital era. To protect both its economic and national security interests, the U.S. must bolster domestic capabilities in critical sectors and collaborate with allies and partners to set standards and regulations for a digitized economy.

Halla Hrund Logadóttir, Arctic Initiative Co-Founder and Co-Director; Environment and Natural Resources Program Fellow

Put climate at center of the Arctic Council’s Ministerial Agenda

Climate change has already been set as a key priority for the Biden administration starting with the U.S. recommitting to the Paris Agreement. Restoring international relationships in this space may however take time and strategic action. In the first 100 days, the Biden administration has an opportunity to do just that by ensuring that climate change gets back at the center of the Arctic Council’s Ministerial Agenda. Doing so in a region that is warming faster than any other place on the planet will send a signal that the U.S. is ready to be the climate leader on the global stage. It will show clearly that this new US administration intends to pave the way for climate collaboration.

Syra Madad, Belfer Center Fellow; Senior Director, System-wide Special Pathogens Program at New York City Health + Hospitals

Speak with one voice led by public health experts

Working in outbreak science, we’re all used to fighting two contagions at the same time – the contagion itself and then the contagion of misinformation that follows. There have been false dichotomies presented of lives vs livelihoods, junk science promoted, and political theater driving the response vs public health from the onset of this pandemic. This has cost lives with many putting themselves at increased risk of infection requiring hospitalization. This also causes health care and public health to work twice as hard in an already challenging situation. To see a change, we have to meet people “where they are at” and provide community-based, culturally competent, and science-based risk communication speaking with one voice and being led by public health experts.

Zoe Marks, Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

Launch a feminist foreign policy

In the first 100 days, the Biden-Harris Administration should launch a feminist foreign policy. Our neighbors to the north and south have already done this, following Sweden’s lead in 2014. The relevance of feminist foreign policy has since become more urgent than ever. Around the world, we have seen patriarchal authoritarianism threaten the rights and wellbeing of women, girls, and non-binary people. The Trump administration's record on women's rights has been harmful domestically and internationally, particularly on health. Most foreign aid and defense and diplomacy spending is done in a “gender-blind” way, which implicitly focuses spending on male dominated power structures. A gender equitable approach would use resource distribution as a driver of women's representation and participation. What does “gender responsive” mean? It means that our foreign policy would stop spending taxpayer dollars in ways that amplify the overrepresentation of men in positions of power globally. Canada has channeled its feminist foreign policy through aid, while Mexico has added LGBTQ rights, climate change, and trade to its agenda. President Biden and Vice-President Harris can make their mark by not just appointing record numbers of women, but by giving all of us a feminist agenda.

Laura Manley, Technology and Public Purpose Project Director

Ensure diverse stakeholders in development of Tough Tech

Tough Tech holds the promise of creating entirely new industries as well as revitalizing historically foundational sectors such as steel, energy, and manufacturing that are under global competitive strain to shutter or offshore. But Tough Tech alone cannot provide this future. The combination of these breakthrough technologies with the right government and private sector interventions holds the potential to impact the challenges that unite us globally. Ensuring the inclusion of all the diverse stakeholders in the development and application of these technologies is critical to realizing the positive impacts to social equity and shared economic growth.

Venky Narayanamurti, Benjamin Peirce Professor of Technology and Public Policy, Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Physics, Emeritus

Appoint scientific leaders with impeccable credentials to key positions

Restore trust in science and facts-based policymaking by appointing very early on scientific leaders with impeccable credentials to key positions at OSTP, and science agencies like EPA, DoE, NIH, NOAA and FDA. 

Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Professor

Rebuild America’s soft power

Start restoring American soft power by rejoining the Paris climate accords; reaffirm membership in the World Health Organization; join its COVAX vaccine alliance; and announce an assistance plan to help poor countries cope with COVID.

Eric Rosenbach, Belfer Center Co-Director; former Pentagon Chief of Staff

Transition from fighting wars of the last decade to addressing current risks 

In order to defend America's interests over the next four years, the Biden Administration must transition from fighting the wars of the last decade, in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, to addressing current risks from cyberattacks, space-based disruptions, global health and economic coercion.  Although China is an adversarial competitor in global affairs, leaders on both sides of the aisle should support President Biden in recognizing that America's security is only partially reliant on the military. Even with the rise of China, the nation certainly does not need a Cold War model force posture of a 350 ship Navy and a million-plus soldier Army.   Those resources will be more effective when invested in a military with new technology and innovative approaches to talent management.

Kevin Ryan, Belfer Center Associate; Brigadier General (ret.)

Restore international relationships and opportunities

At an October meeting of the U.S.-Russia Elbe Group, retired senior Russian military and intelligence veterans expressed concern about the negative impact the out-going Trump administration’s policies have had on the international scene over the past four years.  They lamented “lost opportunities” under the Trump administration to save the INF and Open Skies Treaties as well as to make progress on an extension for the New START treaty.  The incoming Biden administration has already declared the goal of extending New START.  The Biden administration should also begin the hard work of devising new arms control treaties to reduce the possibility of an outbreak of armed conflict between the U.S. and Russia, especially in the European theater.  This will require the support of our NATO allies, which in turn will demand some much needed bridge building among America’s network of allies and strategic partners.  

Robert Stavins, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements Director; A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy & Economic Development

Rejoin the Paris climate agreement

On his first day in office, President Biden will initiate the process of rejoining the Paris climate agreement.  That’s the easy part.  The hard part is coming up with a quantitative statement of how and how much U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) will be reduced over coming decades.  This target will need to be sufficiently ambitious to satisfy (at least to some degree) domestic green groups, which means that it will need to be at least as ambitious as the Obama administration target of a 26-28 percent reduction in GHG emissions below the 2005 level by 2025, and probably more ambitious than that.  But the new Biden climate target must also be credible, that is, truly achievable given reasonably anticipated policy actions.  Whether both of those necessary conditions can be met will be a key challenge for the new administration.

Stephen Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs; Faculty Chair, International Security Program

Improve America's international standing by—first—rejoining the Paris Accord

On his first day as President, Joe Biden should announce that the United States will rejoin the Paris Climate Accord.  He should do this first for three reasons.

For starters, climate change poses the greatest long-term threat to humanity’s future.  The United States cannot be on the wrong side of this issue.

Second, rejoining Paris tells America’s allies that responsible officials with a respect for science are in charge, and ready to cooperate with them to address this common danger. 

Lastly, this step reminds China that our two countries must continue to cooperate on issues where their interests overlap, even as Sino-American rivalry heats up.  Showing that the United States is willing to work together to address climate change can keep channels of constructive dialogue open and lower the risk of war.

There are plenty of other steps that Biden should take to improve America’s international standing—but rejoining Paris is the place to start.

Lauren Zabierek, Cyber Project Executive Director

Create a National Cyber Director Position to coordinate a national strategy

Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, ambient cyberattacks, and disinformation, the issue of cybersecurity stands in sharp relief for the incoming Biden-Harris Administration.  While our military cyber strategy has been strengthened and proven, most notably during the last two elections, there are several policy areas that must be addressed both internationally and domestically, most of which are detailed in the Cyber Solarium Commission report. To secure our nation from cyber and information threats, our response must be a truly whole-of-government one. As such, in the first 100 days, the Biden-Harris Administration should prioritize filling the National Cyber Director role, should Congress approve its passage, to develop and coordinate a national cyber strategy across the entire ecosystem.

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Statements and views expressed in these comments are solely those of the authors and do not imply endorsement by Harvard University, Harvard Kennedy School, or the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.