Policy Briefs & Testimonies

24 Items

President Joe Biden delivers remarks about government regulations on artificial intelligence systems during an event in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, in Washington.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Policy Brief

Action on AI: Unpacking the Executive Order’s Security Implications and the Road Ahead

| Nov. 08, 2023

On October 30, 2023, President Biden issued the Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, aimed at realizing the benefits of AI, while mitigating critical risks. This article provides an overview of its key national security initiatives and explores issues relevant to implementation.

Containers are pictured on board of the ‘Star’ vessel of the China Shipping Container Lines shipping company at the harbor in Hamburg, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014.

AP Photo/Michael Sohn

Policy Brief - Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship and the German Council on Foreign Relations

Transatlantic Action Plan: China

| January 2021

Both sides of the Atlantic are converging in their assessment of the challenges China poses to transatlantic prosperity and democracy. The U.S. and Europe must now build on this convergence to advance a common strategy toward China. Only together can the U.S. and Europe, alongside other democratic nations, maintain the necessary leverage in trade, technology and multilateral engagement to hold China accountable to a set of standards that protects democratic societies and contributes to global stability.

To develop a stronger transatlantic approach toward China, the Biden administration must work to rebuild trust in the transatlantic relationship and recommit to multilateral alliances and institutions abandoned by President Trump. Europe for its part must unite and take action where it sees China exploiting its critical industries and infringing on its values. A common position on China at the EU–level and across several influential EU member states is critical to making transatlantic cooperation on China feasible.

In this Nov. 28, 2019 file photo, smoke and steam rise from a coal processing plant in Hejin in central China's Shanxi Province.

AP Photo/Sam McNeil

Policy Brief

China’s National Carbon Market: Paradox and Potential

| December 2020

China announced it would launch a national carbon market in 2017, yet this policy is taking years to come into effect. What will it take for a carbon market to work in command-and-control China? This policy brief explores an understudied challenge—emissions accounting—and identifies potential opportunities that have arisen in the first phase of China’s national carbon market.

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Testimony - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Debora Plunkett Testimony to House Judiciary Committee Hearing "Securing America's Elections"

| Sep. 27, 2019

Debora A. Plunkett, Senior Fellow with the Defending Digital Democracy Project, testified before the House Judiciary Committee during a hearing Friday, September 27, 2019, titled "Securing America's Elections." Links are included to a video of the hearing and a PDF of Plunkett's testimony. 

Eric Rosenbach testifying in front of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in Washington. April 24, 2018 (Credit: Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs website).

Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Testimony - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

America, Democracy and Cyber Risk: Time to Act

| Apr. 24, 2018

Eric Rosenbach, Co-Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, and former Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security, testified before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on April 24, 2018, on "Mitigating America's Cybersecurity Risk."

 

Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, right, and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and former arrive for a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday, March 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Testimony - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Jeh Johnson Testimony on Russian Interference in the 2016 U.S. Elections

| Mar. 23, 2018

In 2016 the Russian government, at the direction of Vladimir Putin himself, orchestrated cyberattacks on our Nation for the purpose of influencing the election that year – plain and simple. The experience should be a wake-up call for our Nation, as it highlighted cyber vulnerabilities in our political process, and in our election infrastructure itself. Now, with the experience fresh in our minds and clear in our rear-view mirror, the key question for our leaders at the national and state level is this: what are we doing about it? The matter is all the more urgent given the public testimony of our Nation’s intelligence chiefs last month, before this very Committee, that the Russians effort continues into the ongoing 2018 midterm election season.

Eric Rosenbach Testifying March 21

C-SPAN

Testimony - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Defending Digital Democracy: The Four Corners of Election Security

| Mar. 21, 2018

Eric Rosenbach, Co-Director of Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and former Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security, testified to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on March 21, 2018, on Russian Interference in the 2016 U.S. Elections.