“How can we make America safe?" We recently posed this question to eleven leading scholars of foreign policy and national security. Their responses are contained in the working papers on this page. Together, they advocate a broad strategy that combats terrorism on all fronts—not only on the battlefield—and that directs our resources toward the unique threats of the post-9/11 era. Such a strategy would, at a minimum, accomplish five key objectives:

Prevent terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons
Arrive at an endgame in Iraq
Spread democracy and win the war of ideas
Finance and fight a broader War on Terror
Manage the rise of great powers

Although the eleven scholars do not agree on every issue, they do agree that the nation's current national security strategy is deeply flawed and that a new approach is urgently needed. Their papers contain the seeds of this new approach, which the scholars are committed to developing and refining in the months to come.

The working papers on this page were written by members of the Tobin Project's National Security Working Group.

All papers represent the authors' own views.

Hard copies can be obtained by contacting the Tobin Project at:

One Mifflin Place - Suite 240
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 547-2600

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Working Papers

Introduction and compiled papers

Prevent terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons

Making America Safer from Nuclear Terrorism
Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government and Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Preventing a Nuclear 9/11
Matthew Bunn, Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom, Harvard University
North Korea, Iran and the Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: The Threat, U.S. Policy and the Prescription…and the India Deal
Robert L. Gallucci, Dean, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

Arrive at an endgame in Iraq

Iraq Disengagement
Barry Posen, Ford International Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Spread democracy and win the war of ideas

A Balanced Foreign Policy
Daryl Press, Associate Professor of Government, Dartmouth College
Benjamin Valentino, Assistant Professor of Government, Dartmouth College
On Every Front: A Strategy for the War on Terror
Stephen Van Evera, Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The War on Terror: Forgotten Lessons from World War II*
Stephen Van Evera, Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Finance and fight a broader War on Terror

Budgets to Make America Safer
Cindy Williams, Principal Research Scientist, Security Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Fighting the War on Terrorism: A Better Approach
Dan Byman, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Peace and Security Studies, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

Manage the rise of great powers

The Challenge of China
Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Getting China Right: Cutting Through the Myths of China’s Growth
Edward S. Steinfeld, Associate Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
American Foreign Policy for the New Era
Stephen Van Evera, Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

* This paper appears on the web site of the MIT Center for International Studies.