Richard K. Betts  is the Leo A. Shifrin Professor Emeritus of War and Peace Studies and Special Research Scholar in the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University. Betts served as Director of the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies for 23 years. He was Director of National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations for four years where he is now an adjunct Senior Fellow.  Previously he was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and adjunct Lecturer at the Johns Hopkins University’s Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.  He also served at different times on the Harvard University faculty as Lecturer and Visiting Professor.  Betts invented the Summer Workshop on Analysis of Military Operations and Strategy (SWAMOS) and has directed it since 1997.  He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Government from Harvard.  

A former staff member of the original Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (the Church Committee), the National Security Council, and the Mondale Presidential Campaign, Betts has been an occasional consultant to the National Intelligence Council and Departments of State and Defense, served on the Military Advisory Panel for three Directors of Central Intelligence in the 1990s and later on the External Advisory Board for the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and was a Commissioner of the National Commission on Terrorism (the Bremer Commission).  He lectures occasionally at schools such as the National War College, Foreign Service Institute, and service academies.  He served briefly long ago as an officer in the U.S. Army.

Betts’ first book, Soldiers, Statesmen, and Cold War Crises, originally published by Harvard University Press, was issued in a second edition by Columbia University Press.  He is author of two other Columbia University Press books: Enemies of Intelligence and American Force; three books published by the Brookings Institution: Surprise Attack, Nuclear Blackmail and Nuclear Balance, and Military Readiness; coauthor and editor of three other Brookings books: The Irony of Vietnam, Nonproliferation and U.S. Foreign Policy, and Cruise Missiles; editor of Conflict After the Cold War, published by Routledge; and coeditor of Paradoxes of Strategic Intelligence, from Cass.  Betts has published numerous articles on foreign policy, military strategy, intelligence, conventional forces, nuclear weapons, arms trade, collective security, strategic issues in Asia and Europe, terrorism, and other subjects in professional journals.  His writings won five prizes, and he received the International Studies Association’s ISSS Distinguished Scholar Award in 2005 and MIT’s Doolittle Award in 2012.

Books

Richard K. Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War: Arguments on Causes of War and Peace, 5th ed. (New York: Routledge, 2017).
Richard K. Betts, American Force: Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011).
Richard K. Betts, Enemies of Intelligence: Knowledge and Power in American National Security (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007).
Richard K. Betts and Thomas Mahnken, ed., Paradoxes of Strategic Intelligence: Essays in Honor of Michael I. Handel (London: Frank Cass, 2003).
Richard K. Betts, Military Readiness: Concepts, Choices, Consequences (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1995).
Richard K. Betts, Nuclear Blackmail and Nuclear Balance (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1987).
Richard K. Betts, Surprise Attack: Lessons for Defense Planning (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1982).
Richard K. Betts, Cruise Missiles: Technology, Strategy, Politics (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1981).
Joseph Yager, ed., Nonproliferation and U.S. Foreign Policy (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1980); six chapters by Betts.
Leslie H. Gelb with Richard K. Betts, The Irony of Vietnam: The System Worked (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1979).
Richard K. Betts, Soldiers, Statesmen, and Cold War Crises, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977); 2d ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991).

Principal Articles

Richard K. Betts, “Thinking About the Unthinkable in Ukraine: What Happens If Putin Goes Nuclear?,” Foreign Affairs, (July 2022).
Richard K. Betts, “The No-Fly Zone Delusion,” Foreign Affairs, (March 2022).
Richard K. Betts, “Professionalism, Politics, and Truth,” Intelligence and National Security XXXV, no. 1 (January 2020).
Richard K. Betts and Matthew C. Waxman, “The President and the Bomb: Reforming the Nuclear Launch Process,” Foreign Affairs XCV, no. 2  (March/April 2018).
Richard K. Betts, “The National Security Act, Seventy Years On,” The American Interest 12, no. 4 (2017): 74-84.
Richard K. Betts, “The National Security Act, 70 Years On,” The American Interest XII, no. 4 (March/April 2017). Similar version published as “The Durable National Security Act” in Heidi B. Demarest and Erica D. Borghard, eds., S. National Security Reform (New York: Routledge, 2019).
Richard K. Betts. “The Realist Persuasion,” The National Interest 139 (2015): 46.
Richard K. Betts, “Pick Your Battles: Ending America’s Era of Permanent War,” Foreign Affairs 92, no. 6 (2014): 15.
Richard K. Betts, “Pick Your Poison: America Has Many Options in Syria, None are Good,” Foreign Affairs, (September 2013).
Richard K. Betts, “The Lost Logic of Deterrence,” Foreign Affairs 92, no. 2 (2013): 87; reprinted in Robert J. Art and Kelly M. Greenhill, eds., The Use of Force, Eighth Edition (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015).
Richard K. Betts, “From Cold War to Hot Peace: The Habit of American Force,” Political Science Quarterly 127, no. 3 (2012): 353.
Richard K. Betts, “Strong Arguments, Weak Evidence,” Security Studies 21, no. 2 (2012): 345.
Richard K. Betts, “American Grand Strategy: Grand vs. Grandiose,” in Richard Fontaine and Kristin M. Lord, eds., America’s Path: Grand Strategy for the Next Administration (Washington, D.C.: Center for New American Security, 2012).
Richard K. Betts, “Institutional Imperialism,” National Interest 113 (May/June 2011).
Richard K. Betts, “Conflict or Cooperation? Three Visions Revisited,” Foreign Affairs 89, no. 6 (2010): 186-194.
Richard K. Betts, “The Three Faces of NATO,” The National Interest no. 100 (2009): 31-38.
Richard K. Betts, “Two Faces of Intelligence Failure: September 11 and Iraq’s Missing WMD,” Political Science Quarterly 122, no. 4 (2007). Revised version of Ch. 5 in Enemies of Intelligence.
Richard K. Betts, “Freedom, License, and Responsibility,” International Studies Perspectives 8, no. 4 (2007): 401-409. 
Richard K. Betts, “A Disciplined Defense: How to Regain Strategic Solvency,” Foreign Affairs 86, no. 6 (2007): 67-80; reprinted in Univers Stategic: Revista Universitara Romana de Studii de Securitate no. 1 (2010); excerpt published as “Obesity at the Pentagon,” Chicago Sun-Times, 28 October 2007.
Richard K. Betts, “Symposium Comments on Iran and Nuclear Weapons,” The National Interest (Spring 2007).  
Richard K. Betts, “Not with My Thucydides You Don’t,” The American Interest 2, no. 4 (2007): 140.  
Richard K. Betts, “How to Think About Terrorism,” The Wilson Quarterly XXX, no. 1, 30th Anniversary Issue (Winter 2006).  Reprinted in Current, No. 484 (July/August 2006).
Richard K. Betts, “Blowtorch Bob in Baghdad,” The American Interest  1, no. 4 (2006).  
Richard K. Betts, “The Osirak Fallacy,” The National Interest 79 (Spring 2006). Condensed version published as “Do Not Take Out Tehran’s Nukes,” The Australian, April 11, 2006.
Richard K. Betts, “Maybe I’ll Stop Driving,” Terrorism and Political Violence 17, no. 4 (2005): 507-510.  
Richard K. Betts, “The Future of Force and U.S. National Security Strategy,” Korean Journal of Defense Analysis 17, no. 3 (2005): 7-26.
Richard K. Betts, “The Political Support System for American Primacy,” International Affairs 81, no. 1 (2005): 1-14.
Richard K. Betts, “The New Politics of Intelligence,” Foreign Affairs LXXXIII, no. 3 (May/June 2004). Reprinted in Glenn P. Hastedt, ed., American Foreign Policy 05/06, Annual Editions, Eleventh Edition (Dubuque: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 2005).
Richard K. Betts, “Striking First: A History of Thankfully Lost Opportunities,” Ethics & International Affairs 17, no. 1 (2003): 17-24.
Richard K. Betts, “Suicide from Fear of Death?,” Foreign Affairs LXXXII, no. 1 (January/February 2003). Reprinted in Micah L. Sifry and Christopher Cerf, eds., The Iraq War Reader: History, Documents, and Opinions (New York: Touchstone, 2003) and James F. Hoge, Jr. and Gideon Rose, eds., American Foreign Policy: Cases and Choices (New York: W.W. Norton, for the Council on Foreign Relations, 2003).  Condensed version published as “How Will Iraq Strike Back?,” American Conservative II, no. 2 (January 27, 2003).  Op-ed version published as “Poking a Stick at a Cornered Snake,” The Australian, 19 February 2003.
Richard K. Betts, “The First-Year Foreign Policy of Bush the Younger,” The Forum  1, no. 1 (2002).   
Richard K. Betts, “The Soft Underbelly of American Primacy: Tactical Advantages of Terror,” Political Science Quarterly CXVII, no. 1 (Spring 2002). Reprinted in: Demetrios James Caraley, ed., September 11, Terrorist Attacks, and U.S. Foreign Policy (New York: Academy of Political Science, 2002);  Russell D. Howard and Reid L. Sawyer, eds., Terrorism and Counterterrorism (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002), and its second and third editions (2006 and 2008); Mark Kesselman, ed., The Politics of Globalization (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006); Political Science Quarterly CXXXI, no. 2, Special Issue on Presidential Elections and Foreign Policy (Summer 2016).
Richard K. Betts, “The Trouble with Strategy: Bridging Policy and Operations,” Joint Force Quarterly 29 (2001): 23.  
Richard K. Betts, “Compromised Command: Inside NATO’s First War,” Foreign Affairs 80, no. 4 (2001): 126-132.  
Richard K. Betts, “The Lesser Evil: The Best Way Out of the Balkans,” The National Interest 64 (2001): 53-65.  
Richard K. Betts and Thomas J. Christensen, “China: Getting the Questions Right,” The National Interest 62 (Winter 2000/01). Reprinted in Robert J. Art and Robert Jervis, eds., International Politics, Eighth Edition (New York: Pearson Longman, 2007).
Richard K. Betts, “Is Strategy an Illusion?” International Security 25, no. 2 (2000): 5-50.  
Richard K. Betts, “Must War Find a Way?” International Security XXIV, no. 2 (Fall 1999) (review essay). Reprinted in Michael E. Brown, Owen R. Coté, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller, eds., Offense, Defense, and War (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004).
Richard K. Betts, “Intelligence Warning: Old Problems, New Agendas,” Parameters 28, no. 1 (1998).  
Richard K. Betts, “Nuclear Peace and Conventional War,” The Journal of Strategic Studies 11, no. 1 (1988): 79-95.
Richard K. Betts, “The New Threat of Mass Destruction,” Foreign Affairs LXXVII, no. 1 (January/February 1998). Reprinted in Charles W. Kegley, Jr. and Eugene R. Wittkopf, eds., The Global Agenda (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001); America and the World: Debating the New Shape of International Politics (New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2002); Russell D. Howard and Reid L. Sawyer, eds., Terrorism and Counterterrorism (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006);  Russell D. Howard and James J. Forest, eds., Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008); and translated as “La Nueva Amenaza de la Destruccíon Masiva,” Foreign Affairs en Espanol III, no. 2 (2003).  
Richard K. Betts, “Power, Prospects, and Priorities: Choices for Strategic Change,” Naval War College Review 50, no. 1 (1997): 9-22.  
Richard K. Betts, “Should Strategic Studies Survive?” World Politics 50, no. 1 (1997): 7-33.
Richard K. Betts, “The Coming Defense Train Wreck… And What to Do About It,” Washington Quarterly 33 (1996): 329-343.  
Richard K. Betts, “The Downside of the Cutting Edge,” National Interest 45, no. 45 (1996): 80-83.
Richard K. Betts, “What Will It Take to Deter the United States?” Parameters XXV, no. 4 (Winter 1995-96).
Richard K. Betts, “Vietnam’s Strategic Predicament,” Survival XXXVII, no. 3 (Autumn 1995). Similar version published as “The Strategic Predicament” in James W. Morley and Masashi Nishihara, eds., Vietnam Joins the World (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 1997).
Richard K. Betts, “The Delusion of Impartial Intervention,” Foreign Affairs LXXIII, no. 6 (November/December 1994). Reprinted in Foreign Affairs Agenda 1995: Critical Issues in Foreign Policy (New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1995), and Chester A. Crocker and Fen Hampson, eds., Managing Global Chaos: Sources of and Responses to International Conflict (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute of Peace, 1996).  Revised version in Crocker et al., eds., Turbulent Peace (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute of Peace, 2001).
Richard K. Betts, “Wealth, Power, and Instability: East Asia and the United States After the Cold War,” International Security XVIII, no. 3 (Winter 1993/94). Reprinted in Michael E. Brown, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller, eds., East Asian Security (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996).  Similar version published in Robert S. Ross, ed., East Asia in Transition: Toward a New Regional Order (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 1995).
Richard K. Betts, “Correspondence,” International Security 17, no. 3 (1992): 188-200.  
Richard K. Betts, “Systems for Peace or Causes of War? Collective Security, Arms Control, and the New Europe” International Security XVII, no. 1 (Summer 1992). Reprinted in Sean M. Lynn-Jones and Steven E. Miller, eds., America’s Strategy in a Changing World (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992).  Similar version published in Jack Snyder and Robert Jervis, eds., Coping With Complexity in the International System (Boulder: Westview Press, 1993).
Richard K. Betts, “Measuring Military Readiness: Analytical Complexity and Policy Confusion,” Security Studies 1 (1992): 483-513.  
Richard K. Betts, “The Concept of Deterrence in the Post-World War II Era,” Security Studies I, no. 1 (Autumn 1991). Reprinted in Michael Sheehan, ed., National and International Security (Burlington: Ashgate, 2000) (volume in The International Library of Politics and Comparative Government, David Arter and Gordon Smith, eds.).
Richard K. Betts, “Surprise, Scholasticism, and Strategy,” International Studies Quarterly 33 (1989): 329-343.  
Richard K. Betts, “NATO’s Mid-Life Crisis,” Foreign Affairs 68, no. 2 (1989): 37-52.  
Richard K. Betts, “Policymakers and Intelligence Analysts: Love, Hate, or Indifference?” Intelligence and National Security 3, no. 1 (1988): 184.  
Richard K. Betts, “A Nuclear Golden Age? The Balance Before Parity,” International Security XI, no. 3 (Winter 1986/87); reprinted in Sean M. Lynn-Jones, Steven E. Miller, and Stephen Van Evera, eds., Nuclear Diplomacy and Crisis Management (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1990).
Richard K. Betts, NATO Deterrence Doctrine: No Way Out (Los Angeles: Center for International and Strategic Affairs, University of California at Los Angeles, 1985).
Richard K. Betts and Samuel P. Huntington, “Dead Dictators and Rioting Mobs: Does the Death of Authoritarian Rulers Lead to Political Instability?” International Security X, no. 3 (Winter 1985/1986). Condensed version published in The Wall Street Journal, The Asian Wall Street Journal, and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Richard K. Betts, “Compound Deterrence vs. No-First-Use: What’s Wrong Is What’s Right,” Orbis 28, no. 4 (1985): 697.  
Richard K. Betts, “Southeast Asia and S. Global Strategy: Continuing Interests and Shifting Priorities,” Orbis XXIX, no. 2 (Summer 1985). Similar version published as “The United States: Global Deterrence,” in James Morley, ed., Security Interdependence in the Asia Pacific Region (Lexington: D.C. Heath Lexington Books, for the Columbia University East Asian Institute, 1986).
Richard K. Betts, “Conventional Deterrence: Predictive Uncertainty and Policy Confidence,” World Politics XXXVII, no. 2 (January 1985). Similar version published as “Alliance Nuclear Doctrine and Conventional Deterrence” in James R. Golden et al., eds., NATO at Forty (Boulder: Westview Press, 1989).
Richard K. Betts, “Conventional Strategy, Unconventional Criticism and Conventional Wisdom,” Jerusalem Papers on Peace Problems, no. 36 (1984).
Richard K. Betts, “Controlling Risks in the East-West Conflict,” Problems of Communism 33, no. 3 (1984).  
Richard K. Betts, “Solidaridad y Seguridad: OTAN Despuès de las INF,” Documentos y Estudios (Madrid: Fundacion Friedrich Ebert, 1984). Similar version published as “Solidarity and Security: NATO’s Balancing Act After the Deployment of Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces,” Brookings Review III, no. 4 (Summer 1985).
Richard K. Betts, “Washington, Tokyo, and Northeast Asian Security: A Survey,” The Journal of Strategic Studies 6, no. 4 (1983): 5.  
Richard K. Betts, “Warning Dilemmas: Normal Theory vs. Exceptional Theory,” Orbis 26, no. 4 (1983): 828.  
Richard K. Betts, “Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis? Reply to Luttwak,” International Security 8, no. 2 (1983): 180-182.  
Richard K. Betts, “Misadventure Revisited,” The Wilson Quarterly VII, no. 3 (Summer 1983). Reprinted in James M. McCormick, ed., A Reader in American Foreign Policy (Itasca: F.E. Peacock, 1986).  Expanded version published in Peter Braestrup, ed., Vietnam as History: Ten Years After the Paris Peace Accords (Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1984).
Richard K. Betts, “Conventional Strategy: New Critics, Old Choices,” International Security VII, no. 4 (Spring 1983). Reprinted in Steven E. Miller, ed., Conventional Forces and American Defense Policy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986).  Similar version published as “Dubious Reform: Strategism vs. Managerialism,” in Asa Clark et al., eds., The Defense Reform Debate (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984).
Richard K. Betts, “Conventional Forces: What Price Readiness?” Survival 25, no. 1 (1983): 25-34.  
Richard K. Betts, “Elusive Equivalence: The Political and Military Meaning of the Nuclear Balance,” in Samuel P. Huntington, ed., The Strategic Imperative: New Policies for American Security (Cambridge:  Ballinger, 1982).  Excerpt published as “Strategic Equivalence: What Is It, How Do We Get It?” Air University Review XXXIII, no. 1 (November/December 1981).
Richard K. Betts, “Nuclear Surprise Attack: Deterrence, Defense, and Conceptual Contradictions in American Policy,” The Jerusalem Journal of International Relations 5, no. 3 (1981): 73.  
Richard K. Betts, “Nuclear Proliferation After Osirak,” Arms Control Today XI, no. 7 (September 1981). Reprinted in Robert Travis Scott, ed., The Race for Security: Arms and Arms Control in the Reagan Years (Lexington: D.C. Heath/Lexington Books, 1981).
Richard K. Betts, “Hedging Against Surprise Attack,” Survival 23, no. 4 (1981): 146-156.  
Richard K. Betts, “From Changing the Guard to Guarding the Change,” Orbis 25, no. 2 (1981).
Richard K. Betts, “Cruise Missiles: Technology, Strategy, Politics,” The Washington Quarterly 4, no. 3 (1981): 66.  
Richard K. Betts, “Surprise Attack: NATO’s Political Vulnerability,” International Security 5, no. 4 (1981): 117-149.  
Richard K. Betts, “Interests, Burdens, and Persistence: Asymmetries between Washington and Hanoi,” International Studies Quarterly 24, no. 4 (1980): 520.  
Richard K. Betts, “Surprise Despite Warning: Why Sudden Attacks Succeed,” Political Science Quarterly, VC, no. 4 (Winter 1980-81).  Reprinted in Robert H. Connery and Demetrios Caraley, eds., National Security and Nuclear Strategy (New York: Academy of Political Science, 1983); Richard J. Aldrich, ed., Understanding Intelligence (London: Routledge, 2009); Christopher Andrew, Richard J. Aldrich, and Wesley Wark, eds., Secret Intelligence (London: Routledge, 2011).
Richard K. Betts, “Incentives for Nuclear Weapons: India, Pakistan, Iran,” Asian Survey XIX, no. 11 (November 1979). Reprinted in Strategic Digest (New Delhi) X, no. 2 (February 1980).
Richard K. Betts, “A Diplomatic Bomb for South Africa?,” International Security 4, no. 2 (1979): 91-115.  
Richard K. Betts, “Nuclear Peace: Mythology and Futurology,” The Journal of Strategic Studies 2, no. 1 (1979): 83-101.  
Richard K. Betts, “Analysis, War, and Decision: Why Intelligence Failures are Inevitable,” World Politics XXXI, no. 1 (October 1978).  Reprinted in Studies in Intelligence XXIII, no. 3 (October 1979); John F. Reichart and Steven R. Sturm, eds., American Defense Policy, Fifth Edition (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982); Klaus Knorr, ed., Power, Strategy, and Security (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983); Loch K. Johnson and James J. Wirtz, eds., Strategic Intelligence (Los Angeles: Roxbury, 2004); Loch K. Johnson and James J. Wirtz, eds., Intelligence and National Security, Second Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007); Peter Gill, Stephen Marrin, and Mark Phythian, Intelligence Theory: Key Questions and Debates (London: Routledge, 2009); Loch K. Johnson and James J. Wirtz, eds., Intelligence: The Secret World of Spies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011); Loch K. Johnson, ed., Intelligence: Critical Concepts in Military, Strategic and Security Studies (London: Routledge, forthcoming).
Richard K. Betts, “Should Strategic Studies Survive?” World Politics L, no. 1, 50th Anniversary Issue (October 1997).
Richard K. Betts, “Paranoids, Pygmies, Pariahs, and Nonproliferation,” Foreign Policy no. 26 (Spring 1977).  Reprinted as “How to Keep the Nuclear Club Exclusive” in Across the Board XIV, no. 9 (September 1977).  Revised version published as “Paranoids, Pygmies, Pariahs and Nonproliferation Revisited,” Security Studies II, no. 3 (Spring 1993), and in Zachary S. Davis and Benjamin Frankel, eds., The Proliferation Puzzle (London: Frank Cass, 1993).

Book Chapters

Richard K. Betts, “Is Grand Strategy an Illusion? Or, the Grandiosity of Grand Strategy,” in Ronald Krebs and Thierry Balzacq, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Grand Strategy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021); similar version published as “The Grandiosity of Grand Strategy,” Washington Quarterly XLII, no. 4 (Winter 2020).
Richard K. Betts, “Blood, Treasure, and Time: Strategy-Making for the Surge,” in Timothy A. Sayle, Jeffrey Engel, Hal Brands, and William Inboden, eds., The Last Card: Inside George W. Bush’s Decision to Surge in Iraq (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2019).
Richard K. Betts, “Are Civil-Military Relations Still a Problem?” in Suzanne C. Nielsen and Don M. Snider , eds., American Civil-Military Relations: The Soldier and the State in a New Era (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009).
Richard K. Betts, “The United States and Asia,” in Ashley Tellis, Mercy Kuo, and Andrew Marble, eds., Strategic Asia 2008-09: Challenges and Choices (Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Asian Research, 2008).
Richard K. Betts, “Politicization of Intelligence: Costs and Benefits,” in Richard K. Betts and Thomas Mahnken, eds., Paradoxes of Strategic Intelligence: Essays in Honor of Michael I. Handel (London: Frank Cass, 2003).
Richard K. Betts, “Memorandum to the President: Military Strategy and Missions,” in Philip. D. Zelikow, ed., American Military Strategy: Memos to a President (New York: W.W. Norton, 2001).
Richard K. Betts, “Intelligence Test,” in James F. Hoge, Jr. and Gideon Rose, eds., How Did This Happen? Terrorism and the New War (New York: Public Affairs, 2001); similar version published as “Fixing Intelligence,” Foreign Affairs LXXXI, no. 1 (January/February 2002), reprinted in Russell D. Howard and Reid L. Sawyer, eds., Terrorism and Counterterrorism (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002) and The War on Terror (New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2002).
Richard K. Betts, “Universal Deterrence or Conceptual Collapse? Liberal Pessimism and Realist Utopianism,” in Victor Utgoff, ed., The Coming Crisis: Nuclear Proliferation, U.S. Interests, and World Order (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2000).
Richard K. Betts, “Emerging Trends: An American Perspective,” in William T. Tow, ed., Australian-American Relations: Looking Toward the Next Century (Canberra: Australian Institute of International Affairs, 1998).
Richard K. Betts, “A Strategic View of Force Readiness,” in Keith Linard and David Paterson, eds., System Dynamics and Systems Thinking in Defence and Government (Canberra: Australian Defence Force Academy and University of New South Wales, 1997).
Richard K. Betts, Michael Doyle, and John Ikenberry, “An Intellectual Remembrance of Klaus Knorr,” in Henry Bienen, ed., Power, Economics, and Security: the United States and Japan in Focus (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992).
Richard K. Betts,”The International Context of Cuba-U.S. Relations,” in Joseph S. Tulchin and Rafael Hernandez, eds., Cuba and the United States: Will the Cold War in the Caribbean End? (Boulder: Lynne Rienner 1991).
Richard K. Betts, “Heavenly Gains or Earthly Losses? Toward a Balance Sheet for Strategic Defense,” in Harold Brown, ed., The Strategic Defense Initiative: Shield or Snare? (Boulder: Westview Press, 1987).
Richard K. Betts, “Surprise Attack and Preemption,” in Graham T. Allison, Albert Carnesale, and Joseph Nye, eds., Hawks, Doves, and Owls (New York: W.W. Norton, 1985).
Richard K. Betts, “A Joint Nuclear Risk Control Center,” in Barry Blechman, ed., Preventing Nuclear War (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985). Similar version published in Parameters XV, no. 1 (Spring 1985).
Richard K. Betts, “Nuclear Weapons,” in Joseph Nye, ed., The Making of America’s Soviet Policy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984).
Richard K.  Betts, “Strategic Surprise for War Termination: Inchon, Dienbienphu, and Tet,” in Klaus Knorr and Patrick Morgan, eds., Strategic Military Surprise (New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1983).
Richard K. Betts, “American Strategic Intelligence: Politics, Priorities, and Direction,” in Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr., Uri Ra’anan, and Warren Milberg, eds., Intelligence Policy and National Security (London: Macmillan, 1981).
Richard K. Betts, “Managing Foreign and Defense Policy,” in Arnold Meltsner, ed., Politics and the Oval Office: Toward Presidential Governance (San Francisco: Institute for Contemporary Studies, 1981).  

Other Articles, Testimony and Reports

Richard K. Betts with Matthew C. Waxman, “Authorizing Nuclear War,” Lawfare, (November 2017).
Richard K. Betts, “At Issue: Should the National Intelligence Director Serve for a Fixed Term?” CQ Researcher, (May 2015).
Richard K. Betts with Leslie H. Gelb, “We’re Fighting Not to Lose,” Washington Post Outlook, 14 January 2007; reprinted as “The Endgame in Iraq,” Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 22-28 (January 2007).
Richard K. Betts, “Look to Bosnia, Not Vietnam, for a Realistic Solution,” Financial Times, 26 October 2006.
Richard K. Betts, “How Superpowers Become Impotent,” Los Angeles Times, 14 August 2006.  
Richard K. Betts, “A Century of Intervention, Regarded with a Cold Eye,” New York Times, 2 May 2006.
Richard K. Betts, “The Lure of Military Society,” The American Conservative, 23 May 2005.  
Richard K. Betts, “U. S. National Security Strategy: Lenses and Landmarks,” The Princeton Project on National Security (2004).  
Richard K. Betts, “Intelligence Looks Broke, But Does It Need Fixing?,” Baltimore Sun, 2 May 2004.  
Richard K. Betts, Statement and testimony in U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, Hearing: S.1867 — A Bill to Establish the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Cong. 107, 2d sess., (2002).  
Richard K. Betts, “Strategic Ambiguity in East Asia: Benefits and Costs,” Strategic Environment in Northeast Asia at the Beginning of the 21st Century, Proceedings of the NIDS International Symposium on Security Affairs (Tokyo: National Institute for Defense Studies, June 1999).
Richard K. Betts, “Additional Views,” in Making Intelligence Smarter: The Future of U.S. Intelligence: Report of an Independent Task Force (New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1996).
Richard K. Betts, Statement and testimony in U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Hearing: Renewal and Reform: U.S. Intelligence in a Changing World, Cong. 104, 1st and 2d sess., (1996).  
Richard K. Betts, “Why Mementos Matter,” Newsweek, 17 April 1995.  
Richard K. Betts, Statement and testimony on Section 402 of S.2082 in House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Hearing: Confirmation of CIA Officials, Cong. 103, 2d sess., (1994).  
Richard K. Betts, “Outlaw With a Bomb,” New York Times, 31 December 1993.  
Richard K. Betts with John Bresnan et al., Time for a Critical Decision on Vietnam, (New York: East Asian Institute, Columbia University, 1992).  
Richard K. Betts with John Bresnan et al., Time is Running Out in Cambodia (New York: East Asian Institute, Columbia University, 1992).  
Richard K. Betts, Statement and testimony in U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Hearings: 2198 and S. 421 to Reorganize the United States Intelligence Community, 102d Cong., 2d sess., 1992.  
Richard K. Betts, Statement requested by U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for hearings on S. 1003, printed in Congressional Record — Senate, 16 October 1991.  
Richard K. Betts, “If the U.S. Backs Rebels,” New York Times, 30 May 1985.  
Richard K. Betts with Masashi Nishihara, “U.S.-Japan Security Relations,” in Report of the Sixth Shimoda Conference (Tokyo and New York: Japan Center for International Exchange and Japan Society, 1984).
Richard K. Betts, Statement and testimony on nuclear proliferation implications of foreign investment in U.S. firms, in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Operations, Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer, and Monetary Affairs, Hearings: Federal Response to OPEC Country Investments in the United States, Cong. 97, 1st sess., (1981).  
Richard K. Betts, Statement and testimony on arms transfer policy of the Reagan administration, in U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Hearing: Conventional Arms Sales, Cong. 97, 1st sess., (1981). Similar version published as “Whom Should We Arm?,” Brookings Bulletin 18, no. 1 (1981).  
Richard K. Betts, “The Tragicomedy of Arms Trade Control,” International Security V, no. 1 (Summer 1980).  Reprinted in U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Hearing: Conventional Arms Sales, 97th Cong., 1st sess., 1981.  Expanded version published as “Arms Trade Control,” in Richard Burt, ed., Arms Control and Defense Postures in the 1980’s (Boulder:  Westview Press, 1982).
Richard K. Betts, “How to Balance Dirty Tricks and Democracy,” Newsday, 21 February 1980.  
Richard K. Betts, Statement and testimony in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hearing: The Role of Intelligence in the Foreign Policy Process, 96th Cong., 2d sess., 1980. Similar version published as “Intelligence for Policymaking,” Washington Quarterly III, no. 3 (Summer 1980).  Reprinted in Gerald W. Hopple, Stephen J. Andriole, and Amos Freedy, eds., National Security Crisis Forecasting and Management (Boulder: Westview Press, 1984), and in Walter Laqueur and Brad Roberts, eds., America in the World, 1962-1987 (New York:  Martin’s Press, 1987).
Richard K. Betts, Statement and testimony in S. House of Representatives, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Hearings: Soviet Strategic Forces, 96th Cong., 2d sess., 1980. Similar version published as “Strategic Intelligence Estimates,” in Parameters X, no. 4 (December 1980); reprinted in Studies in Intelligence.
Richard K. Betts, Statement in S. Senate, Committees on Foreign Relations and Governmental Affairs, Joint Hearings: The Tarapur Nuclear Fuel Export Issue, 96th Cong., 2d sess., 1980.
Richard K. Betts, “Regional Nuclearization and Political Tensions: South Asia,” in John Kerry King, ed., International Political Effects of the Spread of Nuclear Weapons (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, April 1979). Similar version published as “Nuclear Proliferation and Regional Rivalry: Speculations on South Asia,” Orbis XXIII, no. 2 (Spring 1979).
Richard K. Betts, “From Vietnam to Yemen,” New York Times, 25 March 1979.  
Richard K. Betts, “Prospects for Nuclear Proliferation: 1978-1990,” in Equivalence, Sufficiency and the International Balance, Proceedings of the Fifth National Security Affairs Conference (Washington, D.C.: National Defense University, August 1978). Reprinted in Henry W. Han, ed., World in Transition:  Challenges to Human Rights, Development and World Order (Washington, D.C.:  University Press of America, 1979).
Richard K. Betts, Contributor to U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Final Report: Book I, Foreign and Military Intelligence, 94th Cong., 2d sess., 1976.  Excerpts reprinted in Tyrus G. Fain et. al., eds., The Intelligence Community: History, Organization, and Issues (New York: R. R. Bowker, 1977).