HKS in the News April 27, 2012

1. How It Went Down (Allison) Time Magazine

2. The rise of Turkey as a superpower (Burns) The Boston Globe

3. Romney’s fiscal fantasy plan (Summers) The Washington Post

4. New North Korean Missile Is Called Into Question (Park) The New York Times

5. Solutions in Sight for Underfunded Public Pensions (Healey) Asset International

6. Election option offered (King) Superior Telegram (WI)

How It Went Down

Time Magazine

April 26

Commentary by: Graham Allison, Belfer Center

Topic: The hunt for Osama Bin Laden

"I can only speak with authority through Feb. 15, 2009," said Michael Hayden, who was George W. Bush's last CIA director. "But at that point, when people would ask 'When's the last time you really knew where he was?' my answer was Tora Bora in 2001." …

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The rise of Turkey as a superpower

The Boston Globe

April 27

Commentary by: Nicholas Burns, Belfer Center

Topic: Turkey’s economic and political growth

When the Cold War ended, more than a few European and American officials predicted that Turkey would decline rapidly in geopolitical significance. Without the Soviet threat, they said, Turkey’s role as a bulwark against communist expansion was finished and it was destined to be a second-tier power in the 21st century.

That prediction, of course, could not have been more shortsighted. During the past decade, Turkey has become the rising power in Europe, arguably the world’s most influential Muslim country and a dynamic inspiration for young Arab reformers. …

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Romney’s fiscal fantasy plan

The Washington Post

April 26

Commentary by: Lawrence Summers, Mossavar-Rahmani Center

Topic: Mitt Romney’s budget plan

Political arithmetic is always suspect, and one should always examine carefully the claims of those seeking votes. Smart observers have learned to distinguish between the claims of political candidates and their advisers and proposals that have been evaluated by independent scorekeepers such as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

This principle was aptly illustrated by the “budget analysis” Mitt Romney’s chief economic adviser, Glenn Hubbard, recently put forward. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed this week, Hubbard constructs a budget plan that he imagines President Obama might propose someday, engages in a set of his own extrapolations and then makes assertions about it. …

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New North Korean Missile Is Called Into Question

The New York Times

April 27

Quoted: John Park, Belfer Center

Topic: North Korean missile program

... Now, a pair of German missile experts have gone public with evidence suggesting that new missiles that the North rolled out with much pomp at a parade just days later were mock-ups, and clumsy ones at that.

… John Park, a research fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, warned that the reports about fake missiles should not cause people to underestimate the expansion of North Korea’s missile program. …

“Such supplies like old missile parts have a tendency to go ‘missing’ as commercially motivated elements meet the demand from countries like North Korea,” Mr. Park said. Such concerns appeared to be borne out when analysts suggested that the 16-wheeled vehicles that carried the missiles in the April 15 parade apparently originated from a state-run Chinese company. …

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Solutions in Sight for Underfunded Public Pensions

Asset International

April 26

Cited: Research by Thomas Healey, Mossavar-Rahmani Center

Topic: U.S. public pension problem

Total unfunded public pension liabilities in the United States are growing, fueled by an interwoven array of financial, legal and political intricacies, according to a new paper written by Thomas Healey and Kevin Nicholson of the Harvard Kennedy School along with Carl Hess from Towers Watson Investment. …

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Election option offered

Superior Telegram (WI)

April 27

Quoted: David King

Topic: Election reforms

Wisconsin residents have another option when it comes time to vote for president in November. And the choice is greater than the Democratic or Republican parties.

“Americans Elect is an innovative process that looks to reform the political system at the highest level,” said Professor David C. King, a member of the board of advisors at Americans Elect. King has experience with election reform, and since 1992, has been a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and faculty chairman of Harvard’s program for newly elected members of the U.S. Congress and Harvard’s executive program for leaders in state and local governments. …