Environment & Climate Change

Dr. Ian Bremmer, expert in political risk and founder of the Eurasia Group, gave a seminar sponsored by the the Future of Diplomacy Project on Thursday, November 9 at the Harvard Kennedy School, titled “Managing Risk in an Unstable World."

Washington Post Opinion Writer and Senior Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project, David Ignatius, delivered an address entitled “Covering the Obama Administration in the Fog of Foreign Policy” and led a breakfast seminar with experts, students, and fellows on September 18. He explored current trends in the Middle East, critical factors at play in the negotiations with Iran, the West’s relationship with Russia and positive developments in the US-China relationship.

"The interests of the High North, both locally and globally, are a trans-Atlantic issue that can only be dealt with as part of a strong and realistic security policy and maritime strategy on the part of NATO," concluded Icelandic Minister of Justice Bjorn Bjarnason at an International Security Program–sponsored lecture last fall. While the Cold War's end saw the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iceland, climate change has reconfigured the security, economic, and geopolitical profile of the Arctic with Iceland retaining its geo-strategic importance.

Björn Bjarnason is Minister of Justice for the Republic of Iceland, and a number of his responsibilities relate to domestic and external security — analogous to those of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. His lecture addressed security issues relating to maritime activity in the North Atlantic and the changing profile of these maritime security issues due to climate change and the increased exploitation of oil and gas in the Arctic.

Article in The Nonproliferation Review

"The terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon triggered the most rapid and dramatic change in the history of U.S. foreign policy."

What is the message of the Oklahoma City bombing for American national security? First, the oft-repeated assertion that with the end of the Cold War, the United States faces no direct or immediate threat to our security at home is dead wrong. As the most open society on a shrinking globe, America's democracy is also most vulnerable to terrorists' attacks. Such actions threaten not only our security but also our freedom.

Dr. Ashton B. Carter's article in Scientific American

Discussion Paper by Dr. Ashton B. Carter