Dr. Graham Allison

Graham Allison is Douglas Dillon Professor of Government and Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Allison's most recent book, Nuclear Terrorism: the Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, is not in its third printing and was selected by the New York Times as one of the "100 most notable books of 2004." From 1977 to 1989, Dr. Allison served as Dean of the Kennedy School. Under his leadership, a small, undefined program grew twenty-fold to become a major professional school of public policy and government. Dr. Allison served as Special Advisor to the Secretary of Defense under President Reagan and as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy and Plans under President Clinton. He has the sole distinction of having twice been awarded the Defense Department’s highest civilian award, the Distinguished Public Service Medal, first by Secretary Cap Weinberger and second by Secretary Bill Perry. Dr. Allison has authored or co-authored twenty books and hundreds of articles, including Realizing Human Rights: From Inspiration to Impact (2000); Avoiding Nuclear Anarchy: Containing the Threat of Loose Russian Nuclear Weapons and Fissile Material (1996); Cooperative Denuclearization: From Pledges to Deeds (1993); and Beyond Cold War to Trilateral Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region (1992). His first book, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (1971), released in an updated and revised second edition (1999), ranks among the best-sellers in political science in the 20th century with more than 400,000 copies in print. Dr. Allison has been a member of the Secretary of Defense’s Defense Policy Board for Secretaries Weinberger, Carlucci, Cheney, Aspin, Perry and Cohen. Dr. Allison was a founding member of the Trilateral Commission, a Director of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has been a member of many public committees and commissions. He has served on the boards of the Getty Oil Company, Natixis, Loomis Sayles, Hansberger, Taubman Companies, Inc., and Belco Oil and Gas, as well as on the advisory boards of Chase Bank, Hydro-Quebec, and the International Energy Corporation. He was educated at Davidson College, earned a B.A. in History at Harvard College; B.A. and M.A. degrees in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford University; and his Ph.D. at Harvard University.