News + Media

	In the News January 8, 2020 How an Iranian cyberattack might start Marketplace David Edelman quoted: Iran has promised retaliation following the US killing of its top commander, and one form that could take is cyberattacks. Iran is not considered the most sophisticated cyber actor, but David Edelman said it has attacked and been the target of attacks, so it has an unusual amount of experience with hacking.
	In the News January 7, 2020 Jeanne Guillemin, biological warfare expert and senior advisor at MIT, dies at 76 Michelle EnglishMIT News Jeanne Guillemin was described by The New York Times as a “scientific sleuth” and the Washington Post as a “pioneering researcher” in obituaries that lauded her groundbreaking work in biological warfare — a field where men had long outnumbered their female colleagues.
	In the News January 6, 2020 Iran drives another stake into the heart of the nuclear deal Tim ListerCNN Vipin Narang quoted: Vipin Narang, Associate Professor of Political Science at MIT, points out that despite Iran's announcement that it won't abide by enrichment levels and quantities set by the JCPOA, "it is still quite far from having enough enriched uranium for a bomb, let alone a functional arsenal because...of the JCPOA."
	In the News January 5, 2020 Iraqi parliament votes to expel US troops from country Fox News Senior Research Associate at MIT’s Security Studies Program Dr Jim Walsh on the US airstrike that killed top Iranian general Soleimani.
	In the News January 4, 2020 Did the killing of Qassim Suleimani deter Iranian attacks, or encourage them? Amanda TaubThe New York Times Vipin Narang quoted: “He was a monster, no question,” said Vipin Narang, an MIT political scientist who has studied efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear program. “But there’s a consequentialist argument as well.” Dr Narang said the deterrence argument “assumes a unitary, rational actor.” While he said that could apply to Iran, which may want to avoid war, it may not apply, say, to Hezbollah, which Iran backs in Lebanon.
	In the News January 3, 2020 Oil prices surge after US attack kills senior Iran military chief Al Jazeera John Tirman quoted: "Certainly Iran is going to retaliate in some way - retaliations will come, as they have in the past, in what we call an asymmetrical way. They're not going to confront the US directly but they will perhaps attack Saudi tankers again, maybe Saudi oil refineries again," John Tirman told Al Jazeera. "The fact is that Iran will come back and hit US assets or the assets of US allies in the region, and they will do so repeatedly over a period of time," Tirman said.
	In the News January 3, 2020 Qassem Soleimani long targeted the United States Sean Philip CotterBoston Herald Jim Walsh quoted: “Soleimani was a central figure in Iran — he was Iran’s military representative to the Middle East,” Jim Walsh, an expert on terrorism and the Middle East at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the Herald. “There was sort of a cult of personality about him, and people thought of him as being talented.”
	In the News January 3, 2020 Qassem Soleimani, top Iranian general, killed in US airstrike in Baghdad Peter O'Dowd WBUR Here & Now Peter O'Dowd speaks with security analyst Jim Walsh about the US killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad, which is expected to have larger repercussions.
	In the News January 1, 2020 George W Bush slips in and out of town as Poodle naps Nick WelshSanta Barbara Independent John Tirman interview and research heavily referenced in piece about mortality rates and cost of war.
	In the News January 1, 2020 A look at the national security challenges facing the US in 2020 Robin YoungWBUR Here & Now Robin Young speaks with security analyst Jim Walsh about the stalled nuclear talks with North Korea and the US embassy protests in Baghdad.