Graham Allison

Graham Allison is the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he has taught for five decades. Allison is a leading analyst of national security, with special interests in nuclear weapons, Russia, China and decision-making. Allison was the founding dean of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and until 2017 served as director of its Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, which is ranked the No. 1 university-affiliated think tank in the world.

As assistant secretary of defense under President Bill Clinton and special adviser to the secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan, he has been a member of the secretary of defense’s Advisory Board for every secretary from Weinberger to Mattis. He has the sole distinction of having twice been awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal, first by Secretary Cap Weinberger and secondly by Secretary Bill Perry. Allison’s first book, “Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis” (1971), ranks among the all-time bestsellers, with more than 500,000 copies in print. His latest book, “Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?” (2017), is a national and international bestseller.