|
|
 |
|
SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 |
|
Harvard Kennedy School | | | |
|
 |
|
Americans love national parks, but the way these sites are funded could be reformed. (Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) | | |
|
|
Environment & Energy |
|
National parks are popular—but the funding doesn’t reflect that |
|
|
More than 95% of Americans say they value the National Park System, and research shows the public would pay an estimated $122 billion to avoid losing it, roughly 30 times the parks’ actual annual federal budget. HKS Professor Linda Bilmes and former National Park Foundation CEO Will Shafroth MPA1991discuss the challenges of supporting the parks: a funding model built on annual congressional appropriations that was not designed for institutions meant to last forever, a growing maintenance backlog, and staff cuts. “Philanthropy is essential and wonderful, but it can’t replace public funding,” says Bilmes, who served on the bipartisan National Parks Conservation Association “Second Century” Commission and for nearly 10 years on the National Park System Advisory Board and has called national parks “America’s best investment.”
Learn more about Environment & Energy at HKS » | | |
|
What we're watching |
|
HKS Professor Jennifer Lerner explains workplace stress and why average workers have more stress than leaders | | |
 | | | |
|
International Relations & Security |
|
Can U.S. diplomacy be rebuilt? |
|
|
The share of career ambassadors in the U.S. diplomatic corps has dropped from 70% to just 17% since 2025. Former Ambassador Nicholas Burns says, “This is a catastrophically low level and a complete change from any prior president over 60 years, and if you couple that with the destruction of USAID back in the winter of 2025, you’re looking at a dramatically weakened Foreign Service.” Burns, who is also an HKS professor, leads a new initiative, the Program on Diplomacy and Statecraft at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, which will train future diplomats, produce scholarship, and analyze how American foreign policy is organized and what is needed for a modern, 21st-century State Department.
Learn more about International Relations & Security at HKS » | | |
|
What we're Doing |
|
HKS’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation has been convening the Executive Session for Elections and Election Administration for the last few years, continuing into 2027. This initiative brings together a bipartisan group of local and state election officials and scholars to discuss the complex problems facing election administration in the United States. Explore some of the papers and resources they have produced to date. | | | | | |
|
Science, Technology & Data |
|
Communities push back against surveillance tech |
|
|
Flock Safety cameras started as simple license plate readers. But researchers say that these devices can identify passengers inside vehicles using AI. Over 137,000 of these cameras are installed across the United States, and communities have recently started to push back against their use. A podcast hosted at HKS’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation examined the rapid expansion of this surveillance technology and the growing bipartisan backlash, including a congressional bill restricting federal funding for Flock cameras and towns choosing to remove them.
Learn more about Science, Technology & Data at HKS » | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
