Oct. 4, 2018 Noon Eggers 060 (Global Collaboratory) Jason Stearns is Director of the Congo Research Group at New York University and author of Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa. He obtained his Ph.D. from Yale University and has served in various roles for Congolese and international NGOs and the United Nations. Part of the David F. Everett Postconflict Reconstruction Speaker Series CO-SPONSORS: INSCT, MAXWELL AFRICAN SCHOLARS UNION

Command and Control Doctrinal Challenges in the British Army: From the Trenches to the War on Terror WITH: Professor Gary Sheffield, University of Wolverhampton WHEN: Friday, Sept. 21, 2018 | Noon – 1:30 p.m. WHERE: Eggers 151 (History Department Conference Room) World War I saw the greatest challenge to military command and control the world had ever seen. A combination of factors produced a “wicked” problem that profoundly changed land warfare. There were no easy solutions, and generals in all armies struggled to adjust. In this lecture, Professor Gary Sheffield looks at the British army’s experience, examining topics such as command…

INSCT Director James E. Baker and Professor Emeritus William C. Banks will represent the Institute at the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security’s 28th Annual Review of the Field of National Security Law Conference, taking place Nov. 1-2, 2018 at the Capitol Hilton in Washington DC. This premier national security law conference includes panels focusing on vital topics, including: Space Law: Issues and Progress Legal Issues Confronting the Military National Security Law Community The 4th Amendment, Surveillance and the Future, preceded by a special keynote luncheon address by Glenn Gerstell, General Counsel, National Security Agency Reviewing Current Controversies…

Kira Jumet is Assistant Professor of Government at Hamilton College. Her research focuses on protest mobilization leading up to and during the 2011 and 2013 Egyptian uprisings, including the relationship between emotions and protest participation. Her most recent book is Contesting the Repressive State: Why Ordinary Egyptians Protested During the Arab Spring (Oxford University Press, 2017). In her book Jumet asks, “Why and how did thousands of Egyptian citizens suddenly take to the streets against the Mubarak regime in January 2011?” With insights based on 170 interviews conducted in Egypt during the Arab Spring, she argues that individuals are rational…

Reggie Govan, the former Chief Counsel of the FAA, played an integral role shaping public policy at the cutting edge of aviation technology, and he has a deep understanding of the impact of rapidly evolving innovative technology systems and operations on the regulatory environment. He is one of the architects of today’s regulatory framework for expanding commercial drone operations, ensuring counter-drone security, and expanding performance-based rulemaking. Govan is an advocate for a comprehensive reconsideration of the relative roles of federal, state, local, and tribal governments and of private industry to support low-altitude commercial drone operations. Before joining the FAA, Govan…

Trump, Kim Jong Un’s summit in Vietnam: What to expect from the leaders’ second meeting (Fox News | Feb. 21, 2019) President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un are slated to meet again. The two are expected to reunite in Hanoi, Vietnam on Feb. 27 and Feb. 28, which will follow what was the first-ever meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader. Trump announced the second meeting at his State of the Union address earlier in February … … Denuclearization will likely be at the center of their meeting, Vice Adm. Robert B.…

President Donald J. Trump has made it known that he would declare a “national emergency” at the US/Mexico border in order to secure funds to build a southern border wall, an effort to augment funds that Congress has appropriated for border security in a bill that the president is expected to sign. The national emergency declaration would be unusual in this case, as the southern border crisis lacks the immediacy of a catastrophe such as Sept. 11, 2001. The declaration also may be unconstitutional, and it probably will be challenged in the courts. National security expert Professor Emeritus William C. Banks has…

Opinion: Declaration would defy Congress and abuse power By William C. Banks (Newsday | Feb. 10, 2019) President Donald Trump has described the congressional negotiations over his request for $5.7 billion to fund a Southern border wall as a “waste of time.” He has repeatedly insisted that he can and will build the wall after declaring a national emergency at the border. If the president proceeds, he will undermine the role of Congress in our constitutional system and make a mockery of the uses of this extraordinary emergency power as exercised by modern presidents. Rhetoric and politics aside, consider a…

The Migrants Who Were on TIME’s Cover Will Attend the State of the Union (TIME | Feb. 5, 2019) Lawmakers have long used their plus-one invitations to the annual State of the Union address to send political messages to the President, and this year is no different. Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren invited federal workers who saw their paychecks delayed as a result of the longest shutdown in government history. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand asked a Navy Lieutenant Commander impacted by President Donald Trump’s transgender troop ban. And Sen. Amy Klobuchar will bring a mother whose son died as…

Experts give 4 reasons why Trump can’t declare a national emergency to build a wall (Cronkite News/Arizona PBS | Feb. 5, 2019) President Donald Trump has hinted there’s a “good chance” he will declare a national emergency at the southern border during his State of the Union address Tuesday in order to build a wall. Experts, however, believe there are obstacles to using a national emergency to build a wall, which Trump has promised since he entered the race for the presidency in 2015. Cronkite News reached out to Liza Goitein, a co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program…