December 2009

Washington Seminar Draws Diverse Audience

Sixty-six people from 35 countries attended the Washington Seminar at the Cosmos Club in Washington on 3 December. Hosted by NESA Distin­guished Research Fellow Ambassador (ret.) Craig Dunkerley, the program featured a panel comprising George Washington University Professor Marc Lynch; Dr. Daniel Markey of the Council on Foreign Relations and Laura Ro­zen, a commentator on Politico.com, assessing the first year of President Obama’s Foreign Policy.

Seminar Addresses Combating Terrorism and Transnational Threats

NESA Professor Wm. J. Olson directed a Combating Terrorism and Transnational Threats seminar with 35 participants representing 18 countries from 1—17 December. NESA facilitators or speakers included LTC David Alley and pro-fessors Robert Boggs, James Clad, Daniel Curfiss, Sami Hajjar, Murhaf Jouejati, Roger Kangas, Fariborz Mokhtari, Tyler Rauert, Richard Russell, Lawrence Velte and Michael Yaffe.

NESA Region Travelers Subject to Intensified Security

As a result of the failed attempt to cause an explosion on a Christmas day flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, heightened security measures will include subjecting all passengers on US-bound international flights to random screening.
Beginning January 4, 2010, travelers on flights into the United States from 14 designated “countries of interest,” including Af­ghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen will be subjected to enhanced screening, such as body scans, pat-downs and a thorough search of carry-on luggage. Arriving passengers from countries such as Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria that the US Department of State lists as countries that sponsor terrorism will also face increased scrutiny.
Pakistan International Airline also has announced increased security screening for US-bound passengers.
British airports are introducing full body scanners, and Amster­dam will begin using the scanners on passengers bound for the US.
Several ambassadors from the region, including those from Iraq and Afghanistan, have lodged strong protests against the strin­gent measures.

NESA Plans SES Alumni Symposium

The NESA Center is planning an alumni symposium for senior decision-makers in Washington, 29 Mar—1 April 2010. The symposium is scheduled to mark NESA’s tenth anniversary and to coincide with the beginning of a Senior Executive Seminar. Participants will explore issues of mutual interest and relevant to USG and NESA region decision-makers. It also will provide an opportunity for senior alumni to re-engage with NESA and re-familiarize themselves with colleagues and Center programs.

NESA Welcomes Database Specialist

Star Straf, NESA’s new database specialist, comes to the Center after more than ten years as a senior People-Soft programmer at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
Prior to her tenure in Lawrence, Star spent three years as a network analyst at the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana.
A Midwest native, Star spent ten years working with Gelber Group, a commodities firm in Chicago, after receiving her BS in computer science from Northwestern University.

Also This Month…

Ambassador (ret.) James Larocco

• Spoke at an open Capitol Hill briefing. The former ambassador to Kuwait offered his candid views on Yemen at the National Council on US-Arab Relations panel entitled “Yemen Headlined: Contemporary Myths and Empirical Realities.”
• Participated in a role-playing exercise run by the Center for Strategic and International Studies for 16 UAE diplomats who are attending a three-month training program in Washington.

Ambassador (ret.) Craig Dunkerley and Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow participated in a discussion of "NATO in Afghanistan" at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Professor Michael Yaffe and RNSSC Di­rector Ambassador (ret.) Michael Lem­mon met with Amir Mohagheghi, a Sandia National Laboratories official, to discuss areas of collaboration, including the RNSSC working groups on WMDs and Border Security.

Professor Murhaf Jouejati

• Was interviewed by the Christian Sci­ence Monitor on the Syrian-Iranian Defense Pact.
• Was a panelist at a German Marshall Fund conference on Turkey-Syria-Israel. The 50 attendees included US and foreign government officials, journalists, and academics.
• Was interviewed by Hurryiet, Turkey’s largest circulation newspaper, on the controversy related to Hatai (Iskandaroun Sanjak) Province between Turkey and Syria.
• Participated in a Council on Foreign Relations roundtable regarding the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.
• Was a panelist at an Institute on National Security Studies (INSS) conference on Iraq’s Regional Neighbors. The audience consisted of 45 mid- to senior-level US government officials.

Professor Anne Moisan hosted Dr. Janet Breslin-Smith and Ms. Naimeh Hadidi, a 20-year employee of the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia who was here in Washington, DC to receive the Swanee Hunt Award for Advancing Women’s Role in Policy Formulation from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Both joined NESA at the Cosmos Club for the Washington Seminar luncheon.
 

LTC David Alley, and COL (ret.) John Wood briefed Mr. Adam Willner, Lebanon and Pakistan desk officer for the Secretary of the Air Force’s Office of International Affairs (SAF/IA), on the NESA Center's roles and responsibilities. The three discussed how to improve NESA Center cooperation and collaboration with SAF/IA.
 

Professor Robert Boggs, Professor Jack Gill, Ambassador James Larocco, Ambassador Michael Lemmon, and Research Associate David King met with Grahame Carroll, senior analyst at the Australian Office of National Assessments (ONA), recently appointed to head ONA’s new Afghanistan-Pakistan Task Force, to discuss the future of the Zardari government, the progress of Pakistan’s counterinsurgency operations, and the prospects for achieving US objectives in Afghanistan.

Professors Fariborz Mokhtari, Richard Russell and Michael Yaffe attended a roundtable discussion on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard sponsored by the Institute on National Security Studies (INSS).

Professor Robert Boggs met with Katherine Gockel, research associate at the Center for Applied Strategic Learning (i.e., gaming center) at NDU, to discuss South Asia gaming scenarios and how her Strategy and Operations Division of CASL might support NESA programs.

December Transitions

AMB Pradhumna B. Shah (SES 01-02) is now the Ambas sador of Nepal to Brazil. Previously, he served as Joint Secretary and Chief of the South Asia including India and SAARC Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

AMB Najla Al Qassimi (ES 04-03) is now the United Arab Emirates am bassador to Sweden. She was the Deputy Director of the Department of American & European Affairs, Office of the Undersecretary - Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Mohamed al-Najar (ES 03-07) is now the Counselor, Political Affairs & International Organizations - Embassy of Yemen in London; he formerly served as the Chargé D'Affaires Embassy of Yemen to the Czech Republic.

Mr. Narayan Thapa (CT 02-09) from Nepal is now the Head of the Finance Division with the Armed Police Force of Nepal. Previously, he served as the APF Senior Superintendent

Additional Activities ...

LTC David Alley

• Met with Tannous Mouawad, the General Manager for the Middle East Studies Institute in Beirut, Lebanon, to discuss current events in Lebanon and continuing cooperation between the Lebanese Armed Forces and the United States military.
• Hosted COL Tony Pfaff, USA, former Defense Attaché to Kuwait. Colonel Pfaff’s visit included a briefing on the NESA Center’s roles and responsibilities, a tour of the Center’s facilities, and discussions on how to improve NESA Center cooperation with DoD offices at embassies in the NESA region.
• Briefed MAJ Bill Duggan, an Army Middle East Foreign Area Officer at US Special Operations Command, on the NESA Center's roles and responsibilities. The two also discussed how to improve NESA Center/SOCOM cooperation.

Professor James Clad was a discussant on a Brown Bag Radio podcast: “Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka.”