How can we make America safe? We posed this question to eleven leading scholars of foreign policy and national security. The responses, contained in the working papers on this page, were presented at a meeting of our National Security Working Group on June 24, 2006 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Together, the scholars 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
• Fight terrorism with a broader set of tools
• 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.

Introduction and Compiled Papers

• Introduction
• Compiled Papers
• Policy Brief: Iraq and the War on Terror

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, Associate 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.

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

All papers reflect the authors' own views.

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

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Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 547-2600

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