Richard Betts (Ph.D., Harvard, 1975) is a specialist on national security policy and military strategy.  He was a Senior Fellow and Research Associate at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC from 1976-1990, and has taught at Harvard and the Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. Professor Betts has also served on the staff of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and as a consultant to the National Security Council and Central Intelligence Agency.  Professor Betts is a member of the National Commission on Terrorism.

In addition to numerous journal articles in International Security, World Politics, Foreign Affairs, and elsewhere, he has published Enemies of Intelligence (Columbia University Press, 2007); Military Readiness (Brookings, 1995); Soldiers, Statesmen, and Cold War Crises, 2d edition (Columbia University Press, 1991); Nuclear Blackmail and Nuclear Balance (Brookings, 1987); and Surprise Attack (Brookings, 1982). He has also co-authored or edited four other books, including The Irony of Vietnam (Brookings, 1979), which won the Woodrow Wilson Prize.

Research Interests: War and Strategy, U.S. foreign policy, Defense policy, Nuclear weapons / other weapons of mass destruction, U.S. policymaking processes, Intelligence analysis and foreign policy, European security, Security issues in Asia, History of the Cold War, and Arms control.

Recent Publications

Professor Betts is on leave for the Spring 2010 semester.