Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) with Caroline Kennedy and Belfer Center Director Graham Allison at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Harvard Kennedy School's Mason Fellows Program.
Martha Stewart

"From the Director"

Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Spring 2009

Author: Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School

That President Barack Obama (Harvard Law School '91) enters office at a "hinge of history" is now a cliché, but no less true for having been often stated. Not only does the Great Recession look ever more depressing, but we simultaneously face daunting security challenges--from Iran's advancing nuclear program to increasing fragility of Pakistan.

For a Center committed to advancing policy-relevant knowledge about the most important international challenges, the fact that members of our Belfer Center family have been called upon to serve in the Obama administration is a source of both pride and humility.

As our Belfer Center colleagues Larry Summers, International Council member Paul Volcker, and Board of Directors member Martin Feldstein try to overcome the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression, I ask myself: whom would I rather have addressing this challenge? As director of the National Economic Council, chair of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and a member of that board, Larry, Paul, Marty, and their colleagues stand in the midst of the storm.

As he stressed in his inaugural address, President Obama intends to give new emphasis to science in making policy. His selection of John Holdren, director of our Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, as his science advisor, is not surprising. John has rightly been called "the very model of a policy-relevant scientist." As President Obama's nominee for under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, Ash Carter is uniquely qualified to help the Defense Department meet our 21st-century needs. And Dennis Ross will provide the Secretary of State with strategic advice and perspective on the Gulf and Southwest Asia.

Others from the Center joining the new administration include Rand Beers, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, and Michèle Flournoy. Additional members of the Center's family who have not yet been announced will also be joining the administration. Beyond those who take fulltime positions, many others are advising the new administration about issues from nuclear security and new energy technologies to ports and climate policy.

To support the Center in building new intellectual capital, International Council members have provided a generous grant to launch a new initiative assessing options for revitalizing the global nuclear order. Continuing work begun by a Commission of Eminent Persons launched last year by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, this initiative will be enlivened by the arrival of Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, former director of the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence at the Energy Department and Will Tobey, deputy administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration's Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. Along with former Under Secretary of State for Policy Nick Burns, who joined us in September, we are proud that Harvard has attracted some of the most talented people leaving the U.S. government.

For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center Communications Office at 617-495-9858.

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