Past Presenters

2017 - 2018

September 13, 2017
Ambassador H.E. Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry
Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the United States
“Peace and Stability in South Asia”

October 17, 2017
Senator Kelly Ayotte
U.S. Senator, from New Hampshire, 2011-2016
“The Role of the Hill in National Security”

October 23, 2017
Vice Admiral (retd.) Vijay Shankar PVSM, AVSM
“Staring-down the Abyss: Nuclear Security in South Asia”

October 25, 2017
General Raymond A. Thomas III
Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command
“Special Operations Forces Operating in a Complex World”

November 8, 2017
Dr. Arjun Subramaniam
Air Vice Marshal (Retd), Indian Air Force
"India's Military as a Tool of Statecraft:
From Diffidence to Confidence"

November 14, 2017
Conversation with
General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr.
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

November 28, 2017
General Robert B. Neller
Commandant of the United States Marine Corps

February 28, 2018
The Honorable Juan C. Zarate
Chairman & Co-Founder of the Financial Integrity Network;
Former Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism
"Altered Maps: Distributed Power, Proxy Wars, and National Security in the 21st Century"

March 6, 2018
Air Vice-Marshal Gavin Parker OBE MA BSC RAF
Defence Attache and Head of the British Defence Staff in the United States
“The UK as a US Defence Partner”

March 8, 2018
Panel Discussion on US-Japan security issues sponsored by the Consulate-General of Japan, the Fletcher Japan Club and the ISSP.

The focus of presentations and discussion was the changing Indo-Pacific security setting, challenges to peace and stability, and the respective leadership roles of Japan and the United States. Panel discussion was moderated by Professor Robert Pfaltzgraff; speakers included Admiral Tomohisa Takei (retd.) and Rear Admiral Robert Girrier (retd.)

March 8, 2018
Max Boot
Book talk on his latest book: “The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam”.

March 28, 2018
Gary Samore
Executive Director for Research at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
“Fire, Fury or Folly? Dealing with the North Korea Threat”

April 4, 2018
Heather Wilson
Secretary of the Air Force
“National Defense Strategy Drives Bold Moves for United States Air Force”

April 12, 2018
Brigadier-General Zvika Haimovich
Commander of the Israel Air Defense Forces
“The Structure of the Israeli Defense System”

April 30, 2018
Michael O’Hanlon
Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution
“Is Trump Half Right on Russia?-A New Security Architecture for Eastern Europe”

2018 - 2019

September 24, 2018
Marshall Billingslea
Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing, U.S. Department of the Treasury
“Using Sanctions and Other Tools to Counter Illicit and Terrorist Financing”

October 10, 2018
Dr. Lorenzo Vidino
Director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University
“ISIS Related Radicalization and Mobilization in Europe and America”

October 29, 2018
Professor Charles Freilich
Former deputy national security adviser in Israel
“Israeli National Security: A New Strategy for an Era of Change”

November 20, 2018
Colonel Eli Bar-On
Instructor, Israel Defense Forces
National Defense College
“Implementing the Laws of Armed Conflict Against Non-State Actors”

November 22, 2018
General Richard Cripwell
Deputy Commander of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission
"Afghanistan: the South Asia Strategy, ceasefires and prospects for peace"

February 7, 2019
General Joseph Votel
Commander of U.S. Central Command
"Conversation with General Joseph Votel"

February 12, 2019
Mark E. Mitchell
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
For Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict
"Civilian Oversight of SOF and the Future of USSOCOM"

February 15, 2019
Lieutenant General Richard Clarke
Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command
“A Roundtable Discussion”

March 4, 2019
Dr. James Anderson
Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities
"National Defense Strategy and Great Power Competition"

March 12, 2019
Admiral Scott Swift
U.S. Navy (Ret.)
"How Should America Compete in a Great Power Competition?"

March 14, 2019
Mr Yakov Peri
Former Head of the Shin Bet
Former Minister of Science, Technology and Space
"A Strategic Assessment Of Israel's Frontiers:
North, South, East, West & Space"

March 27, 2019
Farah Pandith
Former Special Representative to the Muslim Communities under Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry
“Discussion of her book- How We Win: How Cutting-Edge Entrepreneurs, Political Visionaries, Enlightened Business Leaders, and Social Media Mavens Can Defeat the Extremist Threat”

2019 - 2020

General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. (ret)
Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
"The Current Strategic Landscape and Future Implications."

Robert G. Papp
Retired CIA Senior Executive
“Human Intelligence in an Age of Big Data: Challenges and Opportunities.”

General Richard Clark
Commander, US Special Operations Command
“Competition for an Uncertain Future: Special Operations Forces
and the Changing Demands of a Complex Security Environment”

Kelli L. Seybolt
Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force
“Foreign Military Sales in an Era of Great Power Competition”

Major General John S. Kem, U.S. Army
Commandant, U.S. Army War College
“Great Power Competition and Military Education.”

Brigadier General Amir Ebstein
Chief of Border Defense
“The IDF: An Evolving Defense Force in a Changing Middle East.
Strategy, Alliances, Inclusion.”

Lieutenant General John N.T. “Jack” Shanahan
Director, Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, Office of the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer
“Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning: Adapting the Defense enterprise.”

Lieutenant General Karen Gibson
Deputy Director of National Intelligence, National Security Partnerships
“Intelligence Support to Security and Policymakers & Future Challenges
for the Intelligence Community.”

Colonel Drew Cukor, USMC
Chief, Algorithmic Warfare Cross Function Team, Office of the
Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence
“The Warfighting Implications of AI, Cloud and 5G: Key Technologies
that may Transform 21st Century Warfare.”

Mr. Clint Watts
Distinguished Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Non-Resident Fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy
"Modern Social Media Influence Operations: Trends and Insights."

Please note that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all events scheduled after March 9, 2020 were cancelled.