Events

The Merrill Center invites experts from academia, government, the military, journalism, business, and non-governmental organizations to speak at Johns Hopkins SAIS on a range of current and historical topics.

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In the 1940s and 1950s, radio and television programs like "You Are There," "Hear it Now," and "See it Now," sought to harness the journalistic immediacy of narration by Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite while educating the broader public about historical events. The You Were There Lecture Series seeks, on a smaller scale, to do the same for Strategic Studies students. The series brings policymakers involved in key national security decisions to Johns Hopkins SAIS to discuss the events they have witnessed and teach students about decision-making in times of crisis. 

Professor John McLaughlin's long-running speaker series “Defense Against the Dark Arts (or How to Thrive in a Washington Career)”, whose titled was borrowed obviously from Harry Potter, is an off-the-record event series targeted at current SAIS students. It aims to interview prominent Washington professionals in national security, business, and the media about career issues and how to survive and even prosper in the Washington environment.