Gift to Belfer Center to launch Cyber Security Project

Harvard University announced today that Robert and Renée Belfer, along with their son Laurence, are investing an additional $15 million to advance the work of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School in addressing the world’s most critical security issues.

Reflecting their philanthropic mission to build a more secure, peaceful world, the Belfer family’s gift puts the Belfer Center on the front lines of what CIA Director John Brennan calls the greatest threat to U.S. national security in the decade ahead: cyber threats. In particular, it launches a major new Cyber Security Project, which seeks to help create the conceptual arsenal for strategists to confront this growing challenge.

“The Belfer family’s remarkable generosity ensures that the resources of the entire University can be brought to bear on this vital threat to global security,” said Harvard University President Drew Faust.

The Kennedy School’s new dean, Douglas Elmendorf, said the gift will empower students for decades to come. “This is a pivotal period in the School’s history,” Elmendorf remarked. “As we set concrete foundations for the transformation of our physical campus today, we pay tribute to visionaries like Bob who enable us to continue to produce ideas that will help to make the world safer and more prosperous in the years ahead.”