Security Challenges of the 21st Century – 2011-2012 Annual Theme

In the past, national security has centered on the strategies that political and military leaders pursue in their respective countries to defend their national interests, with a focus on military, diplomatic, economic, and informational instruments of power. In recent decades, however, the world has become more interdependent and the number and character of the threats have become, respectively, more numerous and complex, with some threats crossing national boundaries and challenging the well being of humanity as a whole. Thus, the current list of immediate and long-term threats to the national interests of the United States and other countries now includes interstate conflicts, civil wars marked by genocide, abuses of human rights, attacks on civilian populations by terrorist organizations, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, global pandemics, and the catastrophic effects of global climate change. In response to these developments, a new perspective to security has recently emerged, one that prioritizes “human security.” In 1994, the United Nations Development Report adopted this approach as its central organizing theme, arguing that the traditional notion of security was too narrow because it ignored the degree to which ordinary people felt threatened by crime, hunger, disease, and environmental hazards. While the traditional notion of security remains of central importance, the Clarke Forum embraces the broader concept of “human security” as the proper organizing principle of its 2011-12 theme: Security Challenges of the 21st Century.

Breaking Issue – iPhone vs. the FBI: Government Surveillance in the Post-Snowden Era

iPhone FBI PosterTuesday, April 5, 2016
Allison Great Hall, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Amy Gaudion, Penn State Dickinson School of Law
John MacCormick, (panelist and moderator) Dickinson College
Tony Williams, Dickinson College

Should Apple help the FBI unlock the iPhone used by the shooter in the recent San Bernardino attack?  These panelists will address this question and the significant security, legal, and technological issues it raises, particularly those connected to privacy and security.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

gaudion eAmy C. Gaudion is the director of Graduate & International Education and a visiting assistant professor of law at Penn State’s Dickinson Law. Her scholarly and teaching interests focus on national security law, homeland security law and civilian-military relations. Her recent works have appeared in the Penn State Journal for Law & International Affairs, The New York Times, The Daily Beast, and the Western State Law Review. Recent presentations have included The Constitutionality and Consequences of America’s Use of Drones and the NSA Spying Program (2014, Western State College of Law), Beyond Print: New Models for Scholarly Publishing in Law (2014, Annual Conference of the American Association Read more

Kate Martin – Constitution Day Address Lecturer

Director, Center for National Security Studies

Government SurveillMartin Final Posterance and the Bill of Rights

Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

A former senior counter-terrorism official has said that existing surveillance capabilities are creating “the potential for a police state.” This lecture will address whether and how such capabilities can be reconciled with the Constitution’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures, its protections for freedom of speech and religion, as well as the demands of an open government in a democracy.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and Penn State Dickinson School of Law, and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund and with the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Project on Civilian-Military Educational Cooperation. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

kate martinBiography (provided by the speaker)

Kate Martin serves as director of the Center for National Security Studies, in Washington, D.C., the only think tank and advocacy organization devoted exclusively to preserving civil liberties in the national security context. Martin has served as director since 1992, having joined the Center as director of its Litigation Project in 1988 after 10 years as Read more

The Eisenhower Series College Program

ESCP Poster finalTopic: U.S. Security Policy

Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Participants

Lt. Col. Robert Borcherding, U.S. Army
Capt. Jim Boswell (Facilitator), U.S. Navy
Lt. Col. Paul Brooks, U.S. Army
Cmdr. Anthony Conley, U.S. Navy
Col. Michael Daniels, U.S. Army
Col. Kelly Ivanoff, U.S. Army

The Eisenhower program is an academic outreach designed to encourage dialogue on national security and other public policy issues between students at the U.S. Army War College and students/faculty at other academic institutions.

This program is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series and is sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund.

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

Boswell picCaptain Jim Boswell (facilitator of the event) was born at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida and grew up on Air Force bases in Europe and the Far East.  He attended high school and college in the great state of Florida and holds a bachelor’s of science in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Florida and a master’s of science in Computer Science from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey California.  He is also a graduate of the Read more

James A. Baker – Constitution Day Address Lecturer

Baker poster finalFormer Counsel for Intelligence Policy and Associate Deputy Attorney General, Justice Department

Surveillance Post-Snowden

Thursday, September 12, 2013
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Baker will reflect on the recent disclosures of government surveillance activities. Formerly in charge of representing the government before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Baker will provide his perspective on the challenging security and privacy issues facing us today.

This event is jointly sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, Penn State Dickinson School of Law and School of International Affairs

Biography

James A. Baker has worked on numerous national security matters during his career. A former federal prosecutor, he worked on all aspects of national security investigations and prosecutions, including in particular the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), during his 17 year career at the U.S. Department of Justice. From 2001-2007, Mr. Baker served as Counsel for Intelligence Policy at the Justice Department, where he was head of the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review. In that position, he was responsible for developing, coordinating, and implementing national security policy with regard to intelligence and counterintelligence matters for the department. Mr. Baker provided the Attorney General, the U.S. Intelligence Community, and the White House with Read more

Suzanne Cusick

Final Cusick Poster

Professor of Music, New York University

Acoustemology & the “War on Terror”

Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Based on interviews with released detainees at Guantanamo and elsewhere, this lecture analyzes the ways that regimes of sound and silence were used to attack the subjectivities of prisoners detained in U.S.-run prison facilities during the so-called “global war on terror.” More information.

The event is co-sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Department of Music.

Biography (provided by the speaker)
Suzanne G. Cusick is a professor of music at New York University. Her writing on music in relation to gender, sexuality and cultural history has appeared in such joCusick eurnals as the Journal of the American Musicological Society, Early Music, Musical Quarterly, Repercussions, Perspectives of New Music, Early Modern Women, TRANS, and the Journal of the Society for American Music. Her monograph “Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court” will be published by the University of Chicago Press in 2009. She is currently working on a book about the uses of sound and silence in U.S.-run detention camps in the so-called “global war on terror.”

Video of the

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Eisenhower National Security Series

Eisenhower Final PosterA Visit by U.S. Army War College Eisenhower Fellows

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The Eisenhower program is an academic outreach designed to encourage dialogue on national security and other public policy issues between students at the U.S. Army War College and students/faculty at academic institutions. The fellows will be visiting classes and participating in events throughout the day.

Each year a few students at the U.S. Army War College participate in the Eisenhower National Security Series and travel outside Carlisle Barracks to engage in discussions with other students, academics, and the public about national security issues and the employment of military assets.

* This program is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series and is co-sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, Penn State University Dickinson School of Law, School of International Affairs and the Churchill Fund.

Schedule of Programs:

9 – 10:30 a.m. – Open Class Visit

Ethics and International Security
Captain Stephen C. Krotow, U.S. Navy and Lt. Col. Curtis Mason, U.S. Marine Corps to visit Professor Bova’s class.
Denny Hall, Room 211

Noon – 1:30 p.m. – Lunch Panel Discussion

The Arab Spring
Panelists: Eisenhower National Security Series Fellows, with Prof. Read more

Daniel Drezner

Drezner Final Poster

Professor of International Politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

International Politics and Zombies

Thursday, March 22, 2012
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Addressing timely issues with analytical bite, Drezner looks at how well-known theories from international relations might be applied to a war with zombies. He boldly lurches into the breach and “stress tests” the ways that different approaches to world politics would explain policy responses to the living dead. Drezner examines the most prominent international relations theories–including realism, liberalism, constructivism, and neoconservatism –and decomposes their predictions. Exploring the plots of popular zombie films, songs, and books, Theories of International Politics and Zombies predicts realistic scenarios for the political stage in the face of a zombie threat and considers how valid–or how rotten–such scenarios might be.

This event is jointly sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, Penn State Dickinson School of Law and the School of International Affairs.

DreznerFPBiography (provided by the speaker)
Daniel W. Drezner is professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, a senior editor at The National Interest, and a contributing editor at Foreign Policy. Prior to Fletcher, he Read more

Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt

Counterstrike PosterPentagon Correspondents, The New York Times and Co-authors of Counterstrike

Counterstrike

Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

A book signing will follow.

Schmitt and Shanker explore the Pentagon’s secretive and revolutionary new strategy to fight the war on terrorism. This new strategy will have game-changing effects in the Middle East and in the United States.

This event is jointly sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, Penn State Dickinson School of Law, the School of International Affairs and Betty R. ’58 and Dan Churchill.

Biographies (provided by the speakers)
Eric SchmittEric Schmitt is a senior writer for The New York Times who covers domestic and internationalism terrorism issues. For nearly 20 years, he has covered military and national security affairs for the newspaper. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, he has made ten reporting trips to Iraq and five trips to Afghanistan to cover American military operations there. In the past year, he has also reported on counter-terrorism operations in Pakistan, Mali and Southeast Asia.

Previously, Mr. Schmitt reported on demographic and national immigration issues for The Times and covered Congress for five years. During that time, he one of newspaper’s main reporters assigned to the 2000 Read more

Michael Granoff

Granoff Final PosterHead of Oil Independence Policies, Better Place

The End of the Oil Monopoly

Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 6:30 p.m.

For 100 years, virtually all of global transport has been the domain of a single, depleting, polluting commodity to the detriment of the global economy, security and environment. But the trend is beginning to change in 2012 as the convergence of technology and creative business modeling has led to the creation of a less expensive and more convenient alternative to gasoline-driven automobiles. Pioneered in Israel, Denmark and Australia, this radical new approach has the potential to turn two giant industries upside down.

This event is sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and The Milton B. Asbell Center for Jewish Life and is part of The Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Mike Granoff lower resBiography (provided by the speaker)
Michael Granoff has been head of oil independence policies for Better Place since its founding in 2007. In that capacity, he helps stakeholders of all types calibrate policies consistent with the Better Place approach to ending the corrosive effect of oil dependence on economy, environment and security. Stakeholders with which Granoff works include governments on every Read more

Panel Discussion: Bird Flu Dilemmas: Balancing Science, Security, & Free Speech

Avian Flu PosterWednesday, February 15, 2012
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.

Panelists

Andrew Pekosz, associate professor, W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Thomas Place, professor of law, Penn State Dickinson School of Law
Anthony Williams, visiting professor of political science and security studies, Dickinson College
David Kushner, associate professor of biology, Dickinson College, moderator

In December 2011 the US government asked scientists who had recently created a possibly dangerous airborne strain of H5N1 (avian influenza) not to publish all the genetic details of their research. The government’s request highlights the tensions that can arise between scientific inquiry, security, and freedom of speech.

Event is sponsored by The Clarke Forum Contemporary Issues.

Click here for campus-only video Read more

Ronald Deibert

Professor of Political Science and Director of the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of TorontoDeibert Poster

A Perfect Storm in Cyberspace

Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

What was once a domain characterized by openness and the free exchange of ideas, cyberspace is being re-shaped by technological changes, a growing underworld of cyber crime, a burgeoning cyber security industrial complex that feeds a cyber arms race, and an increasingly intense geopolitical contest over the domain itself.

Together, these driving forces are creating a kind of “perfect storm” in cyberspace that threats to subvert it entirely either through over-reaction, the imposition of heavy-handed controls and through partition or cantoning.

To restore cyberspace as an open global commons will require a multi-layered strategy, from the local to the global.

Drawing from the research and other activities of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto — including the OpenNet Initiative and the Information Warfare Monitor — Ron Deibert discusses the “Coming Perfect Storm in Cyberspace” and what is to be done to prepare for it.

The event is jointly sponsored by Read more

Harold Koh

Chief Legal Counsel for the U.S. Department of State

A Smart Power Approach to International Law and National Security

Thursday, January 26, 2012
Apfelbaum Auditorium, Lewis Katz Hall, Penn State Law, Carlisle, 5:00 p.m.

Koh, a leading expert on public and private international law, national security and human rights, will discuss the threats, responses and accountability mechanisms that will define the future national security configuration.

The event is jointly sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues at Dickinson College and the Penn State Dickinson School of Law. Link to Penn State Dickinson School of Law for additional information. This program is also supported by Betty R. ’58 and Dan Churchill.

Harold Koh WEBBiography (from Yale Law School)
Harold Hongju Koh is the Martin R. Flug ’55 Professor of International Law (on leave, 2011-2012). On June 25, 2009, the U.S. Senate confirmed Professor Koh as Legal Adviser to the United States Department of State.

He began teaching at Yale Law School in 1985 and served from 2004 until 2009 as its fifteenth Dean. From 1998 to 2001, he served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and previously had served on the Secretary of State’s Read more

Paul B. Olsen

Natural Selection War FinalColonel, U.S. Army

Natural Selection & War

Thursday, November 17, 2011
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Today’s advances in evolutionary biology are unifying competing theories of natural selection and serve as a timely call for a similar unification of competing theories of war. This lecture explores the relationship between war and natural selection by first examining war’s biological origins, and then placing them within a multidisciplinary framework called the Nature of War Theory.

This theory, as its name implies, reconciles natural selection and war to reveal a shared overarching and paradoxical duality, displaying that war is characterized by the simultaneous violent interplay of evolutionary individual-level and group-level adaptations, manifested by individualist and altruistic wars, respectively, and highlighted by trends and insights recognizable to both students of war and evolutionary biology.

This event is sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Departments of Biology and Psychology.

Paul OlsenBiography (provided by the speaker)
Colonel Olsen was commissioned in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers upon graduation from the University of Wisconsin where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography. He has held leadership positions in Army engineer units in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Read more

Michael Klare

klareposterFive College professor of Peace and World Security Studies

The Great Struggle Over Energy

Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

This lecture will explain how the world’s existing energy system, based on oil and other fossil fuels, will have to be replaced by a new one over the next 30 years or so due to resource scarcity and climate change. But as no known alternative can replace fossil fuels at the present time, there will be an intense struggle over the various contenders for this role – a struggle that will have immense consequences for the major energy firms, the major energy producers and consumers, and all human beings.

This event is jointly sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and Penn State University Dickinson School of Law and School of International Affairs.

michael klareBiography (provided by the speaker)
Michael T. Klare is the Five College Professor of Peace and World Security Studies, a joint appointment at Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Professor Klare has written widely on world security affairs, the arms trade, and global resource politics. His most recent books include Resource Wars (2001), Blood Read more

P. J. Crowley – General Omar N. Bradley Lecture

Former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs

General Omar N. Bradley Chair in Strategic Leadership

WIKILEAKS: One Year Later

Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Penn State University Dickinson School of Law
Lewis Katz Hall Auditorium, 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Crowley will explore the impact that Wikileaks has had on global politics and the media as well as the implications it has had for relevant national security policies.

This event is jointly sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, Penn State University Dickinson School of Law and School of International Affairs, and the U.S. Army War College.

PJ CrowleyBiography
Philip J. “P.J.” Crowley, former United States assistant secretary of state for public affairs, is the 2011-2012 recipient of the General Omar N. Bradley Chair in Strategic Leadership. While in residence, Crowley conducts classes at Dickinson College, the U.S. Army War College and Penn State University Dickinson School of Law and School of International Affairs.

President Barack Obama nominated Crowley to be assistant secretary of state for public affairs in the U.S. Department of State in 2009. Previously, he served as special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director of public affairs for the National Read more

Rita King

Nothing to Hide Poster FinalFounder and Creative Director of Dancing Ink Productions

Nothing to Hide?

Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

While Facebook has served as a catalyst for discussions about privacy issues, it’s only one aspect of a major shift permeating the world. Platforms come and go but privacy issues continue to influence and shape modern life. Perceptions of what privacy is and what it’s worth are changing. In addition to internet privacy issues, urban environments are increasingly filled with surveillance cameras. Nearly everybody on the street is carrying a mobile device, maybe capturing some fragment of your story arc in the form of an image or overheard snippet of conversation. Digital algorithms can piece together the puzzle of your life by recognizing your patterns, habits and even your face. How will the construction of identity and society be affected? How will *you* be affected?

This event is co-sponsored by the Departments of American Studies, Math and Computer Science and Sociology.

RJKprofBiography (provided by the speaker)

Rita J. King is a writer, conceptual artist and entrepreneur. As the executive vice president of business development at Science House and founder of Dancing Ink Productions, her work centers on the development Read more

Philip Zelikow

Twilight War Poster Final

Former Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission

The Twilight War

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 *
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.
The program will begin with a brief memorial service, followed by the lecture, book sale/signing and reception.

Zelikow will take stock of the ten years of conflict since 9/11 and discuss the agenda now. He will reflect on the Commission’s work and on the way a “paradox of prevention” before 9/11 has now been replaced by a “paradox of adjustment.” Zelikow will offer an assessment of the ongoing fights in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the rest of the Arab and Muslim world. In addition, he will review what has gone right, and not so right, in the changing organization of American government to deal with dangers like terrorism.

* This event is part of The Clarke Forum’s series on Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty.

Philip Zelikow  JHBiography (provided by the speaker)

Philip Zelikow is the White Burkett Miller Professor of History and Associate Dean of Graduate Programs at the University of Virginia.  Zelikow began his professional career as a trial and appellate lawyer in Texas. His Ph.D. is from Tufts University’s Fletcher School.  He was a career diplomat, posted overseas and Read more

Afghanistan: What Next?

Afghan Poster web

Panel Discussion

Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

Panelists

Larry Goodson, professor of Middle East studies, U.S. Army War College
Thomas Barfield, professor of anthropology at Boston University and president of the American Institute for Afghanistan Studies.
Marvin Weinbaum, Scholar-in-Residence, Middle East Institute in Washington, DC
Moderated by David Commins, professor of history, Dickinson College

In the context of the Obama Administration’s upcoming review of its policies in Afghanistan, a panel of experts will address the following questions: What are the intensity and depth of U.S. interests in Afghanistan? Are these interests vital to U.S. national security? If the interests are vital, can the U.S. achieve these interests with the existing policy/strategy or is some other policy/strategy required? If the interests are not vital to U.S. national security, why is the U.S. spending so much blood and treasure in Afghanistan?

Biographies (provided by the panelists)
Larry P. Goodson is professor of Middle East Studies at the U.S. Army War College. He is regularly consulted by senior government officials about Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Middle East. In 2008-2009 he served on a four-month temporary assignment with the U.S. Central Command Assessment Team, Read more

Steven Aftergood

Wiki leaks final.jpg_web

Project on Government Secrecy, Federation of American Scientists

WikiLeaks–A Flood of Secrets: National Security vs. Free Speech

Thursday, October 7, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

  video

The recent disclosure of up to 90,000 classified documents relating to the Afghanistan War has underscored the difficult balance between preserving open government and preserving national security. Underlying issues that will be addressed include the problem of over classification, the scope of the Espionage Act, and the challenges of protecting sources and methods in the age of the internet.

Biography (provided by the speaker)aftergood3
Steven Aftergood is a senior research analyst at the Federation of American Scientists. He directs the FAS Project on Government Secrecy, which works to reduce the scope of government secrecy and to promote reform of official secrecy practices.
He writes Secrecy News, an email newsletter (and blog) which reports on new developments in secrecy policy for more than 10,000 subscribers in media, government and among the general public.

In 1997, Mr. Aftergood was the plaintiff in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency which led to the declassification and publication of the total intelligence budget ($26.6 billion in 1997) for the first time in Read more

Rear Admiral John Hutson and Lt. Col. V. Stuart Couch

Rear Admiral John Hutson, dean and president, Franklin Pierce Law Center

Lt. Col. V. Stuart Couch, U.S. Marine Corps.

Keeping America Safe and Safeguarding American Values

Keeping America Safe PosterTuesday, September 23, 2008
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

“Continuing the Conversation” immediately following the program in Stern 102.

This panel will address the question of how we can fight terrorists and strengthen our security in ways that are strong and effective and consonant with our values and our Constitution.

Topical Background
Since the beginning of the human rights movement in the mid-twentieth century, advocates of human rights and national security experts have often been at odds with one another. The former support the inviobility of human rights, while the latter stress the necessity of national security protection.
In times of war, including the ongoing war on terrorism, a fundamental human right that often draws attention is the right to be free from torture. The Abu Ghraib abuse scandal and questions regarding detainee treatment at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base have underlined the significance of this human right. Legal documents that are relevant to the issue of torture and abuse include the following:

&#8226Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Read more