Belfer Center Annual Report 2020
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Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Annual Report 2020 ANNUAL REPORT 2020 A The Robert and Renée Belfer CONTENTS Center for Science and International Affairs CORE From the Director ..........................................................................1 Annual Report Center-Wide Activities .................................................................8 2020 Publications & Communications ...........................................12 DIRECTOR PROJECT UPDATES Ash Carter [email protected] Arctic Initiative .............................................................................18 CO-DIRECTOR Avoiding Great Power War .....................................................19 Eric Rosenbach [email protected] Cyber Project ................................................................................20 Defending Digital Democracy................................................21 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Aditi Kumar Defense Project ...........................................................................22 [email protected] Economic Diplomacy Initiative ..............................................23 DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS AND STRATEGY Environment and Natural Resources ..................................24 Josh Burek [email protected] Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship .......................25 Future of Diplomacy ..................................................................26 Geopolitics of Energy ................................................................27 Harvard Project on Climate Agreements ...........................28 Homeland Security / Security and Global Health ..........29 Intelligence Project .....................................................................30 International Security Journal ................................................31 International Security Program .............................................32 Korea Project ................................................................................33 Managing the Atom ...................................................................34 Middle East Initiative ..................................................................35 Russia Matters ..............................................................................36 Science, Technology, and Public Policy .............................37 Technology and Public Purpose ...........................................38 U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism .......39 B DIRECTOR’S FOREWORD Madame Florence Parly, Minister of the Armed Forces of France, at a January 28 event with Ash Carter. From the Director What a year. Director Juliette Kayyem trained 700 co-hosted a conference on creating an mayors and municipal leaders in emergen- Arctic more resilient to climate change. 2020 challenged the world, and the cy management. Science, Technology, and And our Intelligence Project convened Belfer Center, in profound ways. Public Policy Program Co-Director John over 600 people for a timely discussion Holdren mobilized a team that published on how the intelligence community can And yet this difficult year also illustrated rapid reports on pandemic response. And increase diversity. how our community responds to chal- Lauren Zabierek and Maria Barsallo lenges. A Center dedicated to advancing Lynch analyzed potential solutions for Key to meeting our mission is recruiting, policy-relevant knowledge and to men- digital contact tracing efforts. training, and retaining students, staff, toring the next generation of leaders has and fellows with diverse experiences never felt more relevant. Though we miss Even as we responded to this overwhelm- and backgrounds. We believe that being seeing each other in person, we success- ing public need, we continued our im- a diverse and inclusive organization is fully pivoted to remote research, learning, pactful work on dozens of other critical not only morally right but is also central and development. In fact, we are reaching research areas. The Defending Digital to our ability to achieve our mission. In more people than ever before with virtual Democracy Project trained election 2020, the senseless killings of George programming on the pandemic, climate officials on how to better safeguard the Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many other change, diversity in the national security 2020 elections. The Future of Diplomacy Black Americans reminded us that there enterprise, election security, international Project envisioned a 21st century foreign can be no international security without relations, and much more. service, while the Project on Europe and real human security at home. the Transatlantic Relationship outlined a With our focus on science and interna- path to strengthen the U.S.-European alli- Our goal is to promote historically un- tional affairs, the Belfer Center was well ance. TAPP highlighted innovations that derrepresented groups within the Belfer positioned to respond to the coronavirus serve the public good in a new Spotlight Center and within the field of science pandemic. Homeland Security Project award ceremony. The Arctic Initiative and international affairs—something that ANNUAL REPORT 2020 1 DIRECTOR’S FOREWORD requires an all-hands-on-deck approach. Along with these emotions, though, I Center’s video series “Questions from Over the summer, we asked every team find myself feeling hope. Because for all Quarantine”—to share her expertise. here to outline priorities for promoting the challenges we face, we also see the diversity, inclusion, and belonging. Our promise of a better tomorrow. I am proud “My focus has always been on what do we Center is working hard to identify blind to be leading a Center that is dedicated to do in response to the pandemic,” Kayyem spots, build capacity for diverse voices, and building a more secure, peaceful world. said. “This was a 50-state homeland address roadblocks to genuine equality And I am grateful to be working with security disaster, with less-than-optimal and justice in our programming. Thanks colleagues who are committed to building national planning.” to data gathered by each of our teams, we a better future, together. know that, while we have a long way to go, Kayyem joined more than 700 mayors and we are making substantial progress. municipal leaders from around the world Responding to last spring for two-hour Zoom sessions This has been an emotional year. Like you, the Pandemic on emergency management and crisis I suspect, I have felt gratitude for front-line communications. The sessions, hosted by health care workers, grocery store clerks, the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership and other essential workers who put Many of our teams held events and Initiative, also gave the mayors the themselves at risk while taking care of us; published vital knowledge about the opportunity to share their experiences and anger at the elected officials who failed to pandemic; I will highlight just four to build an important network. lead the nation through the pandemic with examples here. competence or compassion; and sorrow for Former President Barack Obama’s Science those we have lost, too often without getting First, Juliette Kayyem used all the tools Advisor, John Holdren, also sprung into to say a proper goodbye. in her media kit—Twitter, a column action. In March, Holdren called together in The Atlantic, CNN, and the Belfer his former colleagues at the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and they agreed to meet weekly via Zoom to write six new reports, focusing on improving America’s capacity to deal with subsequent waves of COVID-19 and future pandemics. The reports, which are online at opcast. org, have been shared with pandemic leaders in Washington, the Biden-Harris team, members of Congress, governors, other opinion leaders in the public health domain, and the media. Next, the Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project’s Amritha Jayanti and Colin O’Leary authored a report analyzing the efficacy, accessibility, and research ethics of COVID-19 testing and treatment March 2020: Juliette Kayyem speaks to mayors and city officials from the HBX Live studio as part of a series of Zoom sessions on emergency management and crisis communications in responding to the technologies. TAPP also curated a list of coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 Digital Resources, elevating projects and initiatives that worked to 2 BELFER CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS DIRECTOR’S FOREWORD mitigate some of the devastating social effects of the pandemic. Finally, the Executive Director of the Cyber Project, Lauren Zabierek, and the Executive Director of the Defending Digital Democracy Project, Maria Barsallo Lynch, convened a Special Working Group on the Gov- ernment-Tech Partnership to Track COVID-19 to discuss and analyze digital contact tracing solutions, then published an analysis of digital contact tracing tools and methods. February 25, 2020: Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry joins Nicholas Burns and Torrey Taussig before a conversation about Kerry’s most consequential negotiations as Secretary. The event was part of the American Secretaries of State Project, a joint venture between The Future of Diplomacy Project at HKS, Building a Diverse The Program on Negotiation at HLS, and the Negotiation Roundtable/Harvard Negotiation Project at HBS. and Inclusive Center security issue and how to foster a diverse the Center each year with their range of Diversity, inclusion, and belonging have intelligence