Dr. Tom Bickford
Thomas J. Bickford, Ph.D. is an Asia analyst in CNA's China Security Affairs Group. At CNA,
his research has focused on Chinese maritime strategy, Chinese national security policy, and
China’s relations with its neighbors. His previous work includes several articles and book
chapters on Chinese civil-military relations, professional military education, and internal
security.
Before joining CNA, he was an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh,
where he taught international relations and Chinese politics. He was also an associate director of
the Wisconsin Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies.
Bickford holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.S.
in international studies from the London School of Economics, and a B.A. in East Asian studies
from the University of Chicago. He has also studied in Taiwan and Hong Kong and has
conducted extensive field research in China.
Ambassador Barbara Bodine
Ambassador Bodine is a Distinguished Professor in the Practice of
Diplomacy and the Director of the Institute for the Study of
Diplomacy in the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service at
Georgetown University.
Her 33-year Foreign Service career was spent primarily in the
broader Persian Gulf region, with a dual focus on
security/counterterrorism and governance/development. She served
as U.S. Ambassador to Yemen from 1997 through much of 2001,
and also in Kuwait and Iraq. In 1991, she received the Secretary of
State’s Award for Valor for her work in occupied Kuwait.
After leaving the Foreign Service, Ambassador Bodine was
founding director of the Kennedy School of Government’s
Governance Initiative in the Middle East as well as Senior Fellow and, subsequently, the
Wilhelm Fellow at MIT. From 2007-2014 she was a Lecturer in Public and International Affairs
and Director of the Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson School of
Princeton University. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy
of Diplomacy and a regent emirita of the University of California.
As Director of the School of Foreign Service’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Ambassador
Bodine leads a program in research, teaching and public outreach on the nature and conduct of
diplomacy. As a Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy she teaches students at
both the graduate and undergraduate levels.
Mr. Ken Brockman
Mr. Brockman has had an extended career in the nuclear industry,
serving as a senior manager in nuclear power plant operations,
regulatory oversight and safety consultation. He has worked with both
utilities and the regulatory authorities of the United States and several
other countries (Russia, Ukraine, France, United Kingdom, China, and
South Africa). He has served on the Safety Review Boards for three
American utilities (Fort Calhoun Station; Southern Nuclear Company
(Chair); South Texas Project) and as a senior advisor for the Republic
of South Africa. As a senior diplomatic manager for the IAEA, he
served as the Secretariat for the Contracting Parties for the Convention
on Nuclear Safety and the Commission on Safety Standards. Mr. Brockman has managed multi-
national technical staffs in both office and field applications and has served as a senior
spokesperson in public and political environments. He is fluent in German.
Mr. Brockman has had a distinguished career with the U.S. NRC. As a License Examiner, he
was responsible for developing, administering and evaluating the qualifications of individuals
seeking Reactor and Senior Reactor licenses on U.S. nuclear power plants. As an inspector, Mr.
Brockman conducted both planned and reactive inspections – this included normal oversight of
day-to-day operations and reactive oversight to operational events. In this latter capacity, Mr.
Brockman led the regional activities associated with the 1990 loss of offsite power event at the
Vogtle Steam Electric Plant; subsequently, he oversaw the technical response to the
Congressional Inquiry into the adequacy of welds at the Seabrook Station. As a senior manager
with the NRC, Mr. Brockman managed the NRC response to numerous significant events.
While the Director, Nuclear Installation Safety, IAEA, the IRRT review was initiated and
missions were conducted in over 15 countries; the OSART review program was administered at
over 30.power plants throughout the world.
Dr. Christopher Bronk
Christopher Bronk, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of computer and
information systems and associate director of the Center for Information
Security Research and Education. He holds additional appointments in
Rice University’s Department of Computer Science and the University
of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs. His research is focused in
the area of cyber geopolitics with additional work in organizational
innovation, knowledge management, and intelligence studies.
Prior to arriving at the University of Houston, Bronk was the fellow for
information technology policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute.
Previously, he was a software developer in a technology startup and then spent time as a Foreign
Service Officer, finishing his tenure at the U.S. State Department’s Office of Diplomacy. In
addition to significant work in the cyber security area he has published on issues including:
broadband and wifi policy; IT sector energy consumption; intelligence and information sharing
issues; and the area of computer security in the energy industry.
Bronk has provided commentary and opinion for a variety of news outlets, including the New
York Times, Foreign Policy, Der Spiegel, Scientific American, the Wall Street Journal, CNN,
the BBC and the Houston Chronicle. Holding a Ph.D. from The Maxwell School of Syracuse
University, Bronk also studied international relations at Oxford University and received a
bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison
Dr. Virginia Burkett
Virginia Burkett serves as Chief Scientist for Climate and Land Use
Change at the U.S. Geological Survey. Burkett was formerly Chief of
the Wetlands Ecology Branch at the USGS National Wetlands
Research Center in Lafayette, Louisiana. Burkett has also served as
Secretary/Director of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and
Fisheries, Deputy Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife
and Fisheries, Director of the Louisiana Coastal Zone Management
Program, and Assistant Director of the Louisiana Geological Survey.
Burkett has published extensively on the topics of climate change, sea
level rise, and low-lying coastal zones. She was a Lead Author of the
United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Third, Fourth and Fifth Assessment Reports (2001, 2007 and 2014)
and the IPCC Technical Paper on Water (2008). She was a Lead
Author of the 2001, 2009 and 2014 U.S. National Assessments of climate change impacts
produced by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Virginia Burkett is among the Nobel
Prize-winning authors of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's fourth
assessment report.
In addition to journal articles and books, Burkett has co-authored reports for The Wildlife
Society (2004), the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity (2005), the Everglades Task
Force (2007), the U.S. Department of Transportation (2008), and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (2012) that address climate change impacts and potential adaptation
strategies. She is a Senior Editor of the journal Regional Environmental Change and serves on
the Editorial Board of the journal Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics. Burkett has
been appointed to over 60 Commissions, Committees, Science Panels and Boards during her
career. Burkett received her doctoral degree in forestry from Stephen F. Austin State University
in Nacogdoches, Texas in 1996.
Lt Col Humberto Castro Career Highlights: 2011-2013 Instructor, War College, MX
2010-2011 Section Chief, Military Region 1-8, Oaxaca, MX
2007-2009 Chief, 7th Group (Counter Narcotics), MX
2004-2006 Infantry Co Cdr, 12th Inf Bn, Michoacan, MX
1999-2001 Cdr, Special Forces Platoon, MX
1996-1998 Section Cdr, 7th Military Region, Chiapas, MX
1993-1996 Cadet, Heroico Colegio Military/Mexican Military Academy
Preferred name: Beto
Branch / Specialty: Infantry/Mexican Special Forces/ Officer Staff.
Languages spoken: Spanish
Dr. Samuel Charap
Samuel Charap is the Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the
International Institute for Strategic Studies based in the IISS–US in
Washington, DC. Prior to joining the Institute, Samuel was a Council on
Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow at the US Department of
State, serving as Senior Advisor to the Acting Undersecretary for Arms
Control and International Security and on the Secretary’s Policy Planning
Staff. He continues to advise the Undersecretary as a consultant to the
Department. From 2009–2011, Samuel was Director for Russia and Eurasia
at the Center for American Progress (CAP), a Washington DC-based think
tank. Before joining CAP, he was a visiting fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the
Center for Strategic and International Studies, and also consulted on political risks in Russia and
Eurasia for Medley Global Advisors, the Eurasia Group, and Oxford Analytica, and served in the
NATO Liaison Office in Kiev, Ukraine.
Samuel’s work has been published in the Washington Quarterly, Washington Post, Current
History, New York Times, Survival and several other journals and newspapers. He holds a
doctorate in politics and a masters in Russian and East European studies from the University of
Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He received his BA from Amherst College. He was a
visiting scholar at the Carnegie Moscow Center and the International Center for Policy Studies
(Kiev), and a Fulbright Scholar at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Samuel
is fluent in Russian and proficient in Ukrainian. He is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign
Relations.
L. Casey Chosewood, MD MPH
Dr. L. Casey Chosewood is currently the Director of the Office
for Total Worker HealthTM
at the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health, part of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. In this role, he promotes the protection
and improvement of the health and well-being of workers around
the world. From 2004 to 2009, he served as the Director of the
CDC Office of Health and Safety safeguarding the 15,000
members of the CDC workforce as they faced the new challenges
of the modern public health era, including emerging infectious
diseases, bioterrorism and other global health challenges. His
Office led numerous CDC workforce protection programs,
including all occupational health services, laboratory and
biosafety programs, environmental and compliance activities, and
workplace wellness and prevention initiatives. He has served as
the Medical Director of CDC’s three occupational health clinics.
His team has overseen a multi-faceted workplace health and
wellness program providing more than 200,000 health promotion encounters, screenings, and
health opportunities annually. He has presented extensively on the topic of occupational safety
and health, biological and laboratory safety, international travel medicine, and workplace health
and well-being. He led CDC’s Healthiest Nation initiative from 2008 to 2009.
Dr. Chosewood received his medical degree at the Medical College of Georgia and completed
his residency in Family Medicine at the University of Connecticut. He has been an Assistant
Professor of Family and Community Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine since
1997. He received an MPH in Health Policy and Management from Emory University’s Rollins
School of Public Health in May 2014. Before coming to CDC, Dr. Chosewood was the Medical
Director for the Southeastern Region of Lucent Technologies.
Dr. Margaret Crosby-Arnold
Dr. Margaret Crosby-Arnold received her Ph.D. from Brown University in 2001, specializing in
the fields of Modern German, Modern European and American histories, with a particular
interest in comparative constitutionalism and legal development. Between 2001 and 2004, she
was an AHRC Research Fellow on the project "Constituting the German Nation: The
Construction of Citizenship through Constitutional Theory and Practice 1898-1998," at King's
College-London. In addition, she was awarded two Guest Scientist appointments with the Max
Planck Institute for European Legal History in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2009, she was advanced
to Associate Professor with tenure at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She was a Visiting
Scholar in the Department of History at Columbia University and is currently Adjunct Associate
Research Scholar with the Blinken European Institute of Columbia University. She is the author
of The Making of a German Constitution: A Slow Revolution, which appeared in 2008. Her
second book, Hannibals At The Gates: Europe's First Immigration Crisis and the Rise of the
Legal Fiction of Race during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era, 1750-1815 will be
published by Berghahn Books in 2014. With an eye toward Europe's current immigration crisis,
the book examines the relationship between modern constitutionalism and the construction of
race in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century Europe, with a particular focus on
reactions against the mobility, social mobility and integration of people of color in Europe in the
second half of the Eighteenth Century. Dr. Crosby has given numerous talks in the United States,
Europe and Asia and, has, additionally, served on a number of public boards and commissions.
Dr. Moïse Desvarieux
As an infectious disease epidemiologist, Dr. Moise Desvarieux has had
two research foci covering the traditional field of infectious disease
epidemiology and the newer interface of infectious and chronic
diseases. Throughout his career, he has served as Principal Investigator
or co-Principal Investigator of seven externally funded research grants.
Five of these grants have been funded by NIH, and one by CDC.
Notably, Dr. Desvarieux is the PI of the INVEST study, and works
collaboratively with colleagues in the Department of Neurology at
P&S and the School of Dentistry on this large multi-ethnic cohort of
participants in Northern Manhattan aiming to assess the contribution
of chronic periodontal infections to vascular disease. Dr. Desvarieux has published in Lancet, the
American Journal of Public Health, Stroke, Circulation, the Journal of Infectious Diseases, and
Atherosclerosis, among others. In 2005, he was awarded a Chair of Excellence by the French
National Agency for Research in collaboration with Inserm to coordinate the study of oral
infections and vascular disease in the 5 cohorts of INVEST in the US, SHIP in Germany, PRIME
in Ireland, HAPIEE in Poland and WHO-Monica in France. In November 2005, he also received
the "Leadership in Research" award from the Friends of the National Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research at the National Press Club in Washington for "outstanding scientific
contribution". Dr. Desvarieux teaches the "Epidemiology of Cardiovascular Disease" course at
Columbia.
Dr. Daniel Drezner
Daniel W. Drezner is Professor of International Politics at the
Fletcher School, Tufts University, a nonresident senior fellow at the
Brookings Institution, and a contributing editor at the Washington
Post. Prior to Fletcher, he taught at the University of Chicago and
the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has previously held
positions with Civic Education Project, the RAND Corporation and
the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and received fellowships from
the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Council on Foreign
Relations, and Harvard University. Drezner has written five books,
including All Politics is Global and Theories of International
Politics and Zombies, and edited two others, including Avoiding
Trivia. He has published articles in numerous scholarly journals as
well as in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Politico, and
Foreign Affairs, and has been a contributing editor for Foreign Policy and The National Interest.
He received his B.A. in political economy from Williams College and an M.A. in economics and
PhD in political science from Stanford University. His blog for Foreign Policy magazine was
named by Time as one of the 25 best blogs of 2012, and he currently writes the “Spoiler Alerts”
blog for the Washington Post. His latest book, The System Worked: How the World Stopped
Another Great Depression, was published by Oxford University Press in June 2014.
Ms. Nancy Duong
Nancy Duong is a Trader/Analyst in the Markets Group at the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She uses her abilities to
effectively analyze financial markets to inform and guide the
highest level of decision and policy makers in the U.S.
Government, including the President of the United States and
others in the White House, Treasury Department and Federal
Reserve. She served as the Federal Reserve Liaison to the U.S.
Treasury Department during the 2013 Debt Ceiling Crisis, and as
the lead markets analyst on municipal finance during the
quantitative easing programs in 2011 onwards. Prior to joining the
Federal Reserve, she was a fellow at the Children’s Investment
Fund Foundation in London where she focused on portfolio
investments in biomedical technology and health system
infrastructure. From 2005 to 2007, she was a management analyst
in housing and economic development policy for the City of Los
Angeles where she received the Martin Gang Scholarship for civil service excellence.
Nancy has lectured at Brandeis University on “Public Finance: Risks and Opportunities” and has
presented her research on “Emerging Risks in Municipal Markets” at the Federal Reserve. Her
current research interests include non-bank systemically important financial institutions and
insurance asset management strategies.
She is a Board Member of the Princeton Women in Finance Alumni Association and team leader
with New York Cares. Nancy holds a Masters in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson
School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and a Bachelor of Arts in
Contemporary International Relations from UC Berkeley. She is a Chartered Alternative
Investments Analyst and a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts.
Mr. Nima Gerami
Nima Gerami is a Research Fellow in the Center for the Study of
Weapons of Mass Destruction at the National Defense University
and a 2014 Adjunct Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near
East Policy. His research focuses on Iran and its nuclear program,
Persian Gulf security policy, and WMD nonproliferation. He is a
course instructor at NDU and regularly lectures at senior service
schools and other professional military education venues.
Prior to joining NDU, he was a research assistant and editor in the
Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace. From 2003 to 2007, he served as an assistant to
the executive director of the Office of International Affairs at the
University of Connecticut. He is the author of “Leadership Divided? The Domestic Politics of
Iran’s Nuclear Debate” (The Washington Institute, 2014), “Proliferation Risks of Civil Nuclear
Power Programs” (NDU, 2012), and “The IAEA’s Decision to Find Iran in Non-Compliance,
2002-2006” (NDU, 2012). He has contributed to various journals and media outlets including the
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Foreign Policy, the Guardian, Jane’s Intelligence Review, and
the New Republic.
Gerami holds a M.A. in government from the Johns Hopkins University and B.A. degrees in
political science and international studies from the University of Connecticut.
Mr. Benoît Gomis
Benoît Gomis is an analyst on international security, drugs &
organized crime, and counter-terrorism. He is currently writing a
book on counter-terrorism for CRC Press (Taylor & Francis) as a
Visiting Scholar at the Canadian Network for Research on
Terrorism, Security and Society (TSAS), based at the University
of British Columbia (UBC). He is also an Associate Faculty at
Royal Roads University, where he teaches an MA course for
practitioners on international conflict involving political, ethnic
and security issues. In an independent capacity, he conducts
consulting work for a number of organizations including think
tanks, universities, NGOs and governments.
He previously worked as a Research Analyst in the International Security Department of
Chatham House. There he led research projects on drugs and organized crime, counter-terrorism,
and Franco-British defence and security cooperation. He previously worked at the French
Ministry of Defence in Paris and NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Brussels, and was educated
at Sciences Po in Aix-en-Provence, Loyola University Chicago and the London School of
Economics and Political Science (LSE).
He is the author of a number of reports and articles, including 'Illicit Drugs and International
Security: Towards UNGASS 2016' (2014), and 'Franco-British Defence and Security Treaties:
Entente While It Lasts?' (2011), which was selected by the UK’s Chief of Defence Staff for his
Recommended Reading List. He is a frequent contributor to international publications -
including European Geostrategy (where he is an Associate Editor), IHS Jane's Intelligence
Review and World Politics Review - and the media. He has spoken at numerous conferences and
seminars, including at the British Parliament, King’s College London, Georgetown University,
the Counter-Terror Expo, and Public Safety Canada.
Mr. Abdullahi Boru Halakhe
Abdullahi Boru is a Horn of Africa analyst, specializing in Kenya, who
has worked with International Crisis Group, where he authored several
reports in the lead up to Kenya's 2013 elections, and the BBC East Africa
Bureau where he covered Kenya's 2007 elections and resulting violence.
He is currently a consultant for the Global Centre for the Responsibility
to Protect, researching the impact of international intervention on
Kenya's election proceedings. He holds a Masters in International Affairs
from Columbia University and has worker at several UN organizations
and with several NGOs in East Africa, focusing on conflict issues.
Dr. Richard Hoffman
Richard J. (Rich) Hoffman is Director of the Center for Civil-
Military Relations (CCMR) at the US Naval Postgraduate School in
Monterey, California. Mr. Hoffman also served as Executive
Director of the Center from 1996 to 2004. As Director, he oversees
the development and coordination of the Center's global education
programs in Civil-Military Relations; Policy and Strategy
development in a Democracy; Combating Terrorism; and Stability
and Reconstruction Operations. As an NPS Senior Lecturer, he
also teaches graduate courses in civil-military relations, policy and
strategy development, military history, and joint and combined
operations in the NPS Department of National Security Affairs.
Before joining CCMR in 1996, Rich served for more than 24 years
in the US Army. His last assignments include duty as Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for
Operations of the Sixth US Army, responsible for oversight of Army Reserve Component
Readiness and Military Support to Civil Authorities in the twelve western United States, and
duty as a strategic plans officer in the US Mission to NATO from 1989 to 1993, where he led the
Office of the Secretary of Defense's effort in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty
negotiations, and the development of policy and strategy for NATO's peacekeeping capabilities.
Mr. Hoffman holds a bachelor's degree in National Security Affairs from the US Military
Academy, and master’s degrees in history and political science from Stanford University.
Mr. EJ Hogendoorn
EJ Hogendoorn is Crisis Group’s Africa Deputy Program Director.
He is based in Washington, DC, and travels often to the region. EJ
frequently briefs the media, international organizations and
government representatives on African issues. EJ previously
worked as Crisis Group’s Horn of Africa Project Director.
EJ was a former Arms Expert with the United Nations Panel of
Experts on Somalia (2002-2003) and Sudan (2005-2006). Prior to
that, he worked as a researcher for the Human Rights Watch Arms
Division and with Amnesty International USA. He has a PhD in
Public Affairs (Security Studies), Woodrow Wilson School of
Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.
EJ regularly contributes to television, radio, print, on-line media and documentaries, including:
Al Jazeera, BBC, Bloomberg, CNN, National Public Radio, Voice of America, Deutsche Welle,
Radio France International, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The New York Times, The
Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The East African, and the Daily
Nation.
Mr. Sarwar Kashmeri
Sarwar A. Kashmeri is an Adjunct-Professor of Political Science at
Norwich University and a fellow with the Foreign Policy
Association. He is an author and current affairs commentator,
recognized on both sides of the Atlantic as a specialist on U.S.-
European relations and NATO. A former international
businessman, he brings a global business perspective to his work in
U.S. foreign policy and national security strategy. He organized
Norwich University's 2014 Conference on "U.S. Grand Strategy &
Leadership" and served as its chairman.
The author of two books (NATO 2.0: Reboot or Delete? and
America & Europe After 9/11 and Iraq; The Great Divide), and the
U.S. Army War college monograph NATO & The EU's Common
Security & Defense Policy-Intersecting Trajectories. Kashmeri speaks frequently before
business, foreign policy, and military audiences and is a commentator on Vermont Public Radio
and New Hampshire Public Radio. Besides television and radio appearances, he is a regular
columnist for US News & World Report and the Huffington Post; his columns have appeared in
several publications including The New York Times/International Herald Tribune and The
Guardian. At the Foreign Policy Association he hosts the Great Decisions Podcast Series - eight
minute conversations with global leaders. Kashmeri earned a BS in Aerospace Engineering and
an MS in Engineering from Saint Louis University, where he taught on the faculty and was
Director of the Aerospace Engineering school's Computation Center. He is @sarwar_kashmeri
and www.linkedin.com/in/sarwarkashmeri/.
Major Mark Lehenbauer
Major Mark Lehenbauer was a recipient of a four-year ROTC
scholarship and commissioned as an Infantry Officer through Texas
A&M University, where he commanded the TAMU Ranger
Challenge Team and led them to a regional championship in 1997.
After graduating as a Distinguished Military Graduate with a BS in
Construction Science in 1999, he earned his Ranger Tab then served
with the 1st Battalion, 23
rd Infantry Regiment (Stryker Brigade
Combat Team) as an Infantry Rifle Platoon Leader, Rifle Company
Executive Officer, and Assistant Battalion S-3. After attending the
Infantry Captain’s Career Course, the Special Forces Qualification
Course, and the Arabic Language Course in 2003 and 2004, he arrived to the 5th
Special Forces
Group (Airborne). There, he served as a Special Forces Operational Detachment - Alpha
Commander and Special Forces Company Executive Officer with multiple combat tours and
Theatre Security Cooperation Program deployments throughout the Middle East. In 2008 he was
selected for an Olmsted Scholarship. After completing the Hebrew Language Course, he studied
Contemporary Middle Eastern History at Tel Aviv University, Israel from 2009-2011, during
which time he travelled extensively across the region as a student.
Major Lehenbauer then earned a Master of Military Art and Science at the US Army Command
and General Staff School where he was selected to participate in the Art of War Scholar’s
program. His thesis on Orde Wingate and the British Internal Security Strategy in Palestine,
1936-1939, is a published work. He then returned to 5th
Special Forces Group in 2012 where he
commanded a Special Forces Company and served as an SF Battalion S-3. In 2014, he was
selected by the Commander, Special Operations Command Central to serve as his liaison to the
inter-agency in the National Capitol Region. Beyond daily involvement with the current issues
challenging our US national security interests in the Middle East, this unique posting positions
him to see across multiple USG departments and agencies.
Dr. Austin Long
Austin Long is an Assistant Professor at the School of International
and Public Affairs and a Member of the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute
of War and Peace Studies and the Harriman Institute for Russian,
Eurasian, and East European Studies at Columbia University. He is
also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research
Institute. His research interests include low-intensity conflict,
intelligence, military operations, nuclear forces, military innovation
and the political economy of national security.
Dr. Long was previously an Associate Political Scientist at the RAND
Corporation. While at RAND, he was an analyst and adviser to
Multinational Force Iraq’s Task Force 134/Detention Operations and
the I Marine Expeditionary Force (2007 to 2008). In 2011, he was an analyst and adviser to
Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command Afghanistan. In 2013 he was an
analyst and adviser to NATO Special Operations Component Command Afghanistan. Dr. Long
has also served as a consultant to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln
Laboratory, Science Applications International Corporation, the Department of Defense's Office
of Net Assessment, and the International Crisis Group. In 2014-2015 he is on leave from
Columbia as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in Nuclear Security.
He has also been a fellow at Dartmouth College’s Dickey Center for International
Understanding.
Dr. Long received his B.S. from the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia
Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
Mr. Paul M. Nelson
Mr Paul Nelson is the Deputy Director of the Building Partnership
Capacity Department, Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). The
Department is a force multiplier in countering weapons of mass
destruction by improving the collective capabilities and performance of
the Department of Defense and its Partners, which includes over 100
countries.
From 2009-13 Mr Nelson served as the Deputy Chief to the CBRN
Consequence Management Division. He assisted the Agency’s efforts to
inform, influence, and synchronize the Department of Defense’s weapons
of mass destruction consequence management doctrine and policy, to train and exercise
Department of Defense and partner nation personnel in consequence management policy and
procedures, and to develop, share, and apply lessons learned derived from consequence
management operations and exercises. During the Fukushima nuclear reactor incident in 2011
Mr Nelson served as a Department of Defense liaison officer to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.
In 2003 Mr Nelson joined DTRA as the US Nuclear Weapons Accident Exercise (NUWAX)
program manager, responsible for planning and conducting Interagency NUWAX exercises,
ranging from table-top exercises to national full-scale exercises.
Before joining DTRA Mr Nelson served twenty years in the U.S. Army as an engineer officer in
Army construction and combat engineer battalions and with the Army’s Acquisition Corps. He
earned a bachelor’s degree from the United States Military Academy and Master’s degrees from
the Naval Postgraduate School and Boston University.
Dr. Takafumi Ohtomo
Takafumi Ohtomo is an Associate Professor of International
Relations at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. He specializes in
IR theory. His current research interests include unipolarity and
its effects on the international system. Prof. Ohtomo has written
on alliances after the Cold War (“Bandwagoning to Dampen
Suspicion: NATO and the U.S.-Japan Alliance after the Cold
War.” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Vol. 3, No. 1
(2003)). He received his Ph.D. from the University of Tsukuba.
Dr. Jonathan Powell
Dr. Powell (PhD University of Kentucky) is an Assistant Professor
in the Political Science Department specializing in international
relations and comparative politics. He is especially interested in
civil-military relations, with regional interests in Africa and the
Middle East. Dr. Powell’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in
the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research,
Foreign Policy Analysis, and African Security Review.
Dr. Carla Anne Robbins
Carla Anne Robbins is Clinical Professor of National Security
Studies at Baruch College's School of Public Affairs at the City
University of New York. She is also an adjunct senior fellow at the
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where she is leading a
roundtable series on national security in an age of austerity.
An award-winning journalist and foreign policy analyst, Dr.
Robbins was Deputy Editorial Page Editor at the New York Times
and Chief Diplomatic Correspondent at the Wall Street Journal. She
has reported from Latin America, Europe, Russia, and the Middle
East. She now contributes to Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
Dr. Robbins shared in two Pulitzer Prizes at the Journal as well as
other reporting prizes.
She is a graduate of Wellesley College and received a PhD in
political science from U.C., Berkeley. She was a Nieman fellow at Harvard.
Dr. Peter Rutland
Peter Rutland is the Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor of
Government at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where
he has taught since 1989. He previously taught at the University of
Texas, Austin and the University of London. He has a BA from Oxford
and a Ph. D from the University of York.
He has taught as a visiting Fulbright fellow at the European University in
St. Petersburg and Sophia University in Tokyo. From 1995-97 he was on
leave from Wesleyan and served as assistant director of the Open Media
Research Institute attached to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in
Prague. He is an Associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian
Studies at Harvard and a member of the advisory board at the Institute of the State Academy for
Economics and Public Administration in St. Petersburg.
His research focuses on political economy and nationalism in the post-soviet space. He is the
author of two books and editor of four others. Recent articles include “Oil and national identity
in Russia,” “Neoliberalism and the Russian transition,” and “Explaining Pussy Riot.” He is
associate editor of Russian Review and editor in chief of Nationalities Papers. He is a regular
contributor to The Moscow Times and has also written for The New York Times, The Financial
Times and Open Democracy. He blogs about nationalism at:
http://nationalismwatch.wordpress.com/
Recent publications are posted online at: http://prutland.web.wesleyan.edu/research.htm
Mr. Chris Spirito
Chris Spirito is the International Cyber Lead for the National
Security Center of The MITRE Corporation, a US Federally
Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC). Chris
joined MITRE in 1998 in their Information Warfare group and
has spent the majority of his career supporting Cybersecurity
initiatives within the Department of Defence
(DoD) and Intelligence Community. Chris currently supports a
number of international agencies, foreign governments and
national militaries on behalf of the US DoD and State
Department. His areas of focus include the intersection of cyber
and nuclear security, foreign language cyber analysis, cyber
education and training and the development of international cyber
norms and confidence building measures.
Over the past year Chris has lectured at the Baltic Defence College
(BALTDEFCOL) and University of Tartu Faculty of Law in Tartu, Estonia, and the Royal
Command Staff College in Manama, Bahrain. Based upon his experience at BALTDEFCOL,
Chris co-authored a paper with Dr. Eneken Tikk-Ringas from the International Institute from
Strategic Studies and LtCol, Dr. Mika Kerttunen from BALTDEFCOL on Cyber Security as a
Field of Military Education and Studies which will be published in the next Joint Forces
Quarterly. Prior to re-joining MITRE Chris was the Director of Technology at Lux Research, a
nanotechnology consultancy based out of New York City.
Chris graduated from Boston College with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and completed a
graduate certificate in information security from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
In addition to his work at MITRE Chris is a Board Member and technical advisor to WiRED
International, an NGO based in California focused on providing medical education to clinicians
in underserved regions of the world. During the fall and spring Chris coaches a U12 and U14
girls soccer team and volunteers for his community soccer program.
Ms. Sheree Renee Thomas
Sheree Renée Thomas is the award-winning author of Shotgun
Lullabies: Stories & Poems (Aqueduct Press) and editor of the
landmark anthology, Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction
from the African Diaspora and its sequel, Dark Matter: Reading the
Bones (winner of the 2001 and 2005 World Fantasy Awards).
Her short stories and poetry appear and are forthcoming in literary
journals and magazines such as Callaloo, Eleven, Eleven, Harpur
Palate, Meridians, StorySouth, Strange Horizons, Mythic Delirium,
and in anthologies, including The Moment of Change, So Long Been
Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy, Mojo: Conjure
Stories, Mythic 2, Southern Revival, Hurricane Blues, and The
Ringing Ear: Poets Lean South.
She has been honored with fellowships from Cave Canem Foundation, New York Foundation of
the Arts, the Lee Hope Fellowship for Diverse Voices, and the Ledig House / LEF Foundation
Fellowship for Fiction. Her work was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, two Rhysling Awards, and
received Honorable Mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror (16th & 17th annual
editions). She is an alumna of Clarion West, class of '99, the six-week science fiction and fantasy
writers workshop based in Seattle.
Thomas has written essays and critical reviews for The New York Times, The Washington Post,
Essence, The Cascadia Subduction Zone, Upscale, and Vibe. A teaching artist who has taught
creative writing at universities and arts organizations around the country and in London, Thomas
is also an indie publisher. Her Wanganegresse Press published Mojo Rising: Confessions of the
21st Century Conjureman by Arthur Flowers and SCARAB, a limited edition hand-sewn Coptic
bound anthology. She co-founded Anansi: Fiction of the African Diaspora in '99.
Thomas curated the New York Review of Science Fiction reading series at Dixon Place, named in
2002 as the Best Geek Culture Readings by BEST OF NEW YORK© in The Village Voice. Over
the years she has served as a juror for the Speculative Literature Foundation, the Carl Brandon
Society, and the James Tiptree, Jr. Awards.
A native of Memphis, Sheree Renée Thomas is the Lucille Geier Lakes Writer-in-Residence of
Smith College in Northampton, MA.
Mr. Jan Voigts
Mr. Voigts joined the Bank in August 1978 as a Public Information
representative and since then has moved through several assignments
in the “central bank” function of the Federal Reserve as well as bank
supervision. Mr. Voigts served as a trader on the Open Market
Trading Desk from 1980 to 1985 and moved to the Dealer
Surveillance division of the Securities department serving from 1985
tom 1992 where the team reviewed the Fed Desk’s business and risk
relationship with each of the 49 Primary Dealers at that time.
In 1992, Mr. Voigts was assigned as a bank examiner to the
International Banking department in 1992 as a capital markets
specialist reviewing offshore operations of U.S. banks, and thereafter
expanded into all aspects of front and middle office construction; financial, control and support
operations; technology; complex legal infrastructures; global governance and management
information systems. Mr. Voigts also served as a specialist in anti-money laundering from 2000
to 2005 and in 2007 was promoted to Examining Officer and assigned to the operation risk
department. In March of 2008 Mr. Voigts was briefly at Bear Stearns and was subsequently
assigned to monitor Lehman Brothers from the start of the financial crisis up to and including the
firm’s bankruptcy. He was then immediately reassigned to help organize oversight of A.I.G. In
September 2008, Mr. Voigts was assigned as the Deputy Senior Supervisory Officer of Morgan
Stanley at their formation as a financial holding company, was promoted to Assistant Vice
President in January 2010, Vice President in January 2012 and served in the relationship
management function of the Financial Institution Supervision Group at Morgan Stanley until
May 2013. Mr. Voigts now serves as Deputy and Chief Operating Officer of the newly formed
Regional, Community and Foreign Institution Group with specific responsibility for the Foreign
Financial Institutions supervisory program in the New York District and the Risk examination
team. Over the years, Mr. Voigts had participated in or led many domestic and international
investigations, served as an instructor domestically and internationally and had the privilege
helping to train the Iraqi Central Bank Supervisory teams over several years in the Gulf region.
Mr. Voigts holds a BA in Philosophy from Franklin & Marshall College, and was accepted to
attend the Masters in Divinity program at the Princeton Theological Seminary. He is a recipient
of several awards and commendations including the Federal Reserve System Meritorious Service
Award from Chairman Greenspan. Mr. Voigts is also a member of the United States Coast Guard
Auxiliary, Flotilla 78 Cos Cob and is a qualified Vessel Safety Examiner.
Dr. Yuhua Wang
Yuhua Wang is an assistant professor of political science at the
University of Pennsylvania. He received an B.A. and an M.A. in
political science from Peking University, and a Ph.D. in political
science from the University of Michigan in 2011. Yuhua is the author
of Tying the Autocrat’s Hands: The Rise of the Rule of Law in China
(Cambridge University Press), and his articles have appeared in The
China Quarterly, The China Journal, The China Review, Studies in
Comparative International Development, and Communist and Post-
Communist Studies. He is a frequent commentator on political
developments in China, and has appeared on CNN, New York Times,
Reuters, South China Morning Post, and Danish Broadcasting
Corporation.