The Institute of World Politics

This lecture was presented on June 22, 2017 by Brandon Weichert at the Institute of World Politics.

Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and the founder of The Weichert Report. His book on national security space policy will be released shortly. Brandon holds a B.A. in Political Science from DePaul University and is an Associate Member of New College at Oxford University (GDBM!). Recently, Brandon obtained his M.A. in Statecraft and National Security Affairs with a Specialization in Defense Policy from the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C.

On top of being a contributor to the conservative publication, American Greatness, Brandon does speaking engagements, presents papers, and conducts media interviews. He has been featured on BBC World News World Update with Dan Damon, he has been interviewed by The Christian Science Monitor, he has appeared on The Dino Report with Dino Costa, and he has been featured on the Seth & Chris Show offering his expertise as a national security and foreign policy specialist.

This lecture was presented on June 23, 2017 by Peter J. Wallison at the Institute of World Politics.

ABOUT THIS SPEAKER

Peter J. Wallison holds the Arthur F. Burns Chair in Financial Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and is co-director of AEI's program on Financial Policy Studies. Prior to joining AEI, he practiced banking, corporate and financial law at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C., and New York. Mr. Wallison has held a number of government positions. From June 1981 to January 1985, he was General Counsel of the United States Treasury Department, where he had a significant role in the development of the Reagan Administration's proposals for deregulation in the financial services industry. During 1986 and 1987, Mr. Wallison was White House counsel to President Ronald Reagan, and between 1972 and 1976, he served first as Special Assistant to New York's Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller and, subsequently, as counsel to Mr. Rockefeller as vice president of the United States.

Mr. Wallison was admitted to practice before the courts of New York and the District of Columbia, and is retired from practice in New York. He continues to be a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College in 1963 and law degree from Harvard Law School in 1966.

Mr. Wallison is the author of Ronald Reagan: The Power of Conviction and the Success of His Presidency, published in December 2002 by Westview Press. On financial or regulatory matters, he is the author of Back From the Brink, a proposal for a private deposit insurance system, and co-author of Nationalizing Mortgage Risk: The Growth of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; The GAAP Gap: Corporate Disclosure in the Internet Age; and Competitive Equity: A Better Way to Organize Mutual Funds, all of which were published by AEI. He is also the editor of Optional Federal Chartering and Regulation of Insurance Companies, and Serving Two Masters, Yet Out of Control: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, also published by AEI. On campaign finance, he is the author (with Joel Gora) of Better Parties, Better Government, (AEI Press 2009) and Bad History, Worse Policy: How a False Narrative about the Financial Crisis Led to the Dodd-Frank Act (AEI Press 2013) . His most recent book is Hidden In Plain Sight: What Caused the World's Worst Financial Crisis and Why it Could Happen Again (Encounter Books 2015). He is currently working on a book on the administrative state.

He testifies frequently before committees of Congress, and is a frequent contributor to the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal and other print and online journals. He has also been a speaker at many conferences on financial services, housing, the causes of the financial crisis, the Dodd-Frank Act, accounting, and corporate governance, and was a member of the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee between 1995 and 2015. He is also a member the Council on Foreign Relations, the SEC Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting (2008), co-Chair of the Pew Financial Reform Task Force (2009), and a member of the congressionally- appointed Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (2009-2011). In May 2011, for his work in financial policy, Mr. Wallison received an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from the University of Colorado.

This Lecture was presented on June 19, 2017 by Amb. Frank Lavin at the Institute of World Politics.

This a discussion of World War II as seen through the story of a combat infantryman. Carl Lavin was a high school senior when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He enlisted at 18, a decision that would take him with the U.S. Army from training across the United States and Britain to combat with the 84th Infantry Division in the Battle of the Bulge.

Home Front to Battlefront is the tale of a foot soldier who finds himself thrust into a world where he and his unit grapple with the horrors of combat, the idiocies of bureaucracy and the oddities of life back home - all in the same day. The book is based on Carl's personal letters, official military history, private papers and more.

Former U.S. ambassador and White House aide Frank Lavin, the son of Carl Lavin, is author of Home Front to Battlefront, and joins us for a presentation to share insight on World War II and the GI experience. More information at www.hf2bf.com

This event took place on June 20, 2017. It was delivered by Erik Khzmalyan.

About the lecture: Erik Khzmalyan will review the geographic boundaries of the Caucasus and countries located in the region and will identify the region's ethnicities and their cultural and linguistic differences. Specifically, he will focus on those ethnicities that are less well known. He will then discuss Russia's conquest of the Caucasus and the security challenges emanating from the Northern Caucasus.

About the speaker: Erik Khzmalyan is a Fellow at the Eurasian Research and Analysis Institute. Erik specializes in U.S. Foreign Policy, Eurasia, and Geopolitics. He is currently an M.A. candidate in Statecraft and International Affairs at the Institute of World Politics.

This lecture occurred on June 15, 2017 at IWP and was presented by MAJ Brett Carey.

ABOUT THE LECTURE: Seeking the truth on the Iraq WMD program. The US Army Technical Escort Unit’s Chemical-Biological Disablement Team 4 supported the investigation carried out by the Iraq Survey Group in the spring and summer of 2004. During the investigation, they responded to old-regime pre-Gulf War chemical munitions and an insurgent network that was trying to produce WMD. This presentation will cover how they handled these incidents with respect to the sensitivity of the Iraq WMD issue.

This event occurred on June 16th, 2017 at IWP, and was presented by Dr. Charles Edel.

About the book:

"America goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy"-John Quincy Adams's famous words are often quoted to justify noninterference in other nations' affairs. Yet when he spoke them, Adams was not advocating neutrality or passivity but rather outlining a national policy that balanced democratic idealism with a pragmatic understanding of the young republic's capabilities and limitations. America's rise from a confederation of revolutionary colonies to a world power is often treated as inevitable, but Charles N. Edel's provocative biography of Adams argues that he served as the central architect of a grand strategy that shaped America's rise. Adams's particular combination of ideas and policies made him a critical link between the founding generation and the Civil War-era nation of Lincoln.

Examining Adams's service as senator, diplomat, secretary of state, president, and congressman, Edel's study of this extraordinary figure reveals a brilliant but stubborn man who was both visionary prophet and hard-nosed politician. Adams's ambitions on behalf of America's interests, combined with a shrewd understanding of how to counter the threats arrayed against them, allowed him to craft a multitiered policy to insulate the nation from European quarrels, expand U.S. territory, harness natural resources, develop domestic infrastructure, education, and commerce, and transform the United States into a model of progress and liberty respected throughout the world.

While Adams did not live to see all of his strategy fulfilled, his vision shaped the nation's agenda for decades afterward and continues to resonate as America pursues its place in the twenty-first-century world.

About the author:

Dr. Charles Edel is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Policy at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I., where he focuses on grand strategy, American political history, and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. He recently returned to Newport from the Policy Planning Staff of the U.S. Department of State. In that role, he was a strategic advisor to the Secretary of State on North East Asia, the South China Sea, and the Western Pacific region. Charles holds a Ph.D. in History from Yale University, and received a B.A. in Classics from Yale College. He worked at Peking University's Center for International and Strategic Studies as a Henry Luce Scholar and was also awarded the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship. Previously, he served in various roles in the U.S. government as a political and counterterrorism analyst, worked as a research associate at the Council of Foreign Relations, and taught high school history in New York. An intelligence officer in the Naval Reserves, he is the author of Nation Builder: John Quincy Adams and the Grand Strategy of the Republic (Harvard University Press, 2014). Currently, he is working on a project about the role of foreign revolutions in American history.

This event occurred at The Institute of World Politics on June 13th, presented by Rebeccah L. Heinrichs.

Rebeccah Heinrichs is a Fellow at the Hudson Institute, where she provides research and commentary on a range of national security issues, and specializes in nuclear deterrence, missile defense, and counter-proliferation. Her work has appeared in major newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Times, and Investor's Business Daily as well as political journals such as Politico and The Hill. Rebeccah served as an adviser on military matters and foreign policy to Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, and helped launch the bi-partisan Missile Defense Caucus. She has testified before Congress and has presented to numerous organizations including the Aerospace Industries Association, the Reserve Officers Association, the National Defense Industrial Association, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. She holds a Master of Arts degree in national security and strategic policy from the U.S. Naval War College. She also graduated with highest distinction from its College of Naval Command and Staff, receiving the Director's Award for academic excellence. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ashland University in Ohio, and graduated from the Ashbrook Scholar Program.

This event took place on June 6 at The Institute of World Politics with Lauren Mitchell.

Lauren Lee Mitchell is the Global Outreach Coordinator for Home School Legal Defense Association and the former Lead Legislative Assistant for HSLDA's Federal Relations team. She is the author of numerous articles and white papers on education issues, managed HSLDA's national anti-Common Core campaign, and is currently planning the 2018 Global Home Education Conference in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia. Mitchell is the editor of the Around the Globe e-newsletter, and a contributor to the Court Report Magazine. Her work and research focuses on the start-up of international homeschool grassroots organizations, as well as assisting asylum families escaping persecution for homeschooling in totalitarian and post-totalitarian states.

Mitchell is a Patrick Henry College Leadership Scholar, Intercollegiate Studies Institute Honors Scholar, and a Harvard Summer Scholar. In various academic capacities, she has spoken to audiences across the United States, India, Canada, and at the European Union. Her philanthropic efforts include court advocacy for children through CASA, mentoring children with incarcerated parents, and raising awareness for children's health as an ambassador for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.

Andrew Harris gave valedictory remarks at The Institute of World Politics' Commencement Ceremony on May 20, 2017 at the Fairmont Hotel.

Video by Adam Savit, Center for Security Policy

Staff Sergeant Andre McRae, USA of the US Army Band "Pershing's Own" sang the National Anthem at The Institute of World Politics' Commencement on May 20, 2017.

Video by Adam Savit, Center for Security Policy