The Institute of World Politics

Dr. Gordon W. Rudd will discuss the staff structure of Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) and comparable U.S. agencies focused on the region.

***This lecture is part of the Asia Initiative Lecture Series.***

About Lecture: INDOPACOM is a U.S. regional Combatant Command covering most of Asia and the Pacific.

It is based in Hawaii and has an Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine, and Special Forces Component Commands, also located in Hawaii. All of these commands have formations located in Asia and the Pacific. These commands have an integrated staff system – to be covered in this presentation. The Department of State and other USG Agencies have comparable regional offices that only loosely align with INDOPACOM, but are not subordinate to it.

Theater engagement, i.e. working with friends and allies in the region, is critical to the success of INDOPACOM.

About the Speaker: Dr. Gordon W. Rudd has served as Professor of Strategic Studies, U.S. Marine School of Advanced Warfighting (SAW) since January 1998. Prior to working with SAW, he spent two years (1996-1998) as Professor of Strategic Studies with the U.S. Marine Command and Staff College. During the period 2003-2004, he was detached for nine months to serve as field historian in Iraq with Office of Reconstruction & Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).

From 1972 to 1995, he served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army. He has had troop service in infantry, airborne, mech, and Special Forces formations. He has served as a Joint Service Officer (JSO) and Foreign Area Officer (FAO). Overseas assignments include: Panama, Lebanon, Israel, Korea, Iraq, Bosnia, and Turkey. His operational experience includes participation in Lebanon 1984-85 (UNTSO), northern Iraq 1991 (PROVIDE COMFORT), and Bosnia 1994 (UNPROFOR). His military training and education courses include: Infantry Basic and Advanced Courses; Ranger, Special Forces, Scuba, and HALO courses; DLI – French; USA Command & General Staff Course (non-res); USN Command & Staff Course (resident).

In addition to his full-time teaching, Dr. Rudd has taught military history courses at the Darden School of Business of the University of Virginia and for the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. While at SAW, he has taught classes at the Marine the Expeditionary Warfare School, the Marine Command and Staff College, and the Marine Corps War College.

Dr. Rudd is the author of two books:

- Humanitarian Intervention: Assisting the Iraqi Kurds in Operation Provide Comfort, 1991, published in 2004.

- Reconstructing Iraq: Regime Change, Jay Garner, and the ORHA Story, published in 2010.

His current research interests include military history, particularly WWII, comparative politics, and regional studies.

Dr. Rudd earned his doctorate in history from Duke University in 1993. He earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Virginia Polytechnic & State University in 1972. He has earned masters degrees from the Naval War College (1988), Duke University (1990), and St. John’s College (1999).

***Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/

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Rebecca Burgess discussed the impact of the Constitution on spiritedness and the unique role of soldiers and citizens to defend it. This event is sponsored by the Jack Miller Center.

About the Lecture: Soldier-Citizens and Citizen-Soldiers: Spiritedness and the Constitution - The Founding generation was famously concerned about the dangers to liberty that a standing army could pose. Less well remembered is how that generation’s general ambivalence about professional soldiers along with the government’s inability to pay them resulted in soldiers besieging Congress in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, demanding redress. Congress fled to Princeton. But the “Pennsylvania Mutiny” resulted in long-lasting effects for both the nation’s civilians and military: It showcased significant cracks in the Articles of Confederation government, helping set in motion the Constitutional Convention and the inclusion of a constitutional provision for Congress to support federal armies and a navy. Later on, Alexis de Tocqueville would observe that “it is through the soldiers above all that one can pride oneself on having a democratic army pervaded by the love of freedom and respect for rights that one was able to inspire in the people themselves.” This lecture will consider the ties between the US military and the Constitution, and the mutual contributions of soldiers and citizens to defend their Constitution.

About the Speaker: Rebecca Burgess is senior editor of American Purpose, acting director of the Classics in Strategy and Diplomacy project, and an SME consultant for the George W. Bush Institute's Veterans and Military Families program. A visiting fellow in national security with the The Independent Women's Forum, she is a 2021 National Security Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. She’s an Advisory Board Member of Combined Arms and of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation/Monticello, and a SME for the NEH Educating for American Democracy: A Roadmap for Excellence in History and Civics Education project. Additionally, she serves on the Reader Review Board of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps Journal.

Rebecca researches the political and social institutions of democratic governance, including civics and national security, civil-military relations and the military life cycle, veterans and politics, and theories of political decay, war, empire and expansion. She has nearly two decades of combined public policy, administrative, and academic experience, holding the position most recently as a research fellow both in Foreign and Defense Policy and Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. A Ph.D. (ABD) in politics at the University of Dallas, her work has been solicited for congressional testimonies, and been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, Military Times, Law & Liberty, The American Interest, The Strategy Bridge, and War on the Rocks, among others.

***Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/

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Rebecca Burgess will discuss the impact of the Constitution on spiritedness and the unique role of soldiers and citizens to defend it. This event is sponsored by the Jack Miller Center.

About the Lecture: Soldier-Citizens and Citizen-Soldiers: Spiritedness and the Constitution - The Founding generation was famously concerned about the dangers to liberty that a standing army could pose. Less well remembered is how that generation’s general ambivalence about professional soldiers along with the government’s inability to pay them resulted in soldiers besieging Congress in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, demanding redress. Congress fled to Princeton. But the “Pennsylvania Mutiny” resulted in long-lasting effects for both the nation’s civilians and military: It showcased significant cracks in the Articles of Confederation government, helping set in motion the Constitutional Convention and the inclusion of a constitutional provision for Congress to support federal armies and a navy. Later on, Alexis de Tocqueville would observe that “it is through the soldiers above all that one can pride oneself on having a democratic army pervaded by the love of freedom and respect for rights that one was able to inspire in the people themselves.” This lecture will consider the ties between the US military and the Constitution, and the mutual contributions of soldiers and citizens to defend their Constitution.

About the Speaker: Rebecca Burgess is senior editor of American Purpose, acting director of the Classics in Strategy and Diplomacy project, and an SME consultant for the George W. Bush Institute's Veterans and Military Families program. A visiting fellow in national security with the The Independent Women's Forum, she is a 2021 National Security Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. She’s an Advisory Board Member of Combined Arms and of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation/Monticello, and a SME for the NEH Educating for American Democracy: A Roadmap for Excellence in History and Civics Education project. Additionally, she serves on the Reader Review Board of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps Journal.

Rebecca researches the political and social institutions of democratic governance, including civics and national security, civil-military relations and the military life cycle, veterans and politics, and theories of political decay, war, empire and expansion. She has nearly two decades of combined public policy, administrative, and academic experience, holding the position most recently as a research fellow both in Foreign and Defense Policy and Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. A Ph.D. (ABD) in politics at the University of Dallas, her work has been solicited for congressional testimonies, and been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, Military Times, Law & Liberty, The American Interest, The Strategy Bridge, and War on the Rocks, among others.

***Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/

***Make a gift to IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=18

Dr. Peter J. Boettke, Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University, discussed his book, "The Road to Socialism and Back: An Economic History of Poland, 1939–2019."

About the Author

Peter J. Boettke, Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute, is a Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University, the director of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, and BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism at the Mercatus Center. He received his Ph.D. from George Mason University. Prof. Boettke has developed a robust research program that expands an understanding of how individuals acting through the extended market order can promote freedom and prosperity for society, and how the institutional arrangements shape, reinforce, or inhibit the individual choices that lead to sustained economic development. His most recently published books include F. A. Hayek: Economics, Political Economy and Social Philosophy; and The Four Pillars of Economic Understanding. Prof. Boettke is the editor of numerous academic journals, including the Review of Austrian Economics and the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, and of the book series, Cambridge Studies in Economics, Choice, and Society. He has served as President of the Southern Economic Association, the Mont Pelerin Society, the Association of Private Enterprise Education, and the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics.

About the Book

The Road to Socialism and Back: An Economic History of Poland, 1939–2019

For four decades during the latter half of the 20th century, Poland and its people were the subjects of a grand socio-economic experiment. Under the watchful eye of its Soviet masters, the Polish United Workers’ Party transformed the mixed economy of this nation of 35 million into a centrally planned, socialist state (albeit one with an irrepressible black market). Then, in the closing decade of the 20th century, under the leadership of Polish minister of finance Leszek Balcerowicz, the nation was transformed back into a mixed economy.

In this book, we document the results of this experiment. We show that there was a wide chasm between the lofty goals of socialist ideology and the realities of socialism as the Polish people experienced them. We also show that while the transition back from a socialist to a mixed economy was not without its own pain, it did unleash the extraordinary productive power of the Polish people, allowing their standard of living to rise at more than twice the rate of growth that prevailed during the socialist era. The experiences of the Poles, like those of so many behind the Iron Curtain, demonstrate the value of economic freedom, the immiserating consequences of its denial, and the often painful process of regaining lost freedoms.

Read more: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/the-road-to-socialism-and-back-an-economic-history-of-poland-1939-2019

Download the book for free:https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/road-to-socialism-and-back-an-economic-history-of-poland-1939-2019.pdf

This event is sponsored by the Center for Intermarium Studies and the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies at IWP.

***Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/

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Thomas Cromwell, author of "Why Ukraine Must Win," gave a discussion about his book at The Institute of World Politics on September 5, 2023.

Thank you to our sponsors who made this event possible:

Jennifer London

Malcolm McNaughton

Kirk Vazal

John Czop

About the speaker: Mr. Thomas Cromwell is a native of England who spent 25 years in the Middle East before settling near Washington, DC. As publisher and editor of the Middle East Times for 18 years, he spent long periods in Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. He has traveled to Communist countries for first-hand experience of life under totalitarianism, and visited 130 countries altogether. He worked in Ukraine before the Maidan Revolution. He is the author of several books that examine patterns of human behavior in history based on the interplay of religion, politics and ideology.

***Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/

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Featuring: Dr. Christopher C. Harmon, IWP Professor and Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Future Warfare Distinguished Fellow at Marine Corps University.

About the Lecture:

Terrorist groups have used a fantastic variety of means to seize attention, explain themselves, and seek recruits and support: song and speech, “guerrilla theater,” leaflets, radio, cable TV, newspapers, print ads, books, videos, web sites, e-zines… Social media is only their latest endeavor. This training will cover the modern terrorist propaganda techniques being used today so you can recognize them in your work. This training is developed from the recent book: The Terrorist Argument.

The Terrorist Argument: Modern Advocacy and Propaganda, a recent book for the Brookings Institution, is a highly original merging of media studies & terrorism studies. Christopher C. Harmon and Randall G. Bowdish paired a medium of strategic communication with a named terrorist group. Examined in successive chapters are propaganda works of nationalists such as the Algerians and Irish; Maoists; secular Iranian dissidents; eco-terrorists, and other groups such as the potent Islamist organizations Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, and ISIS. Highlights from this multi-year study will be offered in an illustrated lecture and Q&A session by the lead author, Dr. Harmon of the Institute of World Politics.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Christopher C. Harmon ran counterterrorism studies programs for the U. S. government in two of our Defense Department’s regional academic centers (Garmisch Germany & Honolulu Hawaii). His work on “how terrorist groups end” was explored in a lecture series in the Washington, D.C. area from 2004 onward, with overseas dates including INTERPOL headquarters in Lyon, France (2010). Dr. Harmon is the lead author or editor of seven books about revolutionary warfare, insurgency, terrorism, or counterterrorism. The latest is just now out from Marine Corps University Press, entitled Warfare in Peacetime.

***Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/

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Mr. Mohammed Motiwala will discuss the importance of multilateral cooperation on AI and the U.S. government's efforts in this year.

About Lecture: Are you curious about the latest developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and how they are shaping the world? As AI rapidly advances, it is increasingly clear that cooperation among nations is essential for maximizing the benefits and minimizing the risks of this powerful technology.

Join us for a lecture on the importance of multilateral diplomacy in AI cooperation, presented by Mohammed Motiwala, a Foreign Service Officer with extensive experience in international relations. In this talk, you will learn:

The current state of AI technology and its potential applications in various fields. The challenges and risks associated with AI, such as biases, privacy concerns, and cyber attacks. The importance of international cooperation in promoting trustworthy AI. Examples of successful multilateral initiatives in AI cooperation and their impact on global governance

This lecture is open to anyone interested in the intersection of technology and diplomacy, whether you are a student, a researcher, a policymaker, or a curious citizen. Join us and discover how multilateral diplomacy can help us navigate the future of technology and build a better world.

About the Speaker: Mohammed Motiwala is a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service. He is currently in the Cyberspace and Digital Policy Bureau covering the OECD and the Global Partnership on AI. Mohammed's most recent assignment was a graduate program at the National Intelligence University where he focused on Eurasia. Prior to that, he was an Analyst focusing on Russia in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the State Department’s component of the Intelligence Community. His last overseas assignment was as an Assistant Cultural Affairs officer in Kyiv, Ukraine. His other overseas assignments were in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Lebanon. Prior to joining the Department of State, Mr. Motiwala worked as a hedge fund analyst at MTB Capital in New York City. Mr. Motiwala has a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University.

***Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/ ***Make a gift to IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=18

Dr. Enrico Suardi ('19) will discuss state and non-state actors' attempts at developing tools of psychological coercion and manipulation.

About the Lecture: This presentation is part of a series of lectures on the behavioral sciences in US national security and public safety. The premise is that the human factor is the basis of crises and the source of solutions.

Is the human mind the new, sixth domain of operations, or has it been the main domain of operations since Sun-Tzu advised winning without fighting?

Nation-states and non-state actors have attempted to develop tools for brainwashing. These efforts have yielded no truth serum, no recruitment pill. Group pressure and psychological manipulations under conditions of deprivation break down most of us over time. However, false confessions are elicited and the coerced individuals are psychologically maimed.

Dr. Suardi will start off by providing a historical overview of coercive persuasion, and will then discuss the psychology and neuroscience of coercion and ethical persuasion. He will conclude with highlights of the ongoing 21st-century cognitive warfare.

About the Speaker: Dr. Enrico Suardi (IWP Class of 2019, Executive MA in National Security Affairs) is director of psychiatry at Saint Elizabeths Hospital, director of forensic services at the Ross Center in Washington, D.C., and the 2024-25 president-elect of the Washington Psychiatric Society A diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry, on faculty at Saint Elizabeths Hospital, Georgetown University, and George Washington University, he has served as chief child and family psychiatrist at the U.S. State Department. Dr. Suardi studied political psychology with Jerrold Post, completed his M.D. and a residency in preventive medicine in Milan, Italy, and obtained an MSc in Public Health and Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

***Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/ ***Make a gift to IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=18

Mr. Henry Sokolski and Mr. Ezra Cohen will discuss ongoing efforts and recommendations for reforming security classification policy.

About the Speakers:

Mr. Henry D. Sokolski is the Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, a Washington-based nonprofit organization founded in 1994 to promote a better understanding of strategic weapons proliferation issues among policymakers, scholars, and the media. He teaches graduate-level classes on nuclear policy in Washington, D.C. He is also a Senior Fellow for Nuclear Security Studies at the University of California at San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy.

From 1989 to 1993, Sokolski served as the Deputy for Nonproliferation Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, for which he received the Secretary of Defense’s Medal for Outstanding Public Service. Prior to this, he worked in the Secretary of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment on strategic weapons proliferation issues.

In addition to his Executive Branch service, Mr. Sokolski worked on the Hill from 1984 through 1988 as senior military legislative aide to Senate Armed Services Committee member Dan Quayle and from 1982 through 1983 as special assistant on nuclear energy matters to TVA Subcommittee Chairman Senator Gordon J. Humphrey.

He also worked as a consultant on nuclear weapons proliferation issues to the Intelligence Community’s National Intelligence Council; received a Congressional appointment to the Deutch Proliferation Commission, which completed its report in July 1999; served as a member of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Senior Advisory Panel from 1995 to 1996; and was a member of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, which operated until 2010.

Mr. Sokolski has been a resident fellow at the National Institute for Public Policy, the Heritage Foundation, and the Hoover Institution. He also has taught political science courses at the University of Chicago, Rosary College, Georgetown, and Loyola University.

On January 11, 2021, President Donald J. Trump appointed Mr. Ezra Cohen to a three-year term on the PIDB and designated him to serve as Chair for a two-year term that ended on January 10, 2023. Prior to his appointment to the PIDB, Mr. Cohen served in senior leadership positions at the Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community, most recently as the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security and Director for Defense Intelligence, Office of the Director of National Intelligence from November 2020 to January 2021. In this role, he exercised authority, direction, and control over the Defense Intelligence Enterprise and Combat Support Agencies. Additionally, he served as the principal civilian intelligence advisor to the Secretary of Defense on all military intelligence related matters, including signals intelligence, human intelligence, sensitive activities, geospatial intelligence, sensitive reconnaissance, counterintelligence, law enforcement, and security. His previous government positions include Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC); Principal Deputy Assistance Secretary of Defense for SO/LIC; Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counter-Narcotics and Global Threats; Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs on the National Security Council; Deputy Defense Intelligence Officer for South Asia at the Defense Intelligence Agency; and as a DoD Operations Officer. Mr. Cohen began his government service as an intern researching 1820’s tariff legislation in the Center for Legislative Archives, a part of the National Archives and Record Administration. Mr. Cohen has also worked in the private sector for Oracle Corporation. Mr. Cohen received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Will H. Flanagan will discuss proposed nuclear safeguards for mass-produced nuclear energy and the risks involved in doing so.

About the Lecture: In the nuclear era, a single weapon snuck through a border is able to significantly shift geopolitical balances. In 2007, Congress mandated the use of radiation detectors on all inbound containers but there is currently no way effectively meet this goal. Nuclear safeguards exist at all major ports of entry, though they are not always able to scan every item of cargo.

Cerium Laboratories is addressing one aspect of this problem by producing a semiconductor-based “neutron intercepting system on a chip” (NISoC). Such detectors are made a modern semiconductor fabrication facilities in batches of 10,000 with a cost of a few dollars per device. This has the potential to shift nuclear safeguards in a direction where a detector can be placed on every inbound container ship. The current status of this effort will be discussed as well as future prospects.

About the Speaker: Dr. Will Flanagan received his undergraduate education at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Lured from astronomy research by the fascinating connection between cosmology and particle physics, he began doing Large Hadron Collider (LHC) phenomenology at Texas A&M through a summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) internship. Dr Flanagan later returned to Texas A&M for his PhD, searching for dark matter at the CMS experiment along the LHC beam line. His hitchhike through the field of particle physics has included various neutrino experiments as well as development of novel particle detectors. Dr Flanagan’s current focus is developing a solid-state neutron detector with Austin-based Cerium Labs. The team recently completed a short journal publication and is actively developing future prototypes with applications from nuclear nonproliferation to hydrogen exploration.

Before joining Cerium, Dr. Flanagan was an assistant professor at University of Dallas and remains an affiliate professor there with an active lab. Dr. Flanagan is also a member of the Texas Army National Guard as is currently activated to teach physics at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

***Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/ ***Make a gift to IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=18