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February 2020

Murrow, Kennedy and memos on Cuba

Memo reviewed by Lauren Brodsky, HKS Lecturer in Public Policy

Kennedy Coin

Sitting slightly reclined, with a steady stream of cigarette smoke visible to the viewer, esteemed journalist Edward R. Murrow faces a television screen with a view of a Boston apartment. It is 1953. Murrow is interviewing junior Senator John F. Kennedy, and his wife, Jackie, for the show People to People.... Read more about Murrow, Kennedy and memos on Cuba

Insight with Nick Sinai, HKS Adjunct Lecturer, Formerly U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer

Nick Sinai

Strong policy writers tell a story, and frame the issue in context of where an Administration (or Agency) is trying to go.

The best policy memo:

"Present at the Catastrophe: Standing By as Turks Cleanse Kurds in Northern Syria," US Envoy Criticizes Trump Administration

Memo reviewed by Michelle Barton, HKS MC/MPA

Russian and Turkish military vehicles patrolling in NE Syria

This foreign policy memo  (found in the New York Times article by Eric Schmitt, 11/7/19) is a clear and concise piece of writing in response to a mammoth decision in U.S. foreign policy. It was written to experts at the Department of State, and was unclassified. The memo deals with a catastrophic, unilateral decision to withdraw by President Trump, made in consultation with no area experts, and has since caused rapid deterioration on the ground in Syria. The author, Ambassador William Roebuck, has been in and out of Syria for the last two years.... Read more about "Present at the Catastrophe: Standing By as Turks Cleanse Kurds in Northern Syria," US Envoy Criticizes Trump Administration

"Our Response to Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan," a Memo to President Jimmy Carter, From: Assistant for National Security Affairs, Date: 12/29/79

Memo reviewed by James J. McDonnell, National Security Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School

Adult man with gun in war battle black and white

Brzezinski, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (currently called the National Security Advisor) under Jimmy Carter, wrote a memo to outline what response the U.S. should take to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.... Read more about "Our Response to Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan," a Memo to President Jimmy Carter, From: Assistant for National Security Affairs, Date: 12/29/79