News & Announcements

“It was too quiet.”

That was the sentiment expressed by a number of the 45 election officials from 23 states who gathered earlier this month at Harvard for a Belfer Center Defending Digital Democracy (D3P) Midterm After-Action Conference to discuss problems around their November midterm elections.  Most said they experienced significant but mostly unintended misinformation – and some disinformation – along with a number of other challenges to their electoral processes, but not the extensive foreign cyber and other attacks that took place during the 2016 presidential election.

More than 120 election officials from 38 states gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, this week to participate in role-playing exercises that provided them with tips, tools, and training to fortify their election systems against cyber attacks and information operations. Organized by the Defending Digital Democracy Project (D3P) at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the two-day event featured a tabletop exercise (TTX) scenario for officials that simulated attacks on election systems ranging from hacks and social media misinformation to  manipulation of voter information and trust. The state and local election officials learned how to better prepare, defend, and respond to a range of attacks on the integrity of American elections and how to empower their colleagues back home with this knowledge as they prepare for the 2018 and 2020 elections.   

The Belfer Center's incoming senior fellows, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former Chair of the House Intelligence Committee Mike Rogers, provided their insights into Russia's influence over the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Belfer Center Director Graham Allison moderated.

During the Future of Diplomacy Project's 2017 'Europe Week' series, diplomats, scholars, and policymakers visited the Kennedy School to examine Europe's greatest challenges. 

Ab dem heutigen Freitag werden die USA von einem neuen Präsidenten regiert. Donald Trump erwies sich in den vergangenen Monaten als launisch und unberechenbar – auch im Umgang mit den Massenmedien. Für Cathryn Clüver von der Harvard Kennedy School steht fest: Unter der Führung Trumps wird auch für Washington-Korrespondenten nichts mehr so sein, wie es war. Im Interview mit MEEDIA erklärt die Expertin, wie sich die Arbeitsbedingungen der Presse verändern werden.

Sandri Gozi, Italian Undersecretary of State for European Affairs, joined the Future of Diplomacy Project on November 1 for a discussion titled “Italy, the EU and the US: A Conversation on Transatlantic Challenges.”