Press Release
from Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
Cambridge, MA – Andrew Weber, head of global partnerships for Metabiota and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs, has been named a Senior Fellow (non resident) at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Weber is a renowned expert on countering global threats who helped lead the U.S. government’s response to the Ebola outbreak and played a key role in the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program. At the Belfer Center, he will develop a biosecurity project in conjunction with the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) in Washington.
“At the core of our work is a commitment to building a more secure, peaceful world,” said Belfer Center Director Graham Allison. “Andy has devoted his life to this cause. From the Middle East and the former Soviet Union to Africa and Asia, he has for three decades undertaken critically important and daunting assignments to avert dangers posed by nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and terrorism, as well as to strengthen global health security. We are delighted to welcome him to the Center and look forward to his contributions on biosecurity.”
“The Belfer Center shares my passion for making the world a safer and healthier place,” Weber said. “I can’t think of a better intellectual home in which to help advance research to safeguard us from biological weapons and related threats.”
In October 2014, President Obama asked Weber to serve as Deputy Coordinator for Ebola Response at the U.S. Department of State. Previously, he was Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs. In this capacity he focused on preventing, protecting against, and responding to weapons of mass destruction and terrorism threats, including global efforts to eliminate Syrian and Libyan chemical weapons. Prior to his appointment in May 2009, Weber served for 13 years as an Adviser for Threat Reduction Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He served previously as a United States Foreign Service Officer, with diplomatic assignments in Saudi Arabia, Germany, Kazakhstan, and Hong Kong.
From 2002 through 2008, Weber taught a course on Force and Diplomacy at the Edmund A. Walsh Graduate School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He has a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown and is a graduate of Cornell University. He speaks Russian and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. You can follow him on Twitter @AndyWeberNCB.
Contact: Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs sharon_wilke@hks.harvard.edu; 617-495-9858.