About the Lecture:

From the Black Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean, war and counterterrorism operations define this century. The stakes in this vast, interconnected region are high and growing, and the U.S. needs a better policy and set of statecraft strategies.

Russia, joined by help from Iran, wages war against Ukraine. Russian troops occupy part of Georgia. They now have naval, air, and ground bases in Syria. Iran has mounted attacks against U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq since at least 2005 and against U.S. and coalition personnel in Syria since at least 2015. Tehran has amped up funding, equipping, and training Hizballah, Hamas, and Houthi militants since the Arab Spring. Turkey, responsible for protecting NATO’s southeastern flank, now deeply mistrusts the U.S. alliance with the YPG and Peshmerga, blames the U.S. for shielding Fethullah Gülen in Pennsylvania, and rejects U.S./NATO sanctions against its decision to buy Russian S-400s and Russian and Iranian energy.

This highly volitile region is on fire. What actions and relationships will calm the waters? Or are we careening towards WWIII? Or…given the sophistry over our definitions of modern warfare and counterterrorism operations, are we already in WWIII? If so, how do we organize ourselves to win?

Come share your ideas and hear ways we might realign U.S. policy architectures and statecraft practices.

About the Speaker:

Paula Doyle has over 30 years of national security and foreign policy experience with the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the U.S. Department of State.

Her areas of deep subject matter expertise include Turkey, Iran, Russia, Foreign Cyber Programs and Capabilities, Counterintelligence, Nuclear Weapons and Proliferation Programs, the Middle East, and NATO.

Ms. Doyle teaches a 700-level course on Turkey, Russia, and Iran at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, Center for Security Studies Program. She serves on the Board of Directors for the OSS Society, on the Board of Directors for the Central Intelligence Retirees Association, and as a Fellow at the National Security Institute, housed at George Mason University.