Mailing address
Littauer 368
Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs
79 John F. Kennedy Street, Mailbox 53
Cambridge, MA, 02138
Graham Allison
Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative
Member of the Board
Contact:
Telephone: (617) 496-6099
Fax: (617)-495-8963
Email: graham_allison@harvard.edu
Experience
Director of Harvard's major Center for Science and International Affairs, Graham Allison has for three decades been a leading analyst of U.S. national security and defense policy with a special interest in terrorism. As Assistant Secretary of Defense in the first Clinton Administration, Dr. Allison received the Defense Department's highest civilian award, the Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, for "reshaping relations with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan to reduce the former Soviet nuclear arsenal." This resulted in the safe return of more than 12,000 tactical nuclear weapons from the former Soviet republics and the complete elimination of more than 4,000 strategic nuclear warheads previously targeted at the United States and left in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus when the Soviet Union disappeared.
As Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Dr. Allison has assembled a team of more than two dozen leading scholars and practitioners of national security to analyze terrorism in its multiple dimensions. Products include: Avoiding Nuclear Anarchy (1996), America's Achilles Heel: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Terrorism and Covert Attack (1998), Catastrophic Terrorism (1998), and others.
Dr. Allison's latest book, Nuclear Terrorism: the Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, was published in 2004, is now in its third printing, and was selected by The New York Times as one of the "100 most notable books of 2004." It presents a strategy for preventing nuclear terrorism organized under a doctrine of "Three Nos:" no loose nukes; no new nascent nukes; and no new nuclear weapons states.
A 1995 Washington Post op-ed by Dr. Allison warned that: "In the absence of a determined program of action, we have every reason to anticipate acts of nuclear terrorism before this decade is out." Dr. Allison was the organizer of the Commission on America's National Interests (1996 and 2000) that included leading Senators and national security specialists from across the country (former Senator Sam Nunn, Senators John McCain, Bob Graham, and Pat Roberts, Condoleezza Rice, Richard Armitage, Robert Ellsworth, and others). The Commission's work highlighted the threat of mega-terrorism as a major challenge to U.S. national interest. Senator Roberts credited the work of the Commission as inspiration in his creating a Subcommittee on Emerging Threats of the Senate Armed Services Committee. At the initial session of that Subcommittee on March 11, 1999, he warned that there is "a real opportunity for a handful of zealots to wreak havoc on a scale that hitherto only armies could obtain. Targets will be selected for their symbolic value, like the World Trade Center in the heart of Manhattan, because terrorists need to escalate their attacks, making each more spectacular and horrific than its predecessor." Dr. Allison is also a leading analyst of Russia and its transformation to democracy and market economy as well as an authority on the threat of loose nukes and weapons of mass destruction. He is the author of a dozen books, hundreds of articles in the foremost journals and newspapers and is a sought-after speaker and commentator. Dr. Allison's seminal book, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, first published in 1971, and significantly revised and re-issued in 1999, ranks among the bestsellers in political science with more than 400,000 copies in print.
Dr. Allison was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was educated at Davidson College; Harvard College (B.A., Magna Cum Laude, in History); Oxford University (B.A. and M.A., First Class Honors in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics); and Harvard University (Ph.D. in Political Science).
Case Studies:
ISP-202 -- Iran
ISP-202 -- Energy and Climate
April 23, 2008
"Nuclear Attack a Worst-Case Reality?"
Op-Ed, Washington Times
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative
Graham Allison, director of the Belfer Center, argues against contrarians who claim that nuclear terrorism is not an immediate threat, but a "worst-case fantasy." He argues that if countries, including the United States, do not begin to work harder to develop techniques to control and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, then the probability of a nuclear attack occurring is extremely likely.
AP Photo
April 29, 2008
"Averting an Energy Crisis"
Op-Ed, The Boston Globe
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative and Robbie Diamond
Graham Allison and Robbie Diamond warn readers of the grave impacts of rising oil prices to US security. "Add to this continued instability - and in some cases, hostility - in some of the world's most prolific oil-producing nations, and the conclusion is clear: America's dependence on oil, particularly oil from unstable and undemocratic parts of the world, threatens national security and economic stability."
AP Photo
April 24, 2008
Case Study: Red Teaming Iran's Supreme Leader
Memorandum
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative
When the key finding of the December National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran was emerging, the intelligence community assigned a group to "red team" Iran's behavior. They were asked to assume that Iran's intention was to deceive the United States into concluding that the Iranian nuclear program had been halted. Although the red team made a persuasive case that Iran's actions were consistent with this objective, the intelligence community ultimately rejected that hypothesis and came to the conclusion it reported.
AP Photo
April 24, 2008
Blocking Iran's Nuclear Bomb
Testimony
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative
Belfer Center Director Graham Allison testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on April 24, 2008. He discussed Iran’s nuclear ambitions, current U.S. strategy, and future policy options for blocking Iran’s nuclear bomb.
AP Photo
March 19, 2008
Five Years Into Iraq: A Report Card
Media Feature
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative, Brigadier General (ret.) Kevin Ryan, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Meghan O'Sullivan, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Eric Rosenbach, Executive Director for Research, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Paul Kane, Research Fellow, International Security Program
With the war in Iraq stretching past the five-year mark, experts weigh in on what has gone right, what has gone wrong, and lessons learned. Paul Kane, a Marine veteran of Iraq, writes of the “serious disconnect” between civilians and those who have served in uniform, while Meghan O’Sullivan, former deputy national security advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan, says that today “we have the right strategy in place — and it is making a difference on the ground.”
AP Photo
March 14, 2008
The Transfer of Power in Russia
Memorandum
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative
Though the outcome of the presidential election in Russia was a foregone conclusion, many questions remain about when and how which powers will be transferred from whom to whom. Also included below are speculations from Russian colleagues about what the new administration and cabinet may look like.
AP Photo
February 28, 2008
New Iran IAEA Report: Reading Between the Lines
News
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative
With the International Atomic Energy Agency scheduled to release its much-anticipated report on Iran within the next few days, Graham Allison offers his insight and analysis — as well as questions that remain unanswered.
Spring 2008
From the Director
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative
In the last several months, the Belfer Center has been in the thick of two of the most important discussions in international affairs: halting the spread of nuclear weapons and shaping a global agreement to mitigate severe climate disruption.
AP Photo
February 22, 2008
Understanding Pakistan's Elections
News
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative
Belfer Center Director Graham Allison presents ten important keys to the recent Pakistan election results.
AP Photo
February 21, 2008
"Reading the Tea Leaves in Pakistan"
Op-Ed, The Boston Globe
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative
In the wake of President Pervez Musharraf's defeat in the recent Pakistani elections, many people are calling for his resignation to ensure a true democracy in Pakistan. But will this new democratic government maintain Musharraf's reluctant alliance with the United States? Graham Allison, Director of the Belfer Center, considers the future of this partnership.
