Global I.Q. Podcast

Congressman Colin Allred is currently serving his third term as the U.S. Representative for Texas’ 32nd Congressional District. Allred was born and raised in North Dallas where he was class president of Hillcrest High School and earned a full-ride football scholarship to Baylor University. He deferred his acceptance to law school to play in the NFL for the Tennessee Titans, where he was a linebacker for five seasons before sustaining a career-ending injury. This opened the door for him to become a civil rights attorney. He served in the General Counsel’s office and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban development before returning to Dallas. His congressional priorities include lowering health care costs, protecting Medicare and Social Security, and creating an economy that works for all Americans.

About the Moderator:

Christopher Connelly is a reporter covering issues related to financial instability and poverty for KERA’s One Crisis Away series. In 2015, he joined KERA to report on Fort Worth and Tarrant County. From Fort Worth, he also focused on politics and criminal justice stories. Before coming to Texas, Connelly covered the Maryland legislature for the NPR member station in Baltimore. He also worked at NPR as a Joan B. Kroc Fellow – one of three post-graduates who spend a year working as a reporter, show producer and digital producer at network HQ in Washington, DC. Connelly is a graduate of Antioch College in Ohio and he earned a master’s in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley.

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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

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In 2018 word broke out that Alphabet Inc’s Google, reacting to employee outrage, would not renew its contract with the Pentagon for Project Maven. Project Maven involved AI analysis of aerial drone imagery and Google employees claimed this association with warfare violated their “do no harm” principle. Autonomous weapons expert Paul Scharre reports on the struggle to control AI in his new book Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, and says that Big Data and the U.S. government must find ways to work together if the U.S. is to retain its superpower status in the fierce competition to develop and implement these game-changing technologies.

About the author/speaker:

Paul Scharre is the Vice President & Director of studies at CNAS. Scharre previously worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He led the Department of Defense working group that drafted the DoD Directive 3000.09, which established the department’s policies on autonomy in weapon systems. While at the DoD he led efforts to establish policies on intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance programs and directed energy technologies. Prior to joining the OSD, he served as a special operations reconnaissance team leader in the Army’s 3rd Ranger Battalion and completed multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is an award-winning author of Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and his first book, Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War won the 2019 Colby Award. Scharre has published a vast number of articles from The New York Times to Politico, and has appeared on multiple television networks from CNN to Fox News. He holds a PhD in war studies from King’s College London and an MA in political economy and public policy and a BS in physics from the University of Washington in St. Louis.

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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

Every year the U.S. Department of State International Women of Courage (IWOC) Award recognizes women from across the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage while advocating for everything from world peace to human rights. They bring great empowerment to women and girls, but often with personal risks and sacrifices. While the names of the awardees are kept confidential until just before the awards ceremony in Washington, DC with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Dr. Jill Biden, the Council and its International Visitor Programs will host three of the IWOC Awardees the week of March 11-15 in DFW.

Join us to be a part of a powerful and uplifting conversation about the strength and resilience of these women sharing their stories and what it means to be a woman of courage.

About the speakers:

Meaza Mohammed is a veteran Ethiopian journalist and is the founder of Roha TV, an independent YouTube-based news and information channel. Mohammed has been a strong voice advocating for investigation of and accountability for human rights violations during the conflict, also producing a documentary about the topic. Her activism has not been without risk, having been arrested on many occasions. Despite this, she remains committed to advocating for victims of gender-based violence and the crimes committed against them.

Yuliia “Taira” Paievska provided medical treatment to Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity protestors in 2013, and also as head of Taira’s Angels, a volunteer unit of paramedics from 2014-2018. She is best known for secretly filming and smuggling out videos documenting war crimes committed by Russia’s forces in Mariupol. Despite her non-combatant status, she was most recently detained in March as she attempted to evacuate women and children from Mariupol. While imprisoned for three months, Paievska lived in a cell with 22 other women and endured torture and beatings. In spite of it all, she refuses to be silenced and continues to advocate for Ukrainian democracy and independence.

Bianka Zalewska is a Polish humanitarian and journalist who has been documenting Russian aggression in Ukraine since 2014. She hosts one of the most watched morning shows in Poland. She has survived and persevered through life-threatening injuries when her press car came under fire from Russian forces in 2014, and is a visible advocate for Ukrainian refugees, remaining unintimidated by Russian misinformation and ever-present threats.

About the moderator:

Christopher Walsh is Director, Freedom and Democracy at the George W. Bush Institute. In this role, Walsh manages communications, evaluation, and public policy research projects that advance freedom and democracy in the world. He also develops and implements efforts to make the Bush Institute a welcoming place for today’s generation of dissidents and democracy advocates, overseeing visits for training, inspiration, and insight. Prior to joining the Bush Institute Walsh worked with the International Republican Institute in Washington, DC As IRI’s program officer for Central and Eastern Europe, he coordinated political party building and civic advocacy programs in the Balkans and Turkey. A native of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Walsh is a graduate of American University with a B.A. in International Studies.

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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

President & CEO of the Council on Foreign Relations Richard Haass joins the Council to discuss his latest publication The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens. Haass argues that good citizenship is not only a right, but also a duty, and that individuals must actively participate in the democratic process in order to maintain a healthy and functioning democracy. Join us for this thought-provoking discussion on the role of the individual in shaping the future of our society and the world.

About the speaker:

Richard Haass is the President & CEO of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a veteran diplomat and prominent voice on American Foreign Policy, serving the Council on Foreign Relations for 20 years. Dr. Haas has extensive government experience, serving as special assistant to President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993 and senior director of Near East and South Asian affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. Prior to this, he served in the Department of State from 1981-1985 and Department of Defense in 1979-1980. As well as being a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate. In the early 2000s, Dr. Haas was director of policy planning for the Department of State, and principal advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell. He also served as U.S. coordinator for policy toward Afghanistan and the U.S. envoy to Northern Ireland peace process. In 2013, he served as the chair of the multiparty negotiations in Northern Ireland - for his efforts to promote peace he received the 2013 Tipperary International Peace Award.

Diana Newton is the Director of the Tower Scholars Program and senior fellow at the John Goodwin Tower Center for political studies. She has previously taught at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin. Before moving to Texas, Newton was an international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in NYC and Hitachi International Affairs Fellow at the Japan Center for International Exchange in Tokyo. She also has experience as the executive assistant to the Deputy National Security Advisor at the National Security Council, and as the special assistant to the Under Secretary for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs at the State Department. She currently serves on the boards of Deerfield Academy and the International Center for Transitional Justice, as well as on the Hitachi IAF Selection Committee and the National Program Committee at the Council on Foreign Relations. Newton also has a background in law, having graduated from Yale University and Boston University School of Law.

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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson argues in her best-seller Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents that race in America can be compared to the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany. The New York Times called the book “an instant American classic.” Her 2010 best-seller, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, was based on more than a thousand interviews documenting the northern and western migration of African Americans in 20th century America. President Barack Obama awarded her the National Humanities Medal in 2016 for “championing the stories of an unsung history.” Join us online on March 1 to discuss social stratification with this distinguished American writer.

About the Author:

Isabel Wilkerson is the first Black woman in to win the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism, honored in 1994 for her feature writing at the New York Times. Howard University graduate Wilkerson has become a leading figure in narrative nonfiction, and has devoted fifteen years to journalism at the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post. Her debut book, The Warmth of Other Suns, won multiple awards from the National Book Critics Circle Award to the Lynton History Prize from Harvard and Columbia.

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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

The Honorable Mike Pompeo is the 70th Secretary of State (2018-2021). Previously, he served as the Director of the CIA from 2017-2018. Pompeo graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1986, and after leaving active duty received a law degree from Harvard Law school. He began his legal career in 1998, and later turned to entrepreneurship in aerospace and oil, funding Thayer Aerospace, where he served as CEO for over 10 years. Pompeo began his political career in 2011 when he was elected to the House of Representatives for Kansas’ 4th congressional district, where he served for four terms before joining the Trump administration.Mike Pompeo Book Cover Having been the only person to have served both as Secretary of State and Director of the CIA, Pompeo details his interactions with world leaders and analysis of geopolitics in his new book Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love.

The Honorable Mike Pompeo will talk about his experience working for the Trump administration with Council President & CEO Liz Brailsford.

About the Moderator:

Liz Brailsford joined the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth in February 2021 from the World Affairs Councils of America, the network's national office in Washington, DC, where she served as chief operating officer. Her career has crossed all sectors – nonprofit, private, and public – and taken her around the globe, forging her interest in international relations. Liz currently serves as an international task force member of the Dallas Regional Chamber; an ex-officio board member with the North Texas Commission; a board member of Asia Society Texas; and an advisory committee member of the U.S. Global Leadership Commission of the Southwest region. She holds an M.P.A. in global policy from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School and a B.A. in media arts from the University of South Carolina..

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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

In 2019, Marie Yovanovitch was serving as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. A seasoned diplomat, Yovanovitch watched the 1993 constitutional crisis and street fighting in Russia. For years, she witnessed Putin’s election meddling, cyberattacks, and vast misinformation in Ukraine. Yet, upon president Volodymyr Zelenskyy being democratically elected, then-President Trump suddenly recalled her from her post. It was in the following month that President Trump made the infamous phone call to president Zelenskyy about investigating his then political rival, now President Biden. The resulting investigation and impeachment hearings would mark the end of Ambassador Yovanovitch’s career in government and Ukraine’s relationship with Russia has been notably unstable since that time. As we near the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, join us on Thursday, February 16 with former Ambassador Yovanovitch to recount her career in public service in Russia and Ukraine and her experience testifying before Congress.

About the Speaker:

Marie Yovanovitch is a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Additionally, she is a nonresident fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy of Georgetown University. Yovanovitch served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine (2016-2019), the Republic of Armenia (2008-2011), and the Kyrgyz Republic (2005-2008). From 2003-2004, Ambassador Yovanovitch was the senior advisor to the under secretary of state for political affairs. Prior to that, she served as the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine. Within the Department of State, she worked on the Russia desk, the Office of European Security Affairs, and the Operations Center. She has experience working at various U.S. embassies overseas such as Moscow, London, Ottawa, and Mogadishu.

Ambassador Yovanovitch is a decorated member of the Senior Foreign Service and has been recognized as an advocate for human rights and integrity.

She has served at various levels in academia, including the dean of the School of Language Studies at the Foreign Service Institute and the deputy commandant and international advisor at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy of the National Defense University. She served as deputy assistant secretary at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and the Nordic, Baltic, and European Countries.

About the moderator:

David McCloskey is a Dallas-based author and a former consultant at McKinsey & Company. McCloskey previously worked as an analyst for the CIA (2008-2014), where he served in field stations across the Middle East throughout the Arab Spring. During his time with the agency, McCloskey was regularly responsible for writing presidential briefs and classified testimonies for Congress, among other duties. He holds an M.A. in international relations and international economics from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

Each year, The Economist publishes “The World Ahead” series: an informed prediction of the major themes that will dominate the coming year. Spanning topics from politics to technology to sociology and more, this series edited by Tom Standage is as ambitious as it is awe-inspiring. On December 14, Standage rejoins the Council to discuss his publication’s analysis for 2023.

"The World Ahead" is one of the most prestigious launches in The Economist’s annual publishing calendar. This future-gazing publication prepares audiences for the year to come with mind-stretching insights and expert-level analysis. Written by The Economist correspondents and editors alongside globally recognized public figures, it is regarded as essential reading by individuals, professionals, and policymakers alike. It circulates in more than 90 countries, in 24 languages, to a world audience in excess of 2.8 million people.

About the Speaker:

Tom Standage is deputy editor of The Economist and editor of its future-gazing annual, “The World Ahead.” Standage directs the newspaper’s digital strategy and the development of new digital products and is the author of seven history books, including “Writing on the Wall” (2013), “The Victorian Internet” (1998) and “A History of the World in 6 Glasses” (2005). He studied engineering and computing at Oxford University and has written for other publications including the New York Times, Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and Wired.

About the Moderator:

Jim Falk, president emeritus of the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth, retired in March 2021 after serving as the organization’s president since 2001. Now residing in Santa Fe, New Mexico he is member of the Board of Global Santa Fe where he chairs the program committee. Additionally, Jim co-hosts The McCuistion Program, a public affairs program, that airs weekly on KERA-Dallas (PBS). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and honorary consul of Morocco.

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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

The world changed on that day in August 1945 when the American B-29 bomber released the 7,900 pound “Little Boy” nuclear bomb over the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and 77 years later nuclear weapons remain a primary global issue. Today, a nuclear weapon can fit into a suitcase. Join us for a special Mel Kusin National Security Lecture on nuclear threats with former National Security Council member Robert Litwak. Litwak will discuss the nuclear capabilities and ambitions of Russia, Iran, and North Korea, as well as historical nonproliferation precedents. Ultimately, Litwak will ask us to reevaluate the concept of deterrence and mutually assured destruction.

About the Speaker

Robert Litwak is the senior vice president and director of international security studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC, as well as a consultant to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Litwak served as the director for nonproliferation on the National Security Council during the Clinton administration. He also worked as an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Oxford University. Litwak’s books include Rogue States and U.S Foreign Policy, Outlier States, and Managing Nuclear Risks and Nuclear Crises with North Korea and Iran

About the Moderator:

Amanda Schnetzer is a social impact leader and entrepreneur who has dedicated her professional life to empowering people and organizations to reach their full potential. She is currently the co-founder and CEO of FirstThen, a digital health startup working to close the gap in access to quality care for children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Previously she worked in the global arena with an emphasis on foreign policy, human rights, and strengthening democracy at home and in the world. Amanda was part of the startup leadership team at the George W. Bush Institute, working with the former President and First Lady to realize their vision for a results-driven, action-oriented policy and programming organization. Earlier in her career, Amanda served with Freedom House and the American Enterprise Institute, two globally recognized public policy research organizations. She holds degrees from Georgetown University and Southern Methodist University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

About the Mel Kusin National Security Lecture

Mel Kusin (1926-2018) was a World War II veteran and University of Illinois alumnus. Mel Kusin’s association with the Council goes back two decades when he established the International Perspectives Series, a joint program with the American Jewish Committee of Dallas. The series has brought some of the nation’s foremost scholars and thinkers on U.S. foreign policy to Dallas. To honor Mel and his legacy, the Mel Kusin National Security Lecture was established in the fall of 2018 and has since featured Ambassador Michael McFaul, Michael O’Hanlon, and Charles Kupchan.

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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

From the presence of drones to the power of social media, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is changing the face of warfare as we know it. How will the U.S. military adapt to the evolving future of warfare? Join us for a discussion with former Under Secretary of Defense Michèle Flournoy on America’s strategy for success in the uncertain times ahead, including insights from Lt Gen John "Jack" Shanahan, USAF (Ret.) and Rear Admiral Norman Hayes, USN (Ret.) on the role of new technology like artificial intelligence. Our panelists will evaluate the possibility of a new world order in geopolitics and military strategy. 

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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate