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

Join Out in Public and the Ford School's Graduate Career Services for an online-only conversation with Diana Maurer (MPP '90), a director at GAO, on her career overseeing defense logistics issues, coming out, and transitioning while working at a federal agency.

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.  

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

A presentation and Q&A on the Iran deal featuring two White House officials, including one of the Administration's negotiators.From the speakers: This presentation will lay out the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated between six major world powers and Iran after nearly two years of highly technical and painstaking sessions. Presenters include Paul Irwin, one of the negotiators, who will detail what the deal does and how it addresses international concerns about Iran's nuclear program, and Matt Nosanchuk, Associate Director for Public Engagement and Liaison to the American Jewish Community and on International Issues, and a native Detroiter.

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.

Lieutenant General David Petraeus, Commander of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth. General Petraeus served in Iraq as the first commander of the Multinational Security Transition Command – Iraq from June 2004 to September 2005, during which he was responsible for helping organize, train, and equip Iraq 's security forces. He previously commanded the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Former President of MIT Charles M. Vest will deliver the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation lecture October 12, at 3:30 p.m. in the Michigan Ballroom. The lecture is titled 'Improving the U.S. Intelligence Community – Lessons from Iraq, Libya, and Elsewhere.' The talk is part of Dr. Vest's visit to the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, where he is the Towsley Policymaker in Residence. The Towsley Policymaker in Residence program at the Ford School brings a policymaker to campus for an extended period of time to teach, write, and talk with faculty and students.

Lecture by General Michael Hayden, retired United States Air Force four-star general and former Director of the CIA and NSA.

Sultan Al Qassemi is a 33-year-old scholar, columnist, and influential Twitter commentator. TIME Magazine says he's "shaping the conversation" on events unfolding in the Middle East. NPR says he "wrote the first draft of Middle East history in short sentences tapped out on his computer and his cell phone."

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

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

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.

Donors have long engaged the private sector by tying foreign aid, forcing recipients to buy from donor countries. But recently, donors have partnered with private money on a larger scale, making tied aid an important area of interest.

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.

Indo-Pacific Conference organized by International Policy Center and Center for Japanese Studies features a keynote by Susan Thornton, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

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.

Saumitra Jha, Stanford University will present Swords into Bank Shares: Financial Innovations and Innovators in Mitigating Political Violence in EDS Seminar on Tuesday, April 10 at 2:30pm in 201 Lorch Hall.

Daniel Honig on Getting Things Done in Tricky Places: When Reporting Undermines Performance for Aid Agencies

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

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.