The Institute of World Politics

Title: America and Canada: The Statecraft of Two Nations

This lecture is a part of The Institute of World Politics' Student Speaker Series.

About the Lecture: This event will discuss the ideological differences between America and Canada and how those differences have morphed into the relationship seen today. The speaker will detail what those differences could mean for the future.

About the Speaker:Originally from New Jersey, Cory Ott attended Stevenson University in Maryland to earn his Bachelors of Science in Psychology May of 2018. His undergraduate thesis focused morality, views on authority, and guilt experienced with whistleblowing. Mr. Ott is currently studying Statecraft and National Security Affairs at the Institute of World Politics with a focus on intelligence. His lecture is based on a paper he submitted for IWP’s course on International Relations and Statecraft.

About the Book: Blockchain 2035: The Digital DNA of Internet 3.0 is the first book ever written by a Blockchain founder and encapsulates nearly a decade of experience at the bleeding edge of the technology. It includes an introduction to the core components of the technology, and concludes with a predictive assessment of how Blockchain technology will likely be adopted as the world advances into a 21st century dominated by Artificial Intelligence, an Internet of Things, geopolitical competition, increasing income inequality, and sovereign debt crises.

About the Authors: Jared C. Tate is the founder of DigiByte, the fastest, most decentralized, and most secure UTXO blockchain in existence today. Beyond cryptocurrency DigiByte is focused on the blockchain's many applications in furthering cybersecurity. DigiByte has pioneered several technical innovations including real-time difficulty adjustments, multi-algorithm mining, and Digi-ID, a decentralized cryptographic form of identity that serves as a more secure replacement for usernames and passwords. Today, code created by Jared and the DigiByte community has been adopted by dozens of other blockchains. Prior to DigiByte, Jared studied at the U.S. Military Academy, the University of Idaho, and Utah Valley University.

Andrew D. Knapp is the CEO and founder of VESTi Inc. as well as the co-author of Blockchain 2035. In 2018, Andrew left federal service to lead VESTi, having built the core concepts involved over several years living in the DC metro area. He is a 2013 graduate of IWP (SIS).

Title: The Weaponization of Social Media

This lecture is a part of The Institute of World Politics Capitol Hill Speaker Series.

About the Lecture: Ethan Burger will examine the relevance of the Russian concepts ‘Hybrid War’ and ‘Cyberwarfare’ as applied to Russian intervention in the 2016 Brexit Referendum and U.S. Presidential Election. This lecture will focus on the similarity of Russia’s social media campaigns which used false information, fake news, and other content aimed at exploiting the fears and passions of the UK and U.S. electorates. The Kremlin did not rely on the use of social media alone to obtain favorable electoral outcomes. In both cases, Russian ties to supporters of Brexit and the Trump campaign remained largely unnoticed until after voting. Finally, Mr. Burger will explore some steps that might be taken to reduce the vulnerability of countries’ citizens to foreign manipulation.

About the Speaker: Ethan S. Burger, Esq., is a Washington-based international legal consultant and educator, and he is an adjunct professor at the Institute of World Politics. His areas of interest include corporate governance, transnational crime (corruption, cybercrime, and money laundering), and Russian affairs. After working as an attorney on Russian commercial, investment, and risk issues, he segued into academic, research, and advisory roles. Mr. Burger has been a full-time faculty member at American University (School of International Law) and the University of Wollongong (Faculty of Law), and he has also been an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University Law Center, University of Baltimore, and Washington College of Law. Mr. Burger has lectured in Colombia, India, and Singapore, and he has taught on cyber issues at Vilnius University on a Fulbright Foundation grant. He holds an A.B. from Harvard University and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Written by: Dr. Jolanta Mysiakowska-Muszyńska, Scholar of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw

Presented by: Maria Juczewska, Associate Director, Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies

Full Title: Between Politics and Social Work: A Study of Women's Activities within the Ranks of the Polish National Movement (1919–1939)

About the Lecture: This lecture is a part of The Ninth Annual Lady Blanka Rosential Kosciuszko Chair Spring Symposium that was held on Saturday, April 6, 2019, at The Institute of World Politics.

About the Author: Dr. Jolanta Mysiakowska-Muszyńska is a graduate of Warsaw University and The Institute of Polish History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. She works as a scholar for the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw and as a deputy editor-in-chief of the semi-annual Glaukopis dealing in history and social issues. She is an author of several books and has published numerous articles in the field of history in scholarly publications. Mrs. Muszyńska is an expert on Polish history, particularly the period between 1919–1939, with a special interest in women’s organizations, as well as the social and political thought of the Polish National Movement. She also conducts research on Polish-British relations in the interwar period.

Title: Boris Smyslovski: WWII, White Russian, Counterinsurgency and Counterintelligence

About the Lecture: This lecture is a part of The Ninth Annual Lady Blanka Rosential Kosciuszko Chair Spring Symposium that was held on Saturday, April 6, 2019, at The Institute of World Politics.

About the Speaker: Dr. Sebastian Bojemski graduated from the Institute of History of Warsaw University and gained his doctoral degree at The Cardinal Wyszyński University in Warsaw. His main research interest is the history of underground organizations active during WWII within the area of the occupied Polish lands - mostly the Polish anti-Nazi, anti-Soviet underground. He authored Narodowe Siły Zbrojne w Powstaniu Warszawskim and Nim Hitler runie śmierć komunie (just published). Dr. Bojemski also has extensive experience in strategic communication and marketing. For over 15 years he had owned a Warsaw-based communication firm and in 2018-2019 was an executive director for marketing at PKN Orlen – the largest oil company in Central Europe.

Full Title: For the Entente's Cause in Tsarist Uniforms: Polish Military Formations in Tsarist Russia During WWI (1914–1918)

About the Lecture: This lecture was a part of The Ninth Annual Lady Blanka Rosential Kosciuszko Chair Spring Symposium held on Saturday, April 6, 2019, at The Institute of World Politics.

About the Speaker: Dr. Wojciech Jerzy Muszyński is a graduate of The Institute of History of Warsaw University and The Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University of Warsaw. He works as a scholar for the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw and as the editor-in-chief of the semi-annual Glaukopis dealing in history and social issues. He authored books and published numerous articles in the field of history in the scholarly publications. Mr. Muszyńki specializes in the political history of Poland in the period 1900-1990. His topics of interest include Polish-Jewish relations, military history the social and political thought of the Polish National Movement.

About the Lecture: Over the past twenty years, the United States’ practice of wartime detention has received a great deal of criticism and controversy. Yet, detention is a lawful, humane, and important part of armed conflict. Having long ago moved beyond early errors in its detention policies and practices in its current conflicts, the United States should re-embrace the detention mission in operation and doctrine as a strategic part of its conflicts with al-Qa’ida and ISIS.

About the Speaker: Ryan Vogel is an assistant professor of law and national security and the founding Director of the Center for National Security Studies at Utah Valley University. Before coming to UVU, Vogel served at the Pentagon as a senior policy advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He began his career at the Pentagon through the presidential management fellowship program and was awarded the Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service in 2014. Vogel was the principal drafter of several key DoD doctrinal directives related to detention and detainee review processes. Vogel has taught international and national security law courses at American University, Brigham Young University Law School, and the Chicago-Kent College of Law. He completed an LLM in public international law, with a certificate in national security law, from the Georgetown University Law Center. He earned a J.D. and an M.A. in international affairs from American University and graduated from Utah Valley University with a B.S. in Integrated Studies.

About the Book: Though our military remains undefeated, the United States has lost every war since World War II. But within a generation, our military’s fate will undoubtedly change if we continue to cling to the past. Today, more than eighty years after WWII and thirty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the number of armed conflicts being waged around the world has doubled. If the United States refuses to accept that we are, once again, living in dangerous, unpredictable times, it is inevitable that our military—until now undefeated—will fail.

Hailed by Publishers Weekly as “an authoritative and skillful analysis of the state of war today” and with a foreword by General Stanley McChrystal (Ret.), The New Rules of War: Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder is an urgent exploration of warfare—past, present, and future—that asks why we no longer win wars, and then explains the ten rules we must follow so we can.

About the Author: Dr. Sean McFate is a Professor of Strategy at the National Defense University and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He served as a paratrooper in the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and, then, worked for a major private military corporation, where he ran operations similar to those in his novels Shadow War and Deep Black. He is the author of The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order, and he holds a BA from Brown University, an MA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and a PhD in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He lives with his family in Washington, DC. You can learn more at www.seanmcfate.com

About the Lecture: Mr. Eftimiades will discuss China's espionage scope, operational methods, targets, and the impact on U.S. national security. The discussion presents analysis of over 280 cases of Chinese espionage.

About the Speaker: Nicholas Eftimiades is retired from the US Department of Defense. He is currently a professor at Penn State University. His 34 year government career included employment in CIA as a Technical Operations Officer, Special Agent in the US Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, and a Senior Intelligence Officer in Defense Intelligence Agency. Mr. Eftimiades held positions in analysis, human and technical intelligence collection, and program management. He distinguished himself numerous times in the senior ranks of the intelligence and defense communities.

As a subject matter expert on Chinese espionage, Mr. Eftimiades was called upon to provide Congressional testimony and briefings to the Cox Commission, the Joint Economic Committee, and individual meetings with Congressional Members and staff. He is also one of only seven people appointed as an Intelligence Community Associate to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, National Intelligence Council. Mr. Eftimiades has an M.S. Strategic Intelligence, National Defense Intelligence College; and a B.A. East Asian Studies, George Washington University. He has authored books and many scholarly articles on Chinese espionage, technology, and space issues. His book Chinese Intelligence Operations, is an examination of the structure, operations, and methodology of the intelligence services of the People's Republic of China. To date, it remains the only scholarly analysis of China’s intelligence services and operational methodology.

Mr. Eftimiades is a frequent lecturer and public speaker on future technology, space, and national security issues. He has appeared as an expert on CBS Evening News, Dateline NBC, ABC's Day One, BBC, BBC America, National Public Radio, and dozens of other television and radio broadcasts. He has been quoted in hundreds of newspapers and magazines across the world.

This discussion is a part of IWP's China series.

About the Lecture: The Chinese Communist Party has ruled China for decades, bringing untold disaster upon the Chinese people. Why is it so tenacious, and why do democratic nations continue to engage with it? With decades of experience facing off against communist authorities, human rights activist Chen Guangcheng illuminates the structure of the party-state system in China and its disastrous impact on both Chinese citizens domestically and democratic nations abroad.

About the Speaker: Chen Guangcheng, known to many as "the barefoot lawyer," was born and raised in a poor, remote village in Shandong, China. Blind since infancy and barred from school until his late teens, he nonetheless taught himself law as a young adult and became a committed advocate for the poor, disabled, and persecuted. His work drew the ire of the authorities, leading to over seven years of harassment including repeated house arrests, detention in black jails, and over four years in prison. After twenty months of brutal isolation in his own home, on April 20, 2012, he made a dramatic escape that caught the attention of international media. The American embassy in Beijing secured his temporary safety before high-level diplomatic negotiations enabled his exodus to the US. Since beginning his advocacy work, Mr. Chen has been the recipient of numerous awards including Time Magazine 100 Most Influential List (2006), The Ramon Magsaysay Award (2007), The Lantos Human Rights Prize (2012), the UK Parliament’s Westminster Award (2013), and the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy Courage Award (2014). Chen is a frequent media commentator as well as guest speaker at conferences and events around the world. He has established a not-for-profit foundation to further human rights in China, and serves as Visiting Fellow at the Catholic University of America, Distinguished Senior Fellow in Human Rights at the Witherspoon Institute, and Senior Distinguished Advisor to the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. Mr. Chen’s memoir, The Barefoot Lawyer: A Blind Man’s Fight for Justice and Freedom in China, was released by Henry Holt Publishers in 2015 and has since been translated into eight languages worldwide.