The Army War College gathers some of America’s top national security experts to meet with its students in a four-day National Security Seminar (NSS) each June. For this year’s edition, Weiser Diplomacy Center (WDC) Assistant Program Manager Zuzana Wiseley was one of the distinguished invitees. The invitation came from Center for Strategic Leadership Ed "Cliffy" Zukowski and U.S. Army Col. Mike Stinchfield, who had brought policy simulations to the Ford School since 2020.
The 68th NSS included some 160 guests from a variety of backgrounds, including academia, entrepreneurs, and federal employees, “a cross-section of American life, representing a broad range of occupations, geographic regions, and age groups,” there to examine current national security issues and exchange candid dialogue. Wiseley engaged with the students of the war college, who are mid-career men and women from across all branches of the military - Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Spaceforce, and Coast Guard – as well as the departments of Justice and State, and the National Security Council and National Security Agency.
“I greatly enjoyed our discussions about national security strategy and civilian-military topics,” she says. “ After morning key notes we immersed ourselves in extended conversations about trust and leadership, civilian awareness about opportunities and careers in the military, recruitment and outreach. Everyone made great contributions from their experience and I, as a civilian guest, was in awe with the amount of talent in this 2023 class of USAWC graduates.”
Other topics included the role of domestic politics in national security, globalization, foreign policy, international security issues and the future role of the United States.
“I am grateful for the great connections I created at the NSS with a diverse pool of students and guests. I hope my experience and perspective was similarly useful to others and I look forward to bringing my experience back to students and the community at the Ford School creating programs and opportunities for University of Michigan students interested in international policy, security and foreign affairs,” Wiseley says.
“It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.”
