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Security Policy Forum Events

The Security Policy Forum features leading experts and policymakers discussing security challenges ranging from terrorism to nuclear proliferation.


Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds

March 27, 2013
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  • Christopher A. Kojm, Chairman, National Intelligence Council (2009-Present); Former Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, GW (2007-2009)

Spies, Cyber Attacks, and Social Media: National Security and Espionage in the Digital Age

February 19, 2013
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  • Michael V. Hayden, Former Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2006-09); Former Director, National Security Agency (1999-2005)

    Moderated by:
    Frank Sesno, Director, School of Media and Public Affairs, GW

50th Anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis

October 24, 2012
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  • Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard

U.S. National Security and Defense Priorities in a Time of Austerity

October 16, 2012
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  • Michèle Flournoy, Former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy; Co-founder, Center for a New American Security

Human Security and the New Rules of War and Peace

May 9, 2012

  • Mary Kaldor, Professor of Global Governance; Director, Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, London School of Economics and Political Science

Women, War and Peace: Addressing Sexual Violence

March 8, 2012

  • Jelke Boesten, Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow, United States Institute of Peace
  • Dara Kay Cohen, Assistant Professor, Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota
  • Kathleen Kuehnast, Director, Gender and Peacebuilding Center, United States Institute of Peace

Cosponsored with the Global Gender Program and the Institute for Global and International Studies as part of "International Women's Day 2012"


Challenges Ahead: America and the Middle East

February 28, 2012
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  • Ambassador Dennis Ross, Counselor, Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region, National Security Council

U.S. Leadership in the 21st Century

January 31, 2012
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  • Jake Sullivan, Director of Policy Planning, U.S. Department of State

Banville Forum: U.S. Military Interventions

November 16, 2011
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  • "Civilian-Military Relations" — Christopher R. Hill, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq (2009–10)
  • "A Practitioner's Perspective" — David D. McKiernan, Commander, International Security Assistance Force, Afghanistan (2008–09)

Honoring Morton H. Halperin and Thomas C. Schelling Upon the 50-Year Anniversary of Strategy and Arms Control

September 19, 2011
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  • Charles Glaser, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs; Director, Institute for Security and Conflict Studies, GW
  • Jeffrey Lewis, Director, East Asia Nonproliferation Program, Monterey Institute of International Studies
  • George Quester, J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Visiting Professor of International Affairs, GW
  • John Steinbruner, Director, Center for International and Security Studies, University of Maryland

Egypt: After the Revolution

March 1, 2011

  • Michele Dunne, Co-chair, Bipartisan Working Group of Egypt; Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Advising the President on U.S. National Security

February 23, 2011
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  • Stephen J. Hadley, Former Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
  • I.M. Destler, Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland
  • James Goldgeier, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, GW

How We Fight: Crusades, Quagmires, and the American Way of War

November 5, 2010

  • Dominic Tierney, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Swarthmore College

Fighting Corruption in the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

November 2, 2010
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  • Stuart Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction
  • Stephen Biddle, Senior Fellow for Defense Policy, Council on Foreign Relations

Banville Forum: General Wesley K. Clark

October 19, 2010
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  • Gen. Wesley K. Clark, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Wesley K. Clark & Associates, LLC; former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and Commander in Chief, United States Army, United States European Command (1997-2000)

How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle

October 18, 2010

  • Gideon Rose, Editor, Foreign Affairs
  • Ambassador James Dobbins, Director, International Security and Defense Policy Center, RAND

Afghanistan: War of Necessity or Quagmire?

March 24, 2010
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  • Ambassador Peter W. Galbraith, Senior Diplomatic Fellow, The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: The Journalistic Challenges

March 1, 2010
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  • Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Senior Correspondent and Associate Editor, The Washington Post; author, Imperial Life in the Emerald City
  • Michael R. Gordon, Chief Military Correspondent, The New York Times; co-author, Cobra II and The Generals' War
  • Ann Scott Tyson, Staff Writer, The Washington Post

    Moderator:
  • Marc Lynch, Director, Institute for Middle East Studies, GW

The Collapse – And Rebirth? – of Transatlantic Relations

February 25, 2010

  • Ambassador Kurt Volker, former United States Permanent Representative to NATO

Ambassador Volker discusses the challenges to transatlantic relations since the end of the Cold War.
Read the transcript P D F file


Pakistan: Military and Political Challenges Ahead

November 17, 2009

  • Stephen P. Cohen, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Brookings Institution
  • Daniel Markey, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia, Council on Foreign Relations
  • Ashley J. Tellis, Senior Associate, South Asia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

    Moderator:
    Amb. Karl F. Inderfurth, former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia; Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, GW

Assessing Iran's Nuclear Program: After the Qum Inspections

November 3, 2009

  • David Albright, President of the Institute for Science and International Security

The War in Afghanistan: Prospects and Challenges

October 5, 2009
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  • The Military Situation
    Stephen Biddle, Senior Fellow for Defense Policy, Council on Foreign Relations
  • Training Indigenous Forces
    Lt. Gen. James Dubik (US Army, Ret.), Commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq (2007-08); Senior Fellow, Institute for the Study of War
  • The Counterinsurgency Approach
    John Nagl, President, Center for a New American Security

    Moderator:
    Marc Lynch, Director, Institute for Middle East Studies, GW

Reflections on the Bush Doctrine

April 16, 2009

  • Elliott Abrams, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
  • Robert Kagan, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

    Moderator:
    James Goldgeier, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, GW

Lt. General Karl Eikenberry

February 25, 2009

  • Lieutenant General Karl W. Eikenberry, Deputy Chairman, NATO Military Committee, Brussels; former senior commander in Afghanistan

China: Political and Security Challenges for the Next Administration

October 28, 2008

  • Thomas J. Christensen, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State (2006-2008); Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
  • Rear Admiral Michael McDevitt (USN, Ret.), Vice President and Director of the Center for Strategic Studies, Center for Naval Analyses
  • Harry Harding, University Professor of International Affairs, GW

    Moderator:
    David Shambaugh, Director, China Policy Program; Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, GW

Disarming Libya: Background to an Agreement

October 3, 2008

  • The Honorable Robert G. Joseph, former Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security, U.S. Department of State

The Middle East: For the Next Administration

September 23, 2008

  • The Arab-Israel Conflict:
    Aaron Miller, Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Center
  • Political and Social Forces:
    Marina Ottaway, Director, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Iran:
    Ray Takeyh, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

    Moderator:
    Marc Lynch, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University

Lessons from the Search for Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction

April 28, 2008

  • John E. McLaughlin, former Deputy Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2000-2004); former Acting Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2004)
  • Charles A. Duelfer, former Chief U.S. Weapons Inspector in Iraq (2004-2005)
  • Christopher Kojm, former Deputy Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission; former Senior Advisor to the Iraq Study Group; Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, George Washington University

Civilian Casualties of War

April 4, 2008

  • Paul Huth, Professor of Government and Politics; Research Director of the Center for International Devlopment and Conflict Management, University of Maryland
  • Colin Kahl, Assistant Professor, Security Studies Program, Georgetown University
  • Marc Lynch, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University

Assessing Progress in the War on Terror

February 20, 2008

  • Bruce Hoffman, Professor, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
  • Daniel Benjamin, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Brookings Institution
  • Daniel Byman, Director, Security Studies Program and the Center for Peace and Security Studies, Georgetown University
  • Christopher Kojm, former Deputy Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission; former Senior Advisor to the Iraq Study Group; Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, George Washington University

Assessing Progress in Afghanistan

December 5, 2007

  • U.S. Army Lt. Gen. (Ret.) David Barno, Commander, Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan (2003-05)
  • Larry Goodson, Professor, U.S. Army War College
  • Robert Perito, Senior Program Officer, Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operation, United States Institute of Peace
  • Amb. Karl F. Inderfurth, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia (1997-2001), Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, The George Washington University

Military Progress in Iraq: Views of the Experts

November 16, 2007

  • Stephen Biddle, Senior Fellow for Defense Policy, Council on Foreign Relations
  • Lawrence Korb, former Assistant Secretary of Defense, Manpower, Reserve Affairs, Installationa and Logistics; Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
  • Nora Bensahel, Senior Political Scientist, RAND Corporation
  • Christopher Kojm, former Deputy Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission; former Senior Advisor to the Iraq Study Group; Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, George Washington University

Negotiating With North Korea: Lessons and Challenges

October 23, 2007

  • Victor Cha, U.S. Deputy Head of Delegation to the Six Party Talks; Director for Asian Affairs, U.S. National Security Council (2004-2007); Associate Professor, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
  • James A. Kelly, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (2001-2005); President, EAP Associates
  • Joel Wit, Coordinator for the 1994 Agreed Framework, U.S. State Department (1995-2001); Visiting Fellow, U.S.-Korea Institute, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University
  • Kirk W. Larsen, Director, Sigur Center for Asian Studies, George Washington University

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