Whereas this event was not recorded, we are working to collect the written remarks delivered by our panelists:
Sherman Teichman - Introduction and the ALLIES Program
Professor Damon Coletta - Moderator
Professor Suzanne Nielsen on Morris Janowitz and Samuel Huntington
A significant constituency for this forum will be the community of the Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services (ALLIES). We are particularly excited to utilize this forum and our subsequent panel on December 1st for the virtual convening of our ALLIES community.
Two of our panelists are ALLIES “veterans:” Dr. Jim Golby, a former ALLIES academic liaison at West Point, who has written or spoken publicly on these issues in War on the Rocks, the Washington Post, and his podcast with CSIS; and Professor Suzanne Nielsen, Head of West Point’s Department of Social Sciences, another West Point ALLIES chapter academic liaison, and the co-editor of “American Civil-Military Relations: The Soldier and the State in a New Era.” A new valued ALLIES ally, USAFA Scowcroft Professor Damon Coletta, will moderate.
The concept for this forum originated in my conversation with our wonderful friend, Ben Paganelli, the former ALLIES faculty liaison at USAFA who also led our ALLIES Joint Research Project to Rwanda. We shared a concern over the unsettling nature of the election, threats of disruption and violence, and the role that the military may take, or be pressured to take, in any outcome. We were, and remain, deeply alarmed at developments that threaten the apolitical professionalism of the military, and the ethos we sought to develop and spread through ALLIES - respect for the Constitution and the demonstration of strong ethical leadership, perhaps best exemplified in the ALLIES National Security and Civil Liberties program we convened with the Law Library of Congress.
Dr. Risa Brooks is the Allis Chalmers Associate Professor of Political Science at Marquette University, and a non-resident senior associate in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Dr. Brooks' research focuses on issues related to American and comparative civil-military relations, military effectiveness, and militant & terrorist organizations; she also has a regional interest in the Middle East. Her research on the United States focuses on issues of military professionalism, military advice and civilian control of the military. For the 2017-2019 academic years, she was an adjunct scholar at the Modern War Institute at West Point. She is currently an associate editor of International Security.
Dr. Jim Golby is a Senior Fellow at the Clements Center for National Security at The University of Texas at Austin and a Lecturer in the Department of Government. Jim is also the co-host of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' "Thank You for Your Service” podcast. Jim served twenty years in the United States Army. He previously served as a defense policy advisor at the United States Mission to NATO, as a special adviser to the Vice President of the United States, as a special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as an assistant professor of American Politics, Policy, and Strategy at the US Military Academy at West Point. Jim was the US Mission to NATO co-lead for the 2018 Brussels Summit.
Colonel Suzanne Nielsen is a Professor of Political Science and the head of the Department of Social Sciences at West Point. An intelligence officer by background, she has served on the personal staff of the Commanding General, Multi-National Force-Iraq, and she has also been a Special Assistant to the Commander, U.S. Cyber Command and Director, National Security Agency. Her research interests include change in military organizations, civil-military relations, and cyber policy and strategy. Her most recent book, American National Security, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2018. She serves on the governing council of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Colonel Heidi Urben is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and an active duty colonel in t he United States Army with more than 23 years of service. Dr. Urben’s research interests include civil-military relations, public opinion, political behavior, and national security strategy. Dr. Urben recently finished command of a military intelligence brigade at Fort Meade, Maryland. Her previous positions include: Vice Deputy Director of Current Analysis and Warning in the Joint Staff Directorate for Intelligence; Deputy Director for Intelligence in the Joint Staff’s National Military Command Center; and Military Aide to Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates.
Moderated by Dr. Damon Coletta is Scowcroft Professor in the Dept. of Political Science at the United States Air Force Academy. He edits the Eisenhower Center peer-reviewed journal, Space & Defense, and recently completed a book on technology and international security, Courting Science: Securing the Foundation for a Second American Century (Stanford University Press, 2016). He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Duke University; a Master’s in Public Policy (S&T) from the Harvard Kennedy School; and a Master’s in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Dr. Coletta recently was a visiting scientist at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Our second forthcoming session will be convened by Benjamin Paganelli (LtCol Ret USAF). A combat veteran of Operations Northern and Southern Watch, Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, and the International Security Assistance Force, Ben holds a BS in Int Affairs (Air Force Academy) and an MS in Int Relations (Troy Univ). Ben finished his military service as Assistant Professor of Political Science back at the Air Force Academy, and while there he started the USAFA chapter of ALLIES, and conducted research in civil-military relations in Turkey and Rwanda. Upon retirement, he founded Viable International Applications Unlimited, LLC (VIA Unlimited) a consulting firm helping organizations build culturally strategic success.