HARVEY M. SAPOLSKY is Professor of Public Policy and Organization in the Department of Political Science and Director of the MIT Security Studies Program. Dr. Sapolsky completed a B.A. at Boston University and earned an M.P.A. and Ph.D. at Harvard University. He has worked in a number of public policy areas, notably health, science and defense and specializes in effects of institutional structures and bureaucratic politics on policy outcomes. In the defense field he has served as a consultant to the Commission on Government Procurement, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Naval War College, the Office of Naval Research, the RAND Corporation, Draper Laboratory, John Hopkins' Applied Physics Laboratory and Lockheed Martin, and has been a visiting professor at the University of Michigan and the U.S. Military Academy. He is currently focusing his research on three topics: interservice and civil/military relations; the impact of casualties on U.S. use of force; and the future structure of defense industries. Professor Sapolsky's most recent defense-related book is titled Science and the Navy, and is a study of military support of academic research.

• 17.315 Comparative Health Policy (Syllabus)
• 17.460 Defense Politics (Syllabus)
• 17.462 Innovation in Military Organizations (Syllabus)
• 17.466 Organizational Theory and the Military (Syllabus)
• 17.951 Intelligence: Practices, Problems and Prospects (Syllabus)

• Harvey M. Sapolsky, "The U.S. Navy's Fleet Ballistic Missile Program and Finite Deterrence" (pdf, 123 KB, pp. 18)
• Eugene Gholz, Daryl G. Press, Harvey M. Sapolsky, "The Road Home" (pdf, 85 KB, pp. 21)
• Harvey M. Sapolsky, "Targeting Polaris" in Henry Sokolski, ed., Getting MAD (Carlisle PA: Strategic Studies Institute, 2004).
• Harvey M. Sapolsky, "Inventing Systems Integration" in Andrea Prencipe and Andrew Davies, eds., The Business of Systems Management (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003) (pdf, 122KB)
• Harvey M. Sapolsky, " The Science and Politics of Defense Analysis" in Ham Cravens, ed., The Social Sciences Go to Washington (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2003)
• Harvey M. Sapolsky, "War Needs A Warning Label," Breakthroughs, Spring 2003. (pdf, 1556KB)

Harvey Sapolsky

Office: E38-674
Phone: 617-253-5265
Email: sapolsky@mit.edu

Curriculum Vitae (pdf)

Dept. of Political Science