Graham T. Allison

Douglas Dillon Professor of Government
Director
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
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
Simone O'Hanlon (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 (2013), Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States and the World (authored with Robert Blackwill), is currently a bestseller in the US and abroad.  His previous 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:

  • Books
    • Allison, Graham, Robert D. Blackwill, and Ali Wyne. Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World. MIT Press, 2013.
  • Commentary
    • Allison, Graham. "'Star Wars' Today: What Would Reagan Do?" Los Angeles Times, March 28, 2013.
    • Allison, Graham. "'Zero Dark Thirty' Has the Facts Wrong – and That's a Problem, Not Just for the Oscars." Christian Science Monitor, February 22, 2013.
    • Allison, Graham. "50 Years After Cuban Missile Crisis: Closer Than you Thought to World War III." The Christian Science Monitor, October 15, 2012.
    • Allison, Graham, and Shai Feldman. "Why Netanyahu Backed Down." The New York Times, October 12, 2012.
    • Allison, Graham. "Did Bibi's Bomb Bomb?" Haaretz Daily (Israel), October 9, 2012.
    • Allison, Graham, and Mike Murphy. "Voters Know More about the World Than You Think." Politico, October 20, 2012.
    • Allison, Graham. "Living in the Era of Megaterror." New York Times, September 7, 2012.
    • Allison, Graham. "Thucydides’s Trap Has Been Sprung in the Pacific." Financial Times, August 21, 2012.
    • Allison, Graham. "At 50, the Cuban Missile Crisis as Guide." New York Times, June 15, 2012.
  • HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series
    • Allison, Graham. "What Happened to the Soviet Superpower’s Nuclear Arsenal? Clues for the Nuclear Security Summit." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP12-038, August 2012.
  • Magazine and Newspaper Articles
    • Allison, Graham. "The Cuban Missile Crisis at 50." Foreign Affairs. July/August 2012.
    • Allison, Graham. "Slinking Toward the Bomb." Scientific American. June 2012.