Past Speakers

May 2010
“Searching for Stabiliy: U.S. Efforts to Create Armies and Police in Foreign Countries” presented by Richard “Dick” Millett
- Senior Research Associate, North-South Center, University of Miami
- Professor of History, Chair Latin American Studies Committee

Dr Richard L. Millett received his AB with honors from Harvard and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico. He did postdoctoral work at Ohio State University and is a graduate of the Air War College. He taught at Southern Illinois University from 1966 through 1999.  He has also taught at the University of Miami, St. Louis University, the Air War College, the Marine Corps University, Copenhagen Business School, and four universities in Colombia.  He has published over one hundred items. He has testified before Congress on 19 occasions and appeared on every major national TV network.  He regularly travels to Mexico to participate in international security programs sponsored by the Law Faculty of the University of Nuevo Leon.

April 2010
“The United States and Cuba: Risks and Opportunities” presented by Frank Calzon
- Executive Director, Center for a Free Cuba

Frank Calzón, the Director of the Center for a Free Cuba, holds BA and MA degrees in Political Science from Rutgers and Georgetown Universities.   The center is an independent, nonpartisan, and not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of human rights and democracy in Cuba.  Born in Cuba, Mr. Calzón testifies regularly before congressional committees and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs focusing on Cuba and Latin America.  Since 1975 Mr. Calzón has also been the Executive Director of “Of Human Rights”, a non-profit human rights organization dedicated to defending human rights in Cuba and the release of all political prisoners held in Castro’s prisons.

March 2010
“Food, Agriculture, and National Security, from the French Revolution to the Green Revolution” presented by Ambassador Ken Quinn
- President of the World Food Prize
- Former Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia
- 32 year veteran with the U.S Foreign Service

Ambassador Quinn has, in nine short years, taken the World Food Prize to the level of the Nobel Peace Prize. The event each year, in our small hometown, is an internationally recognized “place to be” to discuss food, hunger, and science and technology issues relating to feeding the world’s population. Hundreds of leaders in agriculture, food science, NGO representatives, ambassadors, cabinet ministers, and heads of state gather each fall in Des Moines, Iowa to meet and discuss these important issues and meet the new World Food Prize recipient.

February 2010
“Russian Strategy Toward Central Europe” presented by Jakub Grygiel
- Associate Professor of International Relations, Johns Hopkins University – SAIS

Born in Krakow, Poland, and raised in Rome, Grygiel comes to SAIS from Princeton University, where he served as a research and teaching assistant both in American foreign policy and international relations. A prolific writer, he has been publishing articles on international relations for the past eight years. As a columnist for Giornale del Popolo in Switzerland and Il Mondo in Italy, he has written about the end of communism, the revival of Russian nationalism and other topics related to the history, economics and politics of Central and Eastern Europe. He also served as editor of the Journal of Public and International Affairs.

January 2010
“Recent U.S. Diplomacy and the Influence of Kissinger” presented by Jeremi Suri
- E. Gordon Fox Professor of History, University of Wisconsin at Madison
- Director, European Union Center of Excellence

Jeremi Suri is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he teaches the history of American Foreign Relations. His published books include The Global Revolutions of 1968, a study of worldwide protest movements during the 1960s, and Power and Protest, an examination of the links between diplomacy and social activism.  His latest book, Henry Kissinger and the American Century, is an assessment of former Secretary of State Kissinger’s political life. The biography has received enthusiastic reviews, with the Chicago Tribune describing it as “ a provocative book” and the Times declaring it “the best book yet published about Henry Kissinger.”

November 2009
“Iran: The Islamic Republic and Beyond” presented by Daniel Calingaert
- Senior Program Manager

Dr. Calingaert oversees Freedom House’s wide range of civil society and media programs.  He is also Professorial Lecturer at American University, where he teaches courses on democracy.  He previously served as Associate Director of American University’s Center for Democracy and Election Management and as Associate Director of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, which was co-chaired by Jimmy Carter and James A. Baker, III.  Dr. Calingaert has served as Director for Asia and as Deputy Director for Eastern Europe at the International Republican Institute, where he designed and managed a wide range of programs to promote democracy.  These programs strengthened civil society, parliaments, governance, political parties, and elections in more than a dozen countries. Dr. Calingaert began his career as a researcher at the RAND Corporation and later directed programs of the Civic Education Project to reform social science education at universities across Eastern Europe and Eurasia.  He graduated with highest honors in International Relations from Tufts University and earned his M.Phil. and D.Phil. from Oxford University.

October 2009
John J. Brandon
- Director, International Relations
- Associate Director, The Asia Foundation, Washington, D.C.

John J. Brandon is the director of The Asia Foundation’s International Relations programs, as well as the associate director of the Washington, D.C. office. Mr. Brandon managed the Foundation’s quadrennial “America’s Role in Asia” project in 2004 and 2008, which examines U.S.-Asian relations in-depth and made recommendations on U.S. policy. Mr. Brandon’s other responsibilities include monitoring U.S. policy toward the Asia-Pacific region and managing program activities in Washington. In 2007-2008 he participated in the Stanley Foundation project on “New Power Dynamics in Southeast Asia.”

September 2009
“Transatlantic Relations in the Age of Obama” presented by Leslie Lebl
- Former Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs, U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels
- Senior Fellow, American Center for Democracy
- Principal, Lebl Associates

Leslie S. Lebl is a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council of the United States and Principal of Lebl Associates. A writer, lecturer and consultant on political, security and military matters, she is a former Foreign Service Officer with particular expertise in European political and defense issues, Balkan peacekeeping and Russian politics and economy.

May 2009
Jacqueline Wilson
Our May speaker was Jacqueline Wilson.  Jacqueline is a senior program officer in the Institute’s Education and Training Center/International.  She joined the Institute with over twenty years of service in the U.S. Air Force and Air Force Reserves.  Following the events of September 11th, 2001, she was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, serving in the defense attache and Kenya/U.S. liaison offices.  During this period she augmented the U.S. delegation to the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development-hosted Sudanese peace talks.

April 2009
Aric Mutchnick
Aric Mutchnick has over ten years of experience in the security industry.  Mr. Mutchnick’s security experience includes counterterrorism instruction for several leading global organizations; operational work performing security risk assessments and managing surveillance detection teams for several Fortune 500 companies; travel to over 28 countries to advise and train covert foreign national security forces tasked with guarding U.S. Embassies and Consultants.

March 2009
Melvin Goodman
Melvin Goodman is a Senior Fellow and Director of the National Security Program at the Center for International Policy.  He is a former professor of International Security Studies and Chairman of the International Relations Department at the National War College.  He is also a national lecturer as well as appearing throughout the news media.  In addition, he has also written several books including: The Decline and Fall of the CIA; Lessons of the Cold War; and several others.

February 2009
William Montgomery
William Montgomery has been the U.S. Ambassador to three different countries: Bulgaria (1993-1996), Croatia (1997-2000), and Serbia and Montenegro (2000-2004).  At the end of his tour as Ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro, he was awarded the Order of the Star, First Class by the government of that country.  He has one Distinguished Honor Award, two individual and two group Superior Honor Awards, and one Meritorious Honor Award from the Department of State.

January 2009
Ann Olsen Schodde      Ann Schodde
Ann Schodde has been involved in education and international relations throughout her thirty-year professional career.  She has held leadership positions in higher education and international non-profit organizations; consulted or managed programs for more than 21 private foundations, professional associations and government agencies including the Stanley Foundation, World Food Prize Foundationa and Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs.

November 2008
Arthur I. Cyr     Arthur Cyr
Arthur Cyr is an A.W. and Mary Margaret Clausen Distinguished Professor of Political Economy and World Business at Carthage College.  He is also the Director of the A.W. Clausen Center for World Business as well as the Director of the International Political Economy Program.  In addition, Arthur Cyr has written four books including: After the Cold War – American Foreign Policy and U.S. Foreign Policy and the Atlantic Area: The Techniques of Accommodation.

October 2008
Seyom Brown
Seyom Brown is a John Goodwin Tower Distinguished Chair in International Politics and National Security at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.  He teaches on the causes and prevention of war and human rights and his writing focuses on the U.S. policy implications of changing patterns in world politics.  He is also the author of The Illusion of Control: Force and Foreign Policy in the 21st Century.

September 2008
Derek Chollet    Derek Chollet
Derek Chollet is a Senior Fellow at The Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where he works on a variety of issues related to U.S. foreign policy and national security strategy.  He is the author of The Road to the Dayton Accords: A Study of American Statecraft as well as having his commentaries and reviews appear in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Washington Monthly and many other books and publications throughout the U.S. and Europe.