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ECONOMICS OF NATIONAL SECURITY

2009

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September 2009

"The Next Government Must Fund Britain's Armed Forces to Match the Many and Growing Threats to National Security"

Policy Brief

By Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow, International Security Program

"The choice facing the next Prime Minister and government is clear. On the one hand, he can continue the policy of the present Government. This will result in a slow slide down the second division of nations, an inability to defend the sea passages on which our global trade and standard of living depend (ninety per cent of our trade still comes by sea), an inability to secure our growing imported energy supplies and the vital food supplies which we in this country take for granted.

Or, the next Government can resist this decline, hold firm against the pressure to reduce defence funding, and provide an adequate defence provision with contingency reserve capability for all three Services. If this decision is made, it should be done as a deliberate and well researched policy."

September 4, 2009

"Pan-European Security: Considering Russia"

Op-Ed, International Relations and Security Network

By Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

The US and the EU should respond to Russia's call for a substantive discussion of Moscow's proposal for a new pan-European security treaty before the current system generates another failure on the scale of the wars in the former Yugoslavia or in South Ossetia, Simon Saradzhyan argues in ISN Security Watch.

AP Photo

April 13, 2009

"Which Globalization Will Survive?"

Op-Ed, The Korea Times

By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

"The world economy will shrink this year for the first time since 1945, and some economists worry that the current crisis could spell the beginning of the end of globalization....Globalization has several dimensions, and, though economists all too often portray it and the world economy as being one and the same, other forms of globalization also have significant effects — not all of them benign — on our daily lives."

January 2009

Defense Management Challenges for the Next American President

Journal Article, Orbis, issue 1, volume 53

By Dr. Ashton B. Carter, Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project (on leave), Harvard & Stanford Universities

PDP Co-Director Dr. Ashton B. Carter explores the daunting list of national security challenges facing the next American president.

2008

AP Photo

December 24, 2008

"Defense Spending Would Be Great Stimulus"

Op-Ed, Wall Street Journal

By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University

"A temporary rise in DOD spending on supplies, equipment and manpower should be a significant part of that increase in overall government outlays. The same applies to the Department of Homeland Security, to the FBI, and to other parts of the national intelligence community."

Liz Lynch

Winter 2008-09

"Belfer Center Alums Launch Center for New American Strategy (CNAS)"

Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter

Kurt Campbell and Michèle Flournoy, both alums of the Belfer Center, founded The Center for a New American Strategy in February 2007. The organization has grown into an intellectual, nonpartisan national think tank focusing on national security and defense.

October 13, 2008

"The Simplistic Allure of Militarism"

Op-Ed, Agence Global

By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative

Among the problems the senior American military and intelligence leaders acknowledge these days in Afghanistan are a robust and expanding heroin trade, the limited impact of the central government in Kabul, a steady stream of militants from next door Pakistan where they enjoy safe havens and popular support, and a weak economy.

Spring 2008

"Correspondence: The Role of Hierarchy in International Politics"

Journal Article, International Security, issue 4, volume 32

By Paul MacDonald, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2006-2008 and David A. Lake

Paul MacDonald responds to David Lake's Summer 2007 International Security article, "Escape from the State of Nature: Authority and Hierarchy in World Politics."

Image Credit: Martha Stewart

April 28, 2008

PDP Co-Director Carter Participates in Harvard Oil Shockwave Simulation

Press Release

PDP Co-Director Carter participates in a high-profile crisis simulation examining the economic and security implications of America’s dependency on oil.

Department of Defense

January 2008

Defense Management Challenges in the Post-Bush Era

Book Chapter

By Dr. Ashton B. Carter, Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project (on leave), Harvard & Stanford Universities

Dr. Ashton Carter discusses the resource management challenges facing American defense leaders in the coming decade.

Targeting Civilians in War

Targeting Civilians in War

Accidental harm to civilians in warfare often becomes an occasion for public outrage, from citizens of both the victimized and the victimizing nation. In this vitally important book on a topic of acute concern for anyone interested in military strategy, international security, or human rights, Alexander B. Downes reminds readers that democratic and authoritarian governments alike will sometimes deliberately kill large numbers of civilians as a matter of military strategy. What leads governments to make such a choice?

International Security

The Summer 2009 issue of the quarterly journal International Security is now available. It includes articles by Matthew Fuhrmann, Elizabeth Stanley, Daniel Lake, Christopher Layne, and more.

Journal homepage ›

Securing the Bomb 2008

Securing the Bomb 2008

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Project on Managing the Atom Co-Principal Investigator Matthew Bunn provides a comprehensive assessment of efforts to secure and remove vulnerable nuclear stockpiles around the world, and a detailed action plan for reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism. Securing the Bomb 2008 was commissioned by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). The full report, with additional information on the threat of nuclear terrorism, is available on the NTI website.

Security & Defense Experts

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Policy Memo

Preventing Terrorist Attacks: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom

Why do terrorist attacks frequently succeed, even though later investigations almost always show that warnings had been available but were either misunderstood or ignored? Conventional wisdom, as seen in the 9/11 Commission Report, holds that disasters such as the 9/11 attacks have been caused by failures of analytical imagination, a lack of long-term strategic intelligence on the threat, and organizational limitations that prevent the U.S. intelligence community from being able to “connect the dots” of the existing intelligence.

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Homeland Security: How to Improve Interoperability for State and Local Responders

One of the most important lessons of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks is that, in order to respond successfully, local agencies must be able to exchange information in real time. In the past seven years, the federal government has given millions of dollars to state and local governments with the goal of improving interoperability programs. However, state and local politics often get in the way of effective use of the money. Our research provides insight and recommendations into how state and local governments can improve the effectiveness of these programs.

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ECONOMICS OF NATIONAL SECURITY

2009

2008

Targeting Civilians in War

International Security

Securing the Bomb 2008

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Policy Memo

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