Graham Allison

Douglas Dillon Professor of Government
Director
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Strengthening Democratic Institutions
Office Address
Littauer-368
Mailing Address
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 53
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact
Phone: 617-496-6099
Fax: 617-495-1905
Email: graham_allison@Harvard.Edu
Assistant
Meghan Van Orden (617-496-6098)
Graham Allison

Profile

Graham Allison is Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. As "Founding Dean" of the modern Kennedy School, under his leadership, from 1977 to 1989, a small, undefined program grew twenty-fold to become a major professional school of public policy and government. Dr. Allison has served as Special Advisor to the Secretary of Defense under President Reagan. He has the sole distinction of having twice been awarded the Department of Defense's highest civilian award, the Distinguished Public Service Medal, first by Secretary Cap Weinberger and second by Secretary Bill Perry. He served as a member of the Defense Policy Board for Secretaries Weinberger, Carlucci, Cheney, Aspin, Perry and Cohen. Dr. Allison's first book, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (1971), was released in an updated and revised second edition (1999) andranks among the bestsellers in 20th century political science with more than 400,000 copies in print. His latest book, Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, is now in its third printing, and was selected by the New York Times as one of the "100 most notable books of 2004."

Courses

Spring

  • IGA-201 Central Challenges of American Foreign Policy

Media Expertise

Graham Allison welcomes media inquiries on the following subjects:

Additional experts may be found by clicking on each subject listed. You may contact faculty directly or if you need assistance contact the Communications Office at 617-495-1115.

Research

For a complete list of faculty citations from 2001 - present, please visit the Harvard Kennedy School Research Report Online.

Selected Publication Citations:

  • Book Chapters
    • Allison, Graham. "The Cuban Missile Crisis." Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases. Ed. Steve Smith, Amelia Hadfield, and Tim Dunne. Oxford University Press, 2008, 207-228.
    • Allison, Graham. "Avoiding Crisis Between Superpowers." Power and Restraint. Ed. Richard Rosecrance, and Gu Guoliang. PublicAffairs, 2009.
    • Allison, Graham. "Keeping China and the U.S. Together." Power and Restraint: A Shared Vision for the US-China Relationship. Ed. Richard Rosecrance, and Gu Guoliang. PublicAffairs, 2009.
  • Magazine and Newspaper Articles
    • Allison, Graham. "Nuclear Deterrence in the Age of Nuclear Terrorism." Technology Review. November/December 2008.
    • Allison, Graham. "How to Keep the Bomb From Terrorists." Newsweek. March 23, 2009.
  • Op-Eds
    • Allison, Graham. "Time to Bury a Dangerous Legacy - Part 1: A Clear Agenda Combined with Determination Could Prevent a Nuclear 9/11." YaleGlobal Online, March 14, 2008.
    • Allison, Graham. "Sitting Down at the Nuclear Table with Iran." Boston Globe, June 7, 2008.
    • Allison, Graham. "The Fragility of the Global Nuclear Order." Boston Globe, September 30, 2008.
    • Allison, Graham. "The U.S. and the Nukes: Nonproliferation." International Herald Tribune, October 9, 2008.
    • Allison, Graham. "When Will Osama Test Obama?" Chicago Tribune, November 30, 2008.
    • Allison, Graham. "The Real Afghan Issue is Pakistan." Wall Street Journal, March 30, 2009.
    • Allison, Graham. "North Korea Won't Fire Nuke. . .but Could Sell One to Osama." The Sun (England), May 28, 2009.
    • Allison, Graham. "A New Red Line For Iran." Washington Post, June 1, 2009.
  • Public Testimony
    • Allison, Graham. Testimony to the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services and International Security, U.S. Senate, April 24, 2008.
    • Allison, Graham. "Saving the NPT and Noproliferation Regime in an Era of Nuclear Renaissance." Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, U.S. House of Representatives, July 24, 2008.
    • Graham, Bob, Jim Talent, Timothy J. Roemer, Wendy R. Sherman, Graham T. Allison, Richard Verma, Henry Sokolski, Stephen Rademaker, and Robin Cleveland. "World at Risk: The Report of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism." Testimony for the Armed Services Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, January 22, 2009.