A Farewell Interview with the Outgoing 2019-2020 Security Studies Program Fellows | 2020 | News

A Farewell Interview with the Outgoing 2019-2020 Security Studies Program Fellows
Brittany Logan
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We asked the ten outgoing fellows of the Military, Stanton, and Grand Strategy, Security, and Statecraft fellowships to reflect back on their rollercoaster of a year. In the process of shedding light on their experiences, the fellows also remind us of the vital role they play in the Security Studies Program (“SSP”) community, as well as the wide-reaching impact they can have with the knowledge they’ve gained from their fellowships.

 

 

The 2019-2020 fellowship year was truly an extraordinary one for the MIT Security Studies Program fellows. From war game exercises with professors Eric Heginbotham and Richard Samuels and after work meetups with other fellows, to the fascinating speakers at our Wednesday Seminar series and the novel coronavirus health pandemic that brought life to a standstill—this was a year for the memory books.

      We asked the ten outgoing fellows of the Military, Stanton, and Grand Strategy, Security, and Statecraft fellowships to reflect back on their rollercoaster of a year. In the process of shedding light on their experiences, the fellows also remind us of the vital role they play in the Security Studies Program (“SSP”) community, as well as the wide-reaching impact they can have with the knowledge they’ve gained from their fellowships.
      
      The interview below has been edited for clarity and brevity.

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What were some of the highlights of the fellowship year for you?

David Allen, Grand Strategy, Security, and Statecraft Fellow

It’s a real testament to SSP that this has been such a great year in general, but if forced to choose, I think Simon Miles’ Wednesday Seminar was a real highlight for me, and of course the Ruina and Doolittle dinners were great evenings.

Tucker Hamilton, Military Fellow- U.S. Air Force

The main highlight was working with and getting to know the amazing individuals that make up SSP. Both faculty and students are thought leaders: humble, kind, open minded, and wicked smart! Another was the class "field trip" to the USS Constitution. It was great spending time with everyone outside the classroom environment. The weekly seminars were another highlight—wonderful speakers discussing complex topics and as a community challenging each other to think critically and grow.

Andrea Chiampan, Stanton Fellow

I would have to start [with] the Stanton Workshop in DC, where I’ve met and shared great moments with all the Stanton fellows. A second highlight was certainly the India/Pakistan war game from Eric Heginbotham’s class, “Simulating Global Dynamics and War” —it was my first war game and I enjoyed it more than I’d like to admit, even though I may have accidentally (or not) singlehandedly triggered nuclear war. The final highlight was really every single chat over coffee I had with the fellows from whom I have learned and continue to learn so much.

Terry Hahn, Military Fellow- U.S. Army

Honestly, just being able to listen to the unique perspectives on a wide variety of world topics from the brightest people I have ever met. I also spent a considerable amount of time with the Human Health and Performance Systems Group at the Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, [so I’d add] being introduced to all facets of human-centered technologies that support the warfighter. [Lastly], being home with my family and walking my kids to/from school 3-4 times a week.

Jonathan Riggs, Military Fellow- U.S. Marine Corps

The seminars were outstanding. It was great to get a different perspective on various subjects and focus areas that I had studied before. Different but valuable perspective from academics and students. One additional piece that I enjoyed was being able to share my experiences in combat, [and] also over my career. I really valued professors and students wanting to hear my feedback and sharing with them my perspective. Very rewarding and humbling.


How has your understanding of your field, international affairs and/or strategy in general changed since arriving at SSP?

Alex Lee, Stanton Fellow

I believe my understanding of my field broadened since I arrived at SSP from attending the weekly seminars and meeting new people with different specialties. Through meeting different people and attending workshops at SSP, I think I found the right direction to organize and redraft my dissertation into a manuscript.  

Evan Wright, Military Fellow- U.S. Navy

I feel like my understanding of national security and of the way I view the world has certainly matured over the past year. This is the first time in my career where I have had the opportunity to take a "tactical pause" from my operational jobs to study, read and think critically on strategy and international affairs to further develop and refine my understanding of who I view as our primary adversaries and how we interact with them.

David Allen, Grand Strategy, Security, and Statecraft Fellow

I think my time at SSP has only strengthened my faith that there is a policy and policy-adjacent audience for my kind of history, which isn’t necessarily the old-school diplomatic history that best fits the “grand strategy” label. That’s encouraging, even if strategists might differ on what the lessons of my work on public participation in foreign policy might be.

Jonathan Riggs, Military Fellow- U.S. Marine Corps

I think my perspective has broadened on how other subject matter experts view various national security and foreign policy issues. These differ sometimes greatly from how the Department of Defense and other agencies view the problems. It gave [me] a great perspective to see different areas from a civilian academic perspective.

Ryan Musto, Stanton Fellow

I am not sure if “changed” is the right word, but rather “reinforced.” For me, it is the important role “history” can play in security studies. That may sound rather elementary, but through my time at SSP, I was able to witness “applied history” in its best sense. One example came from attending Mary Sarotte’s seminar, in which she used groundbreaking archival research to dissect NATO expansion in the early post-Cold War world and its enduring repercussions. I found it illuminating to see the positive response to her work and the questions/concerns she had to navigate. That is precisely the type of work I hope to accomplish in my field of nuclear history.

Terry Hahn, Military Fellow- U.S. Army

Since I was able to interact with the folks from both the campus and the [Lincoln] laboratory, I have a greater appreciation for political analyses that goes into international relations and U.S. national and international security policy issues.


How will your time at SSP inform your work going forward?

Tucker Hamilton, Military Fellow- U.S. Air Force

I believe that it will have an overarching impact of helping me become a better critical thinker. It has also opened my eyes to the complications underlying the political science field, and how our national strategy needs to take into account those complexities.

Ryan Musto, Stanton Fellow

Before I arrived at MIT, I spoke with a fellow nuclear historian who remarked that SSP would help me to formulate big questions in my work, and he was exactly right. Historians oftentimes delve into the weeds of subjects at the expense of a broader outlook. SSP has helped me to ask big questions and to simultaneously expand and contract the focus of my work. I think of it a bit as replacing a magnifying glass with a microscope – thanks to SSP, I am now better able to zoom in and out where necessary.  

Evan Wright, Military Fellow- U.S. Navy

My year at MIT will help better inform my decisions as they relate to national security and strategy going forward. I will now be armed with a better understanding of the world and be able to provide more "value added" in future strategy/policy jobs.

William James, Grand Strategy, Security, and Statecraft Fellow (2018-2019 at MIT; 2019-2020 at Harvard)

Many European academic departments have become detached from their roots in the study of power, strategy and security (there are, of course, a handful of notable exceptions). My year at SSP reinforced my belief that it is possible to create a cadre of scholars whose goal is to understand the causes, conduct and consequences of war. What I found particularly impressive is that both the staff and students skillfully manage to remain academically rigorous and policy relevant. By learning from SSP’s approach, I hope that I can play a small role in reviving the study of these topics in Britain and Europe more broadly.

Andrea Chiampan, Stanton Fellow

[An] important lesson that SSP has imparted me—something that I had lost after many years in the field of history—is that it is ok to study nation-states and power, strategy and weapons, and it may even be acceptable to read realist scholars.


What do you know now that you wish you’d known when you started your fellowship?

Ryan Musto, Stanton Fellow

I wish I had known (or at least heeded the advice of mentors) to focus solely on my book project. The fellowship experience offers a unique opportunity to do the work you wish with little hindrance (i.e.: no teaching responsibilities). My eyes got wide at the thought, and I took on numerous parallel projects, which included publishing articles and writing reviews. Everything takes longer than you think it will.

William James, Grand Strategy, Security, and Statecraft Fellow

That Barry [Posen] can be bribed with a good bottle of whisky.


Obviously, no reflection on 2019-2020 can overlook the pandemic which has and continues to change life as we know it. How did the pandemic alter your fellowship experience?

David Allen, Grand Strategy, Security, and Statecraft Fellow

Well, it’s certainly made getting work done much, much more difficult. I have two young daughters, aged 4 and 1, who absolutely revel in interrupting what little writing time I have. I tried to bribe my elder daughter, Rory, by saying that I’d get her a present when I’d finished my book, so she’d have to let me write. But now all she does is ask me every few hours if I’m done yet — just like my wife.

Daniel Jacobs, Grand Strategy, Security, and Statecraft Fellow

[I learned] virtual contacts are no substitute for frequent, informal interactions in the office.  

Tucker Hamilton, Military Fellow- U.S. Air Force

It definitely stifled some of the growing relationships. I do think SSP did a great job in keeping us all engaged over the past few months. In the end though, this pandemic does not define the fellowship year. Though it impacted the experience, the relationships and knowledge imparted will stick with me.