Graham T. 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 and as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy and Plans under President Clinton, where he coordinated DOD strategy and policy towards Russia, Ukraine, and the other states of the former Soviet Union. 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) and ranks among the all-time bestsellers with more than 450,000 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

Fall

  • IGA-211 Central Challenges of American National Security, Strategy, and the Press

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. "Nuclear Terrorism and the Transatlantic Community." Visions of the Atlantic Alliance: The United States, the European Union, and NATO. Ed. Simon Serfaty. Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2005.
  • Commentary
    • Allison, Graham. "Can Seoul Summit Tackle Biggest Threat to US security – Nuclear Terrorism?" The Christian Science Monitor, March 26, 2012.
    • Allison, Graham. "Christmas Gift to America 20 years ago – a Russia to be Thankful For." Christian Science Monitor, December 25, 2011.
    • Allison, Graham. "Kim Jong Il, the Great Negotiator." Boston Globe, December 20, 2011.
    • Allison, Graham and, Robert D. Blackwell. "10 Reasons Why Russia Still Matters." Politico, October 30, 2011.
    • Allison, Graham. "Obama Should Test Iran’s Nuclear Offer." Washington Post, October 6, 2011.
    • Allison, Graham. "The Costs of America’s Choices." Boston Globe, September 10, 2011.
  • Magazine and Newspaper Articles
    • Allison, Graham. "How It Went Down." Time Magazine. May 7, 2012.
    • Allison, Graham. "A Response to Nuclear Terrorism Skeptics." Brown Journal of World Affairs. Fall/Winter 2010.
    • Allison, Graham. "On Nonproliferation." Seed Magazine. 2010.
    • Allison, Graham. "Nuclear Proliferation: A Race Between Cooperation and Catastrophe." Discourse: The Tufts Interdisciplinary Journal. Spring 2008.
    • Allison, Graham. "Nuclear Terrorism: How Serious a Threat to Russia?" Russia in Global Affairs (online edition). September/October 2004.
  • Research Papers/Reports
    • Asia Society Pakistan 2020 Study Group, Hassan Abbas, Project Director, Robert W. Hsu, Samina Ahmed, Graham Allison, et alia. "U.S. Policy Concerns about Pakistan." Asia Society Pakistan 2020 Study Group Report, May 2011.
    • Allison, Graham, and John P. White. "Iraq 2010: An Alternative Future for Iraq." August 2001.