News & Announcements

Cambridge, MA – Michael Sulmeyer, former Director for Plans and Operations for Cyber Policy at the Department of Defense, has joined the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs as Director of its new Cyber Security Project. The Project, created by a $15 million gift from Center namesake Robert Belfer and his family, aims to build a conceptual arsenal to address the ways conflict may be waged and avoided in cyberspace. Sulmeyer’s research will anchor this effort, focusing on key questions such as the function of deterrence in cyberspace and how government and the private sector can work together in a crisis.

Cambridge, MA – Harvard University announced today that Robert and Renée Belfer, along with their son Laurence, are investing an additional $15 million to advance the work of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School in addressing the world’s most critical security issues.

Reflecting their philanthropic mission to build a more secure, peaceful world, the Belfer family’s gift puts the Belfer Center on the front lines of what CIA Director John Brennan calls the greatest threat to U.S. national security in the decade ahead: cyber threats. In particular, it launches a major new Cyber Security Project, which seeks to help create the conceptual arsenal for strategists to confront this growing challenge.

Time magazine’s Feb. 4, 2013 international edition published an extensive excerpt from the new book, Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World (MIT Press, Feb. 1, 2013), by Graham Allison and Robert D. Blackwill, with Ali Wyne. The book draws on their in-depth interviews with Lee and his voluminous writings and speeches. The excerpt in Time distills Lee’s strategic insights about the future of China.

The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) has given $8.1 million to Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) to support the continuation of the Kuwait Program at HKS Belfer Center's Middle East Initiative. The gift will be used to develop leaders with the capacity to address the many challenging public policy issues facing the region. It will also fund research issues of vital importance in the region, such as education, energy, and water.

With Gen. David H. Petraeus scheduled to appear before Congress next week, Belfer Center experts and researchers offer their insights and analysis — as well as items that Congress should not overlook.