Juliette Kayyem

Lecturer in Public Policy
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Office Address
Littauer-P-16
Mailing Address
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 53
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact
Phone: 617-496-6743
Email: Juliette_Kayyem@hks.harvard.edu
Assistant
Alison Barron (617-496-7405)
Juliette Kayyem

Profile

Juliette N. Kayyem, a columnist for the Boston Globe and Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, has spent nearly 15 years in counterterrorism, homeland security and emergency management arena. In 2013, after only a year at the Globe, she was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her “colorful and well reported” pieces. She is also a CNN national security analyst.

She most recently served for President Obama as Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. As Assistant Secretary, Ms. Kayyem was responsible for coordinated and consistent planning between the Department and all of its state, local, tribal and territorial partners on issues as varied as immigration, intelligence sharing, military affairs, border security, and the response to operational events such as H1N1, the December 25th attempted terrorist attack, the Haiti earthquake and the BP oil spill. In this capacity, she served as the co-chair of congressionally mandated Preparedness Task Force, a member of President Obama’s Task Force on Puerto Rico and the Defense Departments Council or Governors. She also managed the security efforts surrounding major sporting events, including the Chicago Olympic bid, the Vancouver Olympics, the Caribbean Games and the World Equestrian Games. She was the most senior Arab American female appointee in the Obama Administration.

In the immediate aftermath of the BP oil spill, Ms. Kayyem was tasked to direct interagency and intergovernmental affairs for the National Incident Command, overseeing a diverse interagency and interdisciplinary staff for the White House and DHS to address unprecedented issues in the response, including public safety, public engagement, environmental remediation and legal compliance. For her work, she received the Coast Guard’s highest civilian honor.

Before joining the Obama Administration, she served as Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s homeland security adviser, overseeing the National Guard, the commonwealth’s strategic security planning, and the distribution of homeland security funds consistent with the Governor’s priorities. Prior to that, she was a lecturer at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, serving also as co-chair of the Dubai Initiative and as Executive Director of the school’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. A lawyer by training, she began her legal career in 1995 at the Department of Justice, ultimately serving as an advisor to then Attorney General Janet Reno until 1999.

Ms. Kayyem was a congressional appointee to the National Commission on Terrorism which, in early summer 2001, highlighted major gaps in planning and preparation for a possible terrorist attack. She is the co-author of the critically acclaimed Protecting Liberty in an Age of Terror (2005, with Phil Heymann) as well as the author and editor of numerous books and articles, including First to Arrive: State and Local Responses to Terrorism (2003). She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Until she re-entered public service, Ms. Kayyem served as an on air analyst for NBC and MSNBC News.

Named a CNN/Fortune Magazine’s People to Watch, her column is distributed through the New York Times wire service and runs in the International Herald Tribune. A graduate of Harvard College and Law School, she is married to David Barron, a Harvard Law professor, and has three children. 

Courses

Fall

  • IGA-615 The U.S. Homeland Security Enterprise

Spring

  • MLD-381 The Management of Crises Response

Media Expertise

Juliette Kayyem 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:

  • Commentary
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Hillary, Tina, and Girls Like Them." Boston Globe, February 4, 2013.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Immigration Commission Brings Border States to Table." Boston Globe, January 31, 2013.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "From Seneca Falls to Stonewall and Back Again." Boston Globe, January 28, 2013.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Clinton’s Reality Check." Boston Globe, January 24, 2013.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Action on Guns and Immigration Needed." Boston Globe, January 21, 2013.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Chuck Hagel Will Too Set Policy." Boston Globe, January 14 , 2013.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "The Real Plight of the Orphan-Hostages." Boston Globe, January 7, 2013.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "A Storm of a Fight." Boston Globe, January 3, 2013.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Details are a Distraction in Newtown Killings." Boston Globe, December 20, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "As It Grows, Al Jazeera Risks Losing Touch." Boston Globe, December 13, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Qatar Arms Deals Expose Limits of US." Boston Globe, December 10, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "The World Does Not Revolve Around Benghazi." Boston Globe, December 3, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Penatgon Rules Excluding Women Aren't Worth Defending." Boston Globe, November 29 , 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Israel’s Iron Dome." Boston Globe, November 22, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "BP Lets Employees Take The Fall." Boston Globe, November 19, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Bring Veteran Services Into the Future." Boston Globe, November 11, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Obama Has a Mandate — Immigration Reform." The Boston Globe, November 8, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Politicians Push Back." Boston Globe, November 1, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Obama's Message of Tough Love." CNN.com, October 30, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Hurricane Solidarity Won't Last Long." Boston Globe, October 30, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "US View of Cuba is Stuck in the 1960s." Boston Globe, October 29, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Science and the Civic Duty." The Boston Globe, October 25, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "A Night to Woo Women Voters." The Boston Globe, October 23, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Is the Foreign Policy Debate Irrelevant?" The Boston Globe, October 22, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Khadafy Son Should Be Tried by Libya." The Boston Globe, October 15, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "The Toughest Sanctions." Boston Globe, October 11, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "IKEA’s Saudi problem." Boston Globe, October 4, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Energy Policy Shows Fallacy of a Domestic Debate." Boston Globe, October 1, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "It’s the Syrians Who Will Pay for Murders of Americans in Libya." Boston Globe, September 12, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Never Say Never Again." Foreign Policy, September 11, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "On Anniversary of 9/11, Fear is Present But Not All-Consuming." Boston Globe, September 10, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Protect, and Isolate, Author of Book on Bin Laden Raid." Boston Globe, August 30, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "London Could Show How to Build a Better Olympics." Boston Globe, August 26, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "US Would Own the War in Syria." Boston Globe, August 16, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "As Veteran Population Changes, Services Must Adapt." Boston Globe, July 23, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Michele Bachmann’s Anti-Muslim Paranoia." Boston Globe, July 19, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Pulling the Plug on Nation’s Security." Boston Globe, July 9, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "The Politics of Disaster." Boston.com, July 2, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Egypt and Iran’s Inevitable Courtship." Boston Globe, June 28, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "An Emerging Democracy Requires More Than Just Elections." Boston Globe, June 25, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "The Darker Side of the Bio-Industry." Boston Globe, June 18, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Fears of Migration Add to Europe’s Woes." Boston Globe, June 14, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Suicide is the Biggest Foe for US Troops." Boston Globe, June 11, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "The Pentagon is Stopped From Going Green." Boston Globe, June 7, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Election Season Requires Listening, Not Just Talking." Boston Globe, May 31, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "The ‘Joplin Effect’." Boston Globe, May 24, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Europe's Other Challenge: Immigration." Boston Globe, May 21, 2012.
    • Kayyem, Juliette. "Urging Women to Be All That You Can’t Be." Boston Globe, May 17, 2012.