BOOK CHAPTERS
March 2008
The Yellow Rain Affair
By Matthew Meselson, Director, Harvard Sussex Program on Chemical and Biological Weapons Limitation and Julian Perry Robinson
U.S.Secretary of State Alexander Haig, in a speech in West Berlin in September 1981 and in a detailed report to the Congress the following March, charged Soviet-backed Laotian and Vietnamese forces with waging toxin warfare against Hmong resistance fighters and their villages in Laos and against Khmer Rouge soldiers and villages in Cambodia. The charges were repeated with additional details in a further report to the Congress and to the member states of the United Nations in November 1982 by Haig's successor, Secretary of State George Shultz. The investigation on which the allegation was based, however, failed to employ reliable methods of witness interrogation or of forensic laboratory investigation; it was further marred by the dismissal and withholding of contrary evidence and a lack of independent review. When the evidence for toxin attacks or any other form of chemical/biological warfare (CBW) was subjected to more careful examination, it could not be confirmed or was discredited. In what became known as the "Yellow Rain" affair, these charges -- that toxic substances called trichothecenes were used in CBW -- were initially pressed vigorously by the U.S. government and, even when the allegations proved unsustainable, they were not withdrawn.
January 17, 2008
Ruthless Humanitarianism
By Doug Brooks and Matan Chorev, Research Assistant
Over the past twenty years, Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) have become significant elements of national security arrangements, assuming many of the functions that have traditionally been undertaken by state armies. Given the centrality of control over the use of coercive force to the functioning and identity of the modern state, and to international order, these developments clearly are of great practical and conceptual interest.
This edited volume provides an interdisciplinary overview of PMSCs: what they are, why they have emerged in their current form, how they operate, their current and likely future military, political, social and economic impact, and the moral and legal constraints that do and should apply to their operation. The book focuses firstly upon normative issues raised by the development of PMSCs, and then upon state regulation and policy towards PMSCs, examining finally the impact of PMSCs on civil-military relations. It takes an innovative approach, bringing theory and empirical research into mutually illuminating contact. Includes contributions from experts in IR, political theory, international and corporate law, and economics, and also breaks important new ground by including philosophical discussions of PMSCs.
2008
"The Future of American Power"
By Joseph S. Nye, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations
"It is generally agreed that the United States is the leading power at the beginning of the twenty-first century, but there is less agreement on how long this will last. Some observers argue that American pre-eminence is simply the result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and that this 'unipolar moment' will be brief, while others argue that America's power is so great that it will last for much of the coming century...."
Department of Defense
January 2008
Defense Management Challenges in the Post-Bush Era
By Dr. Ashton B. Carter, Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project, Harvard & Stanford Universities
Dr. Ashton Carter discusses the resource management challenges facing American defense leaders in the coming decade.
December 30, 2007
"Revolution and Counter Revolution: The Israeli Supreme Court from the 1980's onward, 1980–2004"
By Ehud Eiran, Research Fellow, International Security Program
Ehud Eiran reviews the changes in the Israeli Supereme court since the 1980's and places them in the broader institutional, historical, and cultural contexts in this essay.
November 2007
"Peace Process"
By Boaz Atzili, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"A peace process is a series of persistent diplomatic and political initiatives to negotiate a resolution to a protracted conflict between political entities. The term was first used consistently during the 1970s to describe the efforts to negotiate peace agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Its use has spread since, both geographically and across social categories...."
October 2007
"Disposition of Excess Highly Enriched Uranium"
By Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom and Anatoli Diakov
This chapter describes the progress of the Russian and U.S. HEU disposition programs and how they could be expanded and accelerated. It also provides a brief update on the progress of the international programs to clean out and dispose of civilian HEU. The quantities of HEU involved are much smaller than those in the weapons programs but civilian sites are typically much less secure than military ones. Cleaning them out may therefore contribute more to reducing the overall danger of nuclear theft.
October 2007
"Disposition of Excess Plutonium"
By Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom and Anatoli Diakov
This chapter describes disposition options and assesses the Russian and U.S. programs. The discussion is also relevant to the problem of disposing of the world's growing stocks of separated civil plutonium —especially in the United Kingdom, which currently has no disposition plan.
September 2007
"Getting It Done: The Policy Environment in the US and China"
By Jeffrey Bielicki, Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy, Aleksandra Kalinowski, Visiting Scholar, Energy Technology Innovation Policy and Lifeng Zhao, Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy
The United States and China account for about 43% of global emissions. What are the barriers, incentives and policy solutions to deployment of carbon capture and storage technologies in the world's biggest two CO2-emitting countries?
September 2007
"Protecting Privacy by Requesting Access: Marc Rotenberg and EPIC"
By Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, Associate Professor of Public Policy and David Lazer
