Juliette Kayyem
Lecturer in Public Policy
Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Contact:
Telephone: 617-496-6743
Fax: 617-495-8963
Email: juliette.kayyem@gmail.com
April 8, 2013
"Take Burden off Veterans Affairs"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"Long-neglected computer upgrades are coming on line, but the VA's promises that the backlog will be overcome by 2015 seem specious given that 97 percent of all claims are still made in paper. Continued delays aren't only concerns for those who've already fought. They could discourage new recruits. The Defense Department is well aware that its ability to recruit troops to an all-volunteer force is made more difficult if veterans' services are being neglected."
April 4, 2013
"Is it Time to Worry?"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"But today's scare is not just a matter of concern for China. The nation's insular government, dense population, and environmental ills have already combined to create several global pandemics. The 2003 SARS outbreak began in China, and, by its end, killed about 800 people and caused close to $50 billion in economic losses. China had originally prevented disclosure of the SARS outbreak, telling nervous global public health officials to take a hike."
April 1, 2013
"The NRA's Best Defense"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"The fight for gun control has moved past Lanza or Loughner. They are the Pearl Harbors of the current legislative battle: causes for engagement but not the only reasons for the war. Gun control is a cause in itself, and the struggle for universal background checks of gun buyers is nothing short of a battle for democracy. Over 90 percent of all Americans now favor such checks. It shouldn't be that hard to get it through Congress."
March 28, 2013
"The Gay Rights Cases, in Perspective"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"The marriage debate is already over for our children. If the trajectory of polling continues as it has, in places as diverse as Massachusetts and Mississippi, acceptance of gay marriage is a foregone conclusion. This applies to the children of heterosexual parents as much as those of homosexual parents. My hockey-playing son watches a gay father talk with the chain-smoking referee at the rink, and condemns only one of them."
March 25, 2013
"America's Security, Under the Weather"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"Our infrastructure investments — whether they come through taxes, loans, or a promising infrastructure bank proposal that would invest private funds into public works — utilize local ingenuity to reduce our vulnerabilities. The decline of American infrastructure is a fixable national security problem, much more so than the religious, political, and ethnic divisions that pit so much of the world against each other."
March 18, 2013
"A War's Misleading Anniversary"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"The narrative of the Iraq war has a prologue and an epilogue whose lessons are as valuable to the United States as those derived from what came in between. As for the prelude, defenders of the war have somehow successfully rewritten the story to ignore the fact that many scholars, journalists, and defense specialists were urging President Bush not to succumb to this folly."
March 14, 2013
"Conduct Unbecoming the Military"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"The military has a sexual assault problem....There is only one certain way to stop sexual abuse: Victims must feel that coming forward will be taken seriously within the military justice system, and assailants must feel that they will face consequences. But the military justice system isn't equipped to handle this problem, and the Pentagon must reform it for the thousands of women who have suffered under its negligence."
March 11, 2013
"Safety vs. Recovery after Disasters"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"March 11, 2011, was three distinct disasters. The earthquake and tsunami fell into the category of tragedies that are often unavoidable. But the nuclear accident requires a different analytical frame, and proponents of nuclear energy shouldn't be allowed to write off the Fukushima crisis as a natural disaster. Since the industrial revolution, there have always been industrial harms. As societies require more of technology, engineering, and transportation, there will be blips in the systems. What isn't inevitable, however, is that they happen again."
March 7, 2013
"Chavez Death Creates Risk, Opportunity"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"By eliminating the automatic refugee status granted to Cubans if they somehow reach US soil, we would stop tempting them to take to the seas in rickety boats and inner tubes on which many lose their lives. We would also put the whole world on equal footing, determining which refugees are allowed to stay not by whether we like (or don't like) their country's leadership, but whether they have valid reasons to stay, including a fear of political reprisals. It is time we end a Cuba policy that has sowed ill will among our southern neighbors and non-Cuban immigrant populations in the United States."
February 28, 2013
"UN's Cold, but Correct, Call on Haiti"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"Putting aside whether the UN's attitude has been sympathetic enough, whether it should vet peacekeeping forces better before deploying them, and whether the organization has a moral obligation to give Haiti more help with its public health needs, Ban's decision will protect all relief efforts in the future. It is the only outcome that provides the necessary protections to those who are asked to work voluntarily in dangerous situations. Most importantly, it will maintain an incentive for nations to support UN efforts for assistance or peacekeeping missions that have, by any measure, done far more good than harm."
