Michael A. Levi Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change Council on Foreign Relations
Michael A. Levi is a fellow for science and technology at the Council on Foreign Relations and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. His work focuses on a variety of areas at the intersection of science, technology, and foreign policy, including weapons of mass destruction, climate change, biotechnology, and science in the Islamic world.
Dr. Levi is author of the forthcoming book On Nuclear Terrorism (Harvard University Press, October 2007) which presents new principles for understanding and defending against potential nuclear plots. He is coauthor of the book The Future of Arms Control (Brookings, 2005) which proposed a new approach to controlling dangerous technologies in a world fraught by terrorism. He is also coauthor of the monograph Untapped Potential: U.S. Science and Technology Cooperation with the Islamic World, the first comprehensive assessment of science and technology in the Islamic world.
Dr. Levi has testified before Congress on multiple occasions. His essays have been published in Foreign Policy, Nature, Scientific American, and The New Republic, among others. His op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, and others. Between 2004 and 2006, he wrote a monthly online column on science and security for The New Republic. Dr. Levi is a regular guest on major television and radio programs and was a technical consultant to the acclaimed television drama 24.
Dr. Levi directs the Council on Foreign Relations Independent Task Force on Climate Change, which is co-chaired by Governors George Pataki and Mark Warner. Before joining the Council, he was a nonresident science fellow (2004-2006) and a science and technology fellow (2003-2004) in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution. Prior to that, he was director (2002-2003) and deputy director (2001) of the Federation of American Scientists flagship Strategic Security Project.
Dr. Levi holds a PhD from the University of London (King's College), where he was affiliated with the Department of War Studies and was the SSHRC William E. Taylor fellow. He holds an MA in physics from Princeton University, where he studied string theory and theoretical cosmology, and a BSc (Hons.) in mathematical physics from Queen's University (Kingston). He lives in New York.