Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is a research center at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It serves as the hub of the Kennedy School's research, teaching, and training in international security and diplomacy, environmental and resource issues, and science and technology policy.
The Belfer Center grew from the work of Paul M. Doty, a Harvard biochemist who was concerned about US-USSR relations during the Cold War. Doty noticed that universities offered almost no courses on arms control or international security and proposed a dedicated Harvard program to fill that gap.
Ash Carter, a former U.S. Secretary of Defense, directed the Belfer Center from 2017 until his death in October 2022. He served alongside co-director Eric Rosenbach, a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense.
Meghan O'Sullivan is the current director of the Belfer Center. Natalie Colbert serves as the center's executive director.
In 2012, the Stanton Foundation funded a paid Wikipedian in residence at the Belfer Center. The arrangement became controversial because the directors of the Belfer Center and the Stanton Foundation were a married couple, raising public concerns about conflict-of-interest editing.
A 2021 investigative report by the student group Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard found that many of the Belfer Center's climate initiatives were funded in part by fossil fuel companies. The report also alleged that the center had taken steps to cover up that fact.