In the News | 2017
 |
In the NewsDecember 15, 2017CIS mourns death of Harvard professorCalestous Juma was a DUSP MLK Visiting Professor (2014-15). “Calestous was that rarest of intellectuals—one who put his ideas into practice, and did so with a big, generous heart, filled with warmth and laughter. We enjoyed working with him immensely. His work and ideals will be a strong legacy for Africa and the developing world,” said CIS executive director and principal research scientist John Tirman. |
 |
In the NewsDecember 14, 2017Tell me how Trump’s North Korea gambit endsDaniel W. DreznerThe Washingon Post“Even if an American first strike knocked out North Korea’s nuclear capacity, millions of South Korean civilians, and American and South Korean soldiers, would be vulnerable to retaliation with conventional or chemical weapons” says Barry Posen. |
 |
In the NewsDecember 13, 2017Tillerson says US won't set preconditions for North Korea talksNicole Gaouette and Joshua BerlingerCNN“You need both sides to be credible in the good cop-bad cop routine for it to work. There are too many doubts about the weight and credibility of Tillerson.” said Vipin Narang. “McMaster has the ear of the President and is much more credible.” |
 |
In the NewsNovember 29, 2017North Korea's recent, and possibly most powerful missile testVipin Narang, associate professor of political science and nuclear strategy expert, spoke with the BBC, Foreign Policy, and the New York Times, to discuss implications of Pyongyang's missile test last night. |
 |
In the NewsNovember 29, 2017Trump promises new sanctions after North Korea's latest missile testWBUR Here and NowPresident Trump tweeted that major new sanctions will be imposed after North Korea's latest missile test. Jim Walsh puts the launch into context. |
 |
In the NewsNovember 17, 2017New initiative supported by $3.7 million in grantsResource DevelopmentMIT News OfficeThe MIT Security Studies Program launched today a collaborative program with the Harvard Belfer Center to mentor the next generation of foreign policy scholars with support from the Charles Koch Foundation. |
 |
In the NewsNovember 11, 2017Libertarian billionaire Charles Koch is making a big bet on foreign policyGreg JaffeWashington PostStephen Walt, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and Barry Posen, the director of MIT’s Security Studies program, will oversee the Koch-funded program at the two schools. |
 |
In the NewsNovember 9, 2017Why some Muslim clerics become jihadistsPeter DizikesMIT News OfficeWhat turns people into radical jihadist clerics? A new book by MIT political scientist Richard Nielsen offers a new answer: thwarted career ambitions.
|
 |
In the NewsNovember 8, 2017In speech to South Korean assembly, Trump tells the North 'Do not try us'Robin YoungHere & NowHere & Now's Robin Young discusses Trump's South Korea trip with Here & Now security analyst Jim Walsh (@DrJimWalshMIT). |
 |
In the NewsNovember 3, 2017Why we should welcome warningsPeter DizikesMIT News OfficeRichard Clarke, the former chief counter-terrorism advisor on the National Security Council, expanded on ideas in his new book, “Warnings,” asserting that specialists…can “see the thing buried in the data that other people don’t see.” |
 |
In the NewsNovember 3, 2017For families of Japanese abducted by North Korea, Trump visit brings spotlightMotoko RichNew York TImes“The abductee issue pulls at the heartstrings of the general public in a way that no other issue can,” said Richard Samuels, a Japan specialist and the director of the MIT Center for International Studies. |
 |
In the NewsOctober 13, 2017Trump will decertify the Iran nuclear deal. What does that mean?WBUR Here and NowJim Walsh, senior research associate at the MIT Security Studies Program, tells Here & Now's Robin Young that President Trump's move is largely symbolic. |
 |
In the NewsOctober 5, 2017Nuclear and present dangerPeter DizikesMIT News“The bad news is that denuclearization is a fantasy,” said Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at MIT, who has written extensively about North Korea’s nuclear program. ... “The good news is, deterrence can work.” |
 |
In the NewsOctober 2, 2017Mark Zuckerberg’s China dilemma: To kowtow or not?Audrey Jiajia LiThe Boston GlobeCan we really blame Zuckerberg for trying a bit too hard to prove that in facing the wealth of the world’s second largest economy, even a billionaire can be silenced? |
 |
In the NewsSeptember 19, 2017Trump is a wake-up call for the free worldAudrey Jiajia LiBoston GlobeOn September 14, at the invitation of the Center for International Studies, Kasparov gave a talk on the “Trump-Putin Phenomenon” at a MIT Starr Forum and took questions from the Globe. |
 |
In the NewsSeptember 11, 2017Making sense of nuclear threats“Today it’s very clear North Korea has an asymmetric escalation strategy,” says Vipin Narang, a political scientist at MIT. “We’re in a very unstable phase right now.” |
 |
In the NewsAugust 29, 2017US leadership as a Pacific power: Trump and beyondMercy A. KuoThe DiplomatOver the past few years most countries in the region—including and especially US allies and partners—have become increasingly skeptical about the future of US leadership in the western Pacific... |
 |
In the NewsAugust 25, 2017Political science debuts on MITxLeda ZimmermanMIT NewsEvan Lieberman, the Total Chair on Contemporary Africa, creates the first MIT Political Science class for edX, the multi-university online education platform. The course, Democracy and Development: Perspectives from Africa, launches Setember 26. |
 |
In the NewsAugust 22, 2017Tensions on Korean peninsulaPressTV-The DebateJim Walsh discussed North Korea's warning of deepening tensions on the Korean Peninsula following the recent joint military exercises by US and South Korea. |
 |
In the NewsAugust 18, 2017What Robert E Lee wrote to The Times about slavery in 1858Jacey FortinNew York TimesOne day in January, a few years before the Civil War, Robert E Lee wrote to The New York Times, seeking a correction, writes former CIS Neuffer fellow Jacey Fortin. Fortin now reports full-time for the The New York Times. |
 |
In the NewsJuly 10, 2017Former head of US counterintelligence on “US-Russian cybersecurity unit”Mary Louise KellyWBUR Morning EditionJoel Brenner, now at MIT, says President Trump's statement that he might partner with Putin on cyber issues is a reversal of decades of well-founded American suspicion of Russia. |
 |
In the NewsJuly 9, 2017Trump's cyber tweets cause dismay, confusionCorey BennettPoliticoThe attempt at cooperation itself could result in the US exposing even more secrets to a country that has already stolen so many, cautioned former Obama administration official David Edelman, director of the new MIT Project on Technology, the Economy, and National Security. |
 |
In the NewsJuly 7, 2017Justin Steil on the Trump administration travel banMichelle NhuchMIT NewsRegardless of the Supreme Court’s ultimate conclusion about the legality of the current executive order, its mean-spiritedness, short-sightedness, and damage it has done, and will continue to do, are already evident. |
 |
In the NewsJuly 5, 2017What's changed since the missile test?NPR Here and NowThe latest test demonstrates an underlying disconnect in US strategy: North Korea can make missiles faster than we can punish them. Listen to Jim Walsh on NPR's Here and Now. |
 |
In the NewsJune 7, 2017Brenner on Russian hacking effortCaitlin O'Keefe, Meghna ChakrabartiWBUR Radio BostonJoel Brenner, former NSA Inspector General, discusses the leaked NSA document analyzing a Russian military intelligence cyberattack on a US voting software company; and the alleged leaker, an NSA contractor, who has been arrested.
|
 |
In the NewsMay 25, 2017Halting intelligenceWGBH NewsJim Walsh, from MIT's Security Studies Program, discusses the effects that intelligence changes could have on the US—and politicians who take the term “beat the press” literally. |
 |
In the NewsMay 24, 2017Vipin Narang: On the brinkmanship beatLeda ZimmermanMIT NewsNarang, who specializes in nuclear security, proliferation, and deterrence, is closely monitoring the ongoing rivalry between India and Pakistan, and the alarming, increasingly bellicose sparring between North Korea and the United States... |
 |
In the NewsMay 22, 2017How political science contributes to national policies on immigration and military conflictMIT SHASS CommunicationsMIT News"It is remarkable that we do not measure the costs of war in any meaningful way," says John Tirman. "I suggest that Congress establish a conflict impact assessment during or after each war to bring home the true costs of armed conflict." |
 |
In the NewsMay 18, 2017Patching the electric gridRachel LayneMIT Technology Review“For the sake of efficiencies…we have created tremendous risk for ourselves,” warns Joel Brenner, the principal author of the MIT report on cybersecurity. Now, he says, people are waking up to the danger. |
 |
In the NewsMay 17, 2017Walsh on North Korea nuclear issuesMark GoldbergGlobal DispatchesJames Walsh discusses nuclear diplomacy with North Korea in respect to the recently elected Moon Jae-In as president of South Korea. Listen to the Global Dispatches podcast. |
 |
In the NewsMay 16, 2017US and Mexico: What’s the way forward?Peter DizikesMIT NewsOver the past two years, US-Mexico relations have taken a distinctive turn, largely stemming from the agenda President Donald Trump has brought to US politics...The MIT Starr Forum offers a look at how the neighboring countries could revive relations. |
 |
In the NewsApril 20, 2017Guillemin on the sarin attack in SyriaMichelle NhuchMIT NewsJeanne Guillemin, a medical anthropologist and a senior fellow in the MIT Security Studies Program, discusses the April 4 attack on Syrian civilians that killed at least 80. |
 |
In the NewsApril 7, 2017Strike on Syria is defensible but problematicMichael A. CohenBoston GlobeBarry Posen comments in the Boston Globe, “…one of the great ironies of Trump’s decision to use force is that is actually in direct support of President Obama’s 2013 negotiated agreement with the Syrian government…” |
 |
In the NewsApril 5, 2017MIT report to combat cyber threatsColin GrantBBCJoel Brenner, former NSA inspector general and CIS senior research fellow, speaks to BBC reporter Gareth Mitchell about the recent MIT report on cyber security that examines threats to the nation’s infrastructure. |
 |
In the NewsApril 5, 2017Crisis in SyriaWGBH NewsCarol Saivetz, a senior advisor at MIT’s Security Studies Program, is featured on WBGH's "Greater Boston" to discuss the crisis in Syria. |
 |
In the NewsApril 3, 2017MIT's experts in Asian securityLeda Zimmerman, Emily HiestandMIT NewsTaylor Fravel, Richard Samuels, and Vipin Narang train the next generation of scholars and security policy analysts; counsel national security officials in the US and abroad; and inform policy through publications and frequent contributions to public debates. |
 |
In the NewsMarch 31, 2017India, long at odds with Pakistan, may be rethinking nuclear first strikesMax FisherThe New York TimesThis would be more than an arms race, said Vipin Narang, “It’s very scary because all the ‘first-strike instability’ stuff is real…” Shivshankar Menon, India’s national security adviser (2011-2014) and recently at CIS as a Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow, is also quoted. |
 |
In the NewsMarch 22, 2017Mexico’s energy reformMary PottsMIT NewsLourdes Melgar, the Center’s Robert Wilhelm Fellow, MIT alumna, and former Mexican government official discusses opportunities and challenges of recent energy reforms in Mexico. |
 |
In the NewsMarch 21, 2017India may abandon its 'no first use' nuclear policyThe Economic Times"Serious voices, who cannot be ignored, seem to suggest that this is where India may be heading, and certainly wants to head,” said Vipin Narang, an expert on South Asian nuclear strategy. |
 |
In the NewsMarch 20, 2017As trash avalanche toll rises in Ethiopia, survivors ask whyHadra Ahmed and Jacey FortinThe New York TimesThe disaster is at odds with the image Ethiopia wants to project as a rapidly developing country, reports Hadra Ahmed and Jacey Fortin for the New York Times. Fortin is the 2016-17 Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow at CIS. |
 |
In the NewsMarch 16, 2017Rex Tillerson, in Japan, says US needs ‘different approach’ to North KoreaMotoko RichThe New York Times“It’s pretty clear that there’s a perfect storm brewing for mischief in East Asia right now,” said Richard Samuels, Ford International Professor of Political Science and director of the Center for International Studies at MIT. |
 |
In the NewsMarch 11, 2017Why US antimissile system in South Korea worries ChinaChris BuckleyThe New York Times“China is probably confident in its ability to be able to retaliate, but given the size and sophistication of US nuclear forces and the steady development of ballistic missile defenses, coupled with China’s small nuclear arsenal, the margin for error is thin,” said Taylor Fravel and Fiona Cunningham. |
 |
In the NewsMarch 8, 2017CIA scrambles to contain damage from WikiLeaks documentsMatthew Rosenberg, Scott Shane, and Adam GoldmanThe New York TimesInvestigators say that the leak was the work of a disaffected insider. Joel Brenner, senior research fellow at CIS and formerly the country’s top counterintelligence official, suggests that the intelligence agencies need to assess the advisability of sharing secrets widely inside their walls. |
 |
In the NewsMarch 7, 2017FBI prepares for new hunt for WikiLeaks’ sourceDevlin BarrettThe Washington Post“Anybody who thinks that the Manning and Snowden problems were one-offs is just dead wrong,’’ said Joel Brenner, former head of U.S. counterintelligence at the office of the Director of National Intelligence. Brenner is a senior research fellow at CIS. |
 |
In the NewsJanuary 9, 2017Trump's intel bashingJoseph MarksNextgov“When the president of the United States disparages your work, demeans your work, insults the integrity of your work, you wonder why you’re doing it, especially for a government salary,” says Joel Brenner, a senior research fellow at CIS and a former National Security Agency senior counsel. |
Expert Guide
Video Gallery
Contact
Events
Connect with CIS