The Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, also known as the Belfer Center, is a research center located within the

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, in the United States. From 2017 until his death in October, 2022, the center was led by Director

Ash Carter Ashton Baldwin Carter (September 24, 1954 – October 24, 2022) was an American government official and academic who served as the 25th United States Secretary of Defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He later served as director of the Be ...

, former U.S. Secretary of Defense and Co-Director

Eric Rosenbach Eric Brien Rosenbach is an American public servant and retired U.S. Army Captain (United States O-3), Captain who served as The Pentagon, Pentagon Chief of staff, Chief of Staff from July 2015 to January 2017 and as Assistant Secretary of Defense ...

, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense. Belfer was founded in 1973 by biochemist Paul M. Doty as the Program for Science and International Affairs within Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences to provide analysis on arms control and nuclear threat reduction. Following a grant from the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

, the program was re-established as the Center for Science and International Affairs, becoming the first permanent research center at the newly formed School of Government. In 1997, following further endowment, the center was renamed as the Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs in honor of Robert A. Belfer, founder of Belco Oil & Gas Corporation. In 2012, the Stanton Foundation provided funds for a paid

Wikipedian in residence A Wikipedian in residence or Wikimedian in residence (WiR) is a Wikipedia editor, a Wikipedian (or Wikimedian), who accepts a placement with an institution, typically an art gallery, library, archive, museum, cultural institution, learned so ...

at the Belfer Center. This became controversial due to links between the Belfer Center and the Stanton Foundation (the directors of each are a married couple) and public concerns about

conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia Conflict-of-interest (COI) editing on Wikipedia occurs when editors use Wikipedia to advance the interests of their external roles or relationships. The type of COI editing of most concern on Wikipedia is paid editing for public relations (PR) p ...

. The center is organized into subgroups with specific areas of focus; for example, an

energy technology Energy development is the field of activities focused on obtaining sources of energy from natural resources. These activities include production of renewable, nuclear, and fossil fuel derived sources of energy, and for the recovery and reuse ...

innovation policy group led by Laura Diaz Anadon. A 2021 investigative report by student group Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard found that many of the center's climate initiatives were funded in part by fossil fuel companies, and that the center had allegedly taken several steps to cover up that fact.

Board members

Center board members include: * Graham Allison, former Director, Belfer Center, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government,

* Lewis M. Branscomb, Professor emeritus of Public Policy and Corporate Management *

Albert Carnesale Albert Carnesale (born July 2, 1936) is an American academic and a specialist in arms control and national security. He is a former chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, provost of Harvard University, and dean of the Harvard K ...

, former Harvard University provost * Ashton B. Carter, Chair of International Relations, Security & Science faculty, physicist, who served as the 25th

United States Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The ...

(until his death in October 2022) * John M. Deutch, former Director of Central Intelligence *

John P. Holdren John Paul Holdren (born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, March 1, 1944) is an American scientist who served as the senior advisor to President Barack Obama on science and technology issues through his roles as Assistant to the President for Science and ...

, John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy *

Joseph Nye Joseph Samuel Nye Jr. (born January 19, 1937) is an American political scientist. He and Robert Keohane co-founded the international relations theory of neoliberalism, which they developed in their 1977 book ''Power and Interdependence''. Togethe ...

, University Distinguished Service Professor

Advisory board

The center has an international advisory board. Members include: *

Michael Chertoff Michael Chertoff (born November 28, 1953) is an American attorney who was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security to serve under President George W. Bush. Chertoff also served for one additional day under President Barack Obama. ...

, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security * Gregory C. Carr, Boston Technology founder * Tim Collins, Ripplewood Holdings founder * Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco Systems * Nathaniel Rothschild, Atticus Capital co-chairman

Past members

* Stephen Biddle, theorist setting U.S. counterinsurgency policy *

Pierpaolo Barbieri Pierpaolo Barbieri (born 17 May 1987) is an Argentine economic historian, researcher, Executive Director at Greenmantle and founder of Ualá, an Argentina-based personal financial management mobile app. He is the author of the book ''Hitler’s ...

, author, founder of

Ualá Ualá is a mobile app used for managing a Mastercard prepaid debit card in Argentina. The app was founded by Pierpaolo Barbieri and investors include Point72 Ventures. Competitors include Argentine digital bank Brubank, which provides transa ...

Paul Volcker Paul Adolph Volcker Jr. (September 5, 1927 – December 8, 2019) was an American economist who served as the 12th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987. During his tenure as chairman, Volcker was widely credited with having ended th ...

, former United States Chairman of the Federal Reserve

References

External links

Official website
Harvard Kennedy School 1973 establishments in Massachusetts Realist think tanks {{org-stub