Nye to Chair National Intelligence Council

Dillon Professor of International Affairs Joseph S. Nye Jr. will leave Cambridge next week to chair President Clinton's National Intelligence Council in Washington.

Nye, who will depart for Washington Monday morning, will work under R. James Woolsey, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Nye will coordinate all government intelligence from the CIA, the State Department and the Defense Department.

"It will be a fascinating experience," Nye said last night. "It is a chance to rethink how you adjust the intelligence from the Cold War to fit the more diverse threats of today, such as drug wars and global warming."

In his new position as chair, Nye will lead the council in drawing up all formal government intelligence estimates about future international conflicts.

Nye, who served in the Carter administration as undersecretary of state for security assistance, science, and technology, said he was looking forward to furthering his expertise in the field of international intelligence."

"It will be a learning experience," Nye said. "It's a different agency and a different dimension that I have experienced before."

Nye said he has not given thought to making any long-term plans to stay in Washington beyond his two year leave of absence from Harvard.

"When you get a government position like this one, it's like drinking from a fire hose," Nye said. "There's a gush of information and right now I'm trying not to drown."

And Nye said he hopes to bring his new experience back to the Harvard classroom. "I'll come back to Harvard in '95," Nye said. "I'll be better able to teach in the subject."

Nye said Mellon Professor of the Social Sciences Stanley Hoffmann will replace him as professor for the popular core curriculum and government requirement Historical Studies A-12, "International Conflicts in the Modern World."

Hoffmann, who is on leave for the spring semester, has taught the course with Nye in the past.