Security

Free and open to the public. Reception to follow. Follow the conversation on Twitter: #policytalks From the speaker's bio: Richard Boucher comes to us following his tenure as Deputy Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Prior to joining OECD, Richard enjoyed an extremely successful career with the State Department, becoming the longest-serving Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and serving as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs (2006-2009).

The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy is proud to honor President Ford's centennial in 2013. This event brings together two distinguished members of his administration for an evening of reflection on their work and friendship with President Ford, and a discussion of today's current events.

Free and open to the public. The war in Afghanistan is entering its eleventh year with the debate over continuing or withdrawing often reduced to little more than bumper sticker phrases. Former US ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann will discuss what is at stake, what may be possible and the political and strategic costs of both continuation and withdrawal. About the speaker Ronald E. Neumann is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary and has served as Ambassador to Algeria, Bahrain and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Lord John Alderdice is an appointed life Member of the British House of Lords of the British Parliament at Westminster. Recently the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party in the House of Lords elected him as its new Convener (Chair) and in this position Lord Alderdice will provide an essential link between backbench Liberal Democrat peers and Liberal Democrats in Government. He is also a Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist at the Centre for Psychotherapy which he established in Belfast, United Kingdom.

The University of Michigan is pleased to announce the upcoming visit of John Beyrle, U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation. Ambassador Beyrle will deliver a public lecture titled 'U.S.-Russia Relations: Status of the 'Reset',' at the University of Michigan Alumni Center. A career Foreign Service Officer and specialist in Russian and East European Affairs, Ambassador Beyrle has held the top position in the Moscow Embassy since July 2008. This will be a unique opportunity to hear from a leading public official about U.S.

Marian Wright Edelman speaks from her new book, The Sea Is So Wide and My Boat Is So Small: Charting a Course for the Next Generation, which she wrote as a call to action for all Americans to address the urgent needs of our country's youth.

David Marash has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast journalism. Most recently, he anchored news from Washington for the global news channel, Al Jazeera English and he served for 16 years as the chief international correspondent for ABC News Nightline. In the ever-expanding world of global communication, there are lots of 'new media' like internet and mobile phone links for the transmission of text, voice and pictures, and literally a world of new players guiding the still dominant 'mainstream media,' but for all that, content still matters.

Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. The war in Iraq and the fight against Al-Qaeda have posed major challenges to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the foundation for the global movement for human rights. Increasingly, to many critics the war on terror has become a war on human rights, providing cover and sanction for repressive governments around the world, undermining human rights globally and compromising US national security.

Kemal Dervis, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme. 2006 Citigroup Lecture. Co-sponsored with the International Policy Center and the Turkish Studies Colloquium. Kemal Dervis will give the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy's Citigroup Lecture on October 25, 2006. Kemal Dervis was Turkey's Minister for Economic Affairs and the Treasury and is now the head of the United Nations Development Programme, the UN's global development network.

Senator Carl Levin, (D-Mich.) will discuss 'New Directions in National Security' at the 2005-06 Josh Rosenthal Education Fund Lecture. Sen. Levin, who has represented Michigan since 1979, is the Ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, a member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee, and the Select Intelligence Committee. The lecture commemorates the life and work of Josh Rosenthal, a 1979 University of Michigan graduate who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Jessica Stern is a nationally recognized expert on the motivations and causes behind terrorist movements.

Robin Wright, a five-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, is a global affairs correspondent for The Los Angeles Times. She has had extended tours of duty outside the United States, reporting from more than 130 countries. Ms. Wright has spent more than five years in the Middle East, two years in Europe, and seven years in Africa, as well as stints in Latin America and Asia.

Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, Marina Whitman and David Featherman

The International Policy Center hosts Scott Atran (University of Oxford/ CNRS, Paris/ University of Michigan) presents his field research from Europe, North Africa, and the frontlines in the battle with ISIS to make the case that the Devoted Actors' commitment to making costly sacrifices enables low-power groups to endure and often prevail against materially much stronger foes.

In July 2014 Washington Post journalist and former Tehran bureau chief, Jason Rezaian, was arrested by Iranian police on charges of espionage. What followed was a harrowing 544 day stint in an Iranian prison, and an extraordinary campaign led by his family, the Washington Post, and prominent journalism organizations for his release. Join Rezaian for a discussion on his book “Prisoner,” which details his 18-month imprisonment in a maximum security facility, his journey through the Iranian legal system and how his release became part of the Iran nuclear deal.

Free and open to the public. About the talk The more a country depends on aid, the more distorted are its incentives to manage its own development in sustainably beneficial ways. Cambodia, a post-conflict state that cannot refuse aid, is rife with trial-and-error donor experiments and their unintended results, including bad governance—a major impediment to rational economic growth.

Towsley Policymaker in Residence Javed Ali will moderate a panel discussion with three leading counterterrorism experts--Peter Bergen, Barbara McQuade, and Chris Costa.

Free and open to the public. Preceded by a reception in the Great Hall at the Ford School at 5:00 PM. Join the conversation on Twitter: #FordPolicyUnion. About the event This Ford Policy Union event will feature a debate on the effectiveness of international agreements on cyber security. Professor John Steinbruner, a noted international security scholar, will argue that the U.S.

Lecture by Alan Bersin, Assistant Secretary of International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Juan R.I. Cole, Professor of Middle East and South Asian History, University of Michigan. Professor Cole has written extensively about modern Islamic movements in Egypt, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia. Since the 2002 launch of his weblog, 'Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion,' Cole has become a prominent media commentator and has published political writings in The Guardian, the San Jose Mercury News, Salon.com, the San Francisco Chronicle, and The Nation.

The International Institute and the International Policy Center host a panel discussion with foremost experts on the Middle East and the threat of ISIS.  

Free and open to the public Join the conversation on Twitter: #FordPolicyUnion About the event: The United States has four stated policy goals in the Middle East. 1. Helping Iraqis build a unified, stable, and prosperous country; 2. Renewing progress toward the two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; 3. Working against terrorists and their state sponsors, as well as against the spread of weapons of mass destruction; and 4. Supporting efforts at economic and political reform in the region.

The Ford School welcomes human rights scholar Alejandro Castillejo-Cuéllar, associate professor and chair of Anthropology Department at the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia.

Professor Shujiro URATA examines Japan’s current economic situation and identifies the problems, then he discusses the importance of adopting an activist international economic policy with a focus on its relationship with the United States, in order to overcome the problems and achieve sustained economic growth.  

Ford School Students are invited to join an FSO Test Prep Session with Justin Erickson. 

Ford Security Seminar will host William G. Rich to discuss about how the changing economic trends and politics of the GCC are Affecting U.S. Security Interests.