Events Archive

Kyrgyzstan: CIS Assesses the Crisis

On June 15, 2010, Carol Saivetz, SSP Research Affiliate, and Bakyt Beshimov, Visiting Scholar, MIT Center for International Studies, gave a talk on the crisis in Kyrgyzstan.

"Obama's Strategy Towards Afghanistan, Pakistan, and South Asia"

The CIS series Audit of the Conventional Wisdom continued on June 4, 2010 with a look at the Obama administration's strategy towards Afghanistan, Pakistan, and South Asia. Paul Staniland, a graduate student at SSP, was featured.

"Why is the Defense Budget so Big?"

The Center for International Studies' series Audit of the Conventional Wisdom continued with "Why is the Defense Budget so big?" an analysis of the defense budget--the largest since World War II. Is it a rational response to the threats and the dangers that the United States faces--or not? Benjamin Friedman is a PhD student at the MIT Department of Political Science. He is a member of the Security Studies Program and is a research fellow in defense and homeland security studies at the Cato Institute.

IAP 2010

Contemporary Military Topics: In individual sessions, SSP's 2009-2010 Military Fellows discussed the counter IED flight in Iraq, the significance of GPS upgrades, and Seabasing.

IAP 2009

Key Issues In the Department of Defense for the Obama Administration was the title of an MIT IAP event on January 15, 2009, featuring Cindy Williams, Barry Posen, Owen Cote, Harvey Sapolsky, and CIS Wilhelm Fellow, Admiral William Fallon.

Lectures and Conferences

Barry Posen spoke on “Offense or Defense? U.S. Options and Iran’s Nuclear Program," at Dartmouth College's Dickey Center on February 24, 2010. Click here for article about his talk published in The Dartmouth.

On February 8, 2010, Jim Walsh spoke at Dartmouth's Dickey Center for International Understanding and War and Peace Studies. The topic of his talk was: "Getting the Bomb: Myths, Puzzles and Policy Changes." Click here to watch a video of his talk.

Stephen Van Evera was a panelist at Tuft University's Fletcher School on March 6, 2009. The topic: American policy toward the Persian Gulf region.

Professor Stephen Van Evera gave a talk at Draper Laboratory on March 9, 2009. The topic: "American Grand Strategy for the New Era."

On April 30, 2009, Fotini Christia, along with Admiral William Fallon, USN (Ret), spoke at MIT on the topic of Afghanistan. A video of the talk is available at the CIS Starr Forum web site.

Professor Stephen Van Evera organized and led the first annual Tobin Project National Security meeting at Airlie House, Virginia, November 14-16, 2008. At that meeting he and Peter Krause presented a co-authored paper, "Ideas for the War of Ideas."

On November 8, 2008, Stephen Van Evera spoke on "National Security issues for the Next President," for the Second Step seminar, Brookline, Massachusetts.

In November, 2008, Professor Taylor Fravel gave a lecture at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China on "China's Territorial Future: Will Conquest Pay?", in Qingdao, China. He was also a participant in the 20th CAPS Conference on PLA Studies, November 2008, in Taipei, Taiwan.

Professor Taylor Fravel attended the 11th PIIC Conference on Arms Control and Disarmament, October 2008.

Professor Stephen Van Evera delivered the inaugural Kenneth Waltz lecture at Columbia University's War and Peace Institute on October 14, 2008, speaking on "A Farewell to Geopolitics: American Grand Strategy for the New Era."

Professor Stephen Van Evera spoke on "Preventing War: New Ideas for Governments and NGOs" for the MIT Women's League forum on "Is Peace Possible?" on October 7, 2008. Also on October 7, he spoke on "National Security Threats and Solutions" for the Boston Athenaeum.

On Sept. 25, 2008, Professor Stephen Van Evera gave a talk at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC. The talk was part of a book launch for Melvyn P. Leffler and Jeffrey W. Legro, eds., To Lead the World: American Strategy after the Bush Doctrine, (Oxford, 2008). His chapter is titled "A Farewell to Geopolitics". Please click here for further information about the event.

Taylor Fravel gave a presentation at the APSA Conference in, Boston, MA, September 2008. The topic: "China's Territorial Future: Will Conquest Pay?"

On July 15, 2008, Barry Posen testified before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee on a new U.S. Grand Strategy.

Jim Walsh testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Thursday, April 24, 2008. The hearing was titled "Addressing Iran's Nuclear Ambitions".

February 29-March 1, 2008, Professor Richard Samuels and SSP graduate student Llewelyn Hughes were moderators for a CIS-sponsored event titled "US-Japan Relations and a Changing Asia." Professor Barry Posen gave the keynote address. Professor Taylor Fravel was one of many speakers at this event. Other speakers included SSP alums Daryl Press and Christopher Twomey. A full report of the event is available at CIS' web site.

February 22-23, 2008, Professor Barry Posen chaired a conference titled "Energy, National Security and the Persian Gulf." The conference was sponsored by the MIT Security Studies Program and The MIT Center for International Studies.

Professor Barry Posen gave a talk on "U.S. Grand Strategy, Consensus & Critique," at MIT on Thursday, March 20, 2008. The talk was part of MIT's Sidney-Pacific Lecture Series.