News & Announcements

David S. Cohen, former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has been named a Senior Fellow with Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Cohen, who as the Agency’s second-in-command from 2015-2017 helped oversee all CIA operations, served previously as Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

As a non-resident Senior Fellow with the Center’s Intelligence and Defense Project, Cohen will conduct a study that focuses on the “CIA in the Digital Age,” looking into steps the Agency can take to improve its capacity for anticipating and tackling intelligence challenges in our increasingly interconnected world.

The Intelligence and Defense Projects at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center has named Nawaf Obaid as its first Visiting Fellow. 

Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center has announced that Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, senior fellow with the Center and former long-time intelligence officer, will succeed Brigadier General (ret) Kevin Ryan as director of the Center’s Defense and Intelligence Project and the Project on Saudi and GCC Security at the end of April.

What can the United States do to thwart the nuclear ambitions of its allies? Dr. Kogan analyzes past cases where the United States was able to leverage its alliance commitments to stop friendly states from going nuclear. He then asks what lessons these past nuclear negotiations hold for today.  In the coming decade, key U.S. allies in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia) and East Asia (South Korea, Japan) may consider reducing their reliance on U.S. security guarantees by acquiring independent nuclear deterrents.  In conversation with Project Director Kevin Ryan, Dr. Kogan discusses Washington's options in confronting these contemporary allies with nascent nuclear appetites.

Brigadier General Kevin Ryan (U.S. Army retired), has been appointed the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army for the State of Massachusetts.  Ryan is taking on the volunteer Civilian Aide role in addition to his full-time position as director of the Defense and Intelligence Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Dr. Ellis raises an interesting question: Does the pursuit of offensive cyber capabilities undermine domestic security? The conversation highlights a growing area of concern and ongoing debate.

Why do small states resist when the United States threatens them? Pfundstein describes the difference between a compellent threats, which is intended to convince a target state to change its behavior, and a deterrent threat, which is intended to prevent an adversary from taking some future action. In her research, Pfundstein evaluates why weak states choose to resist when the United States issues a compellent threat against them. She argues that the use of force has become so cheap for the United States that targets are not convinced it has the motivation to stick around long enough to defeat them after the threat of force fails. Pfundstein also considers U.S. drone policy.

Podcasts and Recordings highlight the research of Belfer Center fellows, faculty, and guest speakers on defense and intelligence issues.

For more information, contact the interviewee or the Director of Defense and Intelligence Projects, BG (ret) Kevin Ryan