The January 13, 2009, Smith-Mundt Symposium is on track and interest in the event continues to build. This post contains several updates and a listing of the panelists.
Continue reading “Smith-Mundt Symposium: panel format and line-up
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Category: Events
Events: Public Diplomacy 2.0
From the New America Foundation:
How the State Department, with partners like YouTube, Google and Facebook, is taking advantage of social networking technology to tell America’s story and to encourage young people with political grievances to find outlets for their protests other than violent extremism.
featured speaker
The Hon. James K. Glassman
Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
moderator
Steve Clemons
Director, American Strategy Program
New America Foundation
Publisher, TheWashingtonNote.comTo RSVP for this event, click on the red button, or go to the event page: http://www.newamerica.net/events/2008/public_diplomacy_2_0
See also:
Event: Voices of America: U.S. Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century
From Brookings, a major report on revising America’s public diplomacy:
Tuesday, November 25, 2008, 10:00 am — 11:30 am
The Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
Public opinion holds more sway now than at any previous time in history. Information and communication technologies are cheap and ubiquitous. It is in this context that the United States must increasingly engage, persuade and attract the cooperation of foreign publics to achieve its national interests. Yet, the United States must do this in a world that has changed markedly in the years since its public diplomacy institutions were created.
On November 25, Kristin Lord will present Voices of America, a new Brookings report on the effectiveness of public diplomacy that includes specific recommendations for the next administration. Drawing on extensive research, approximately 300 interviews and the advice of a distinguished board of ten advisers, Voices of America presents a comprehensive vision for U.S. public diplomacy in the twenty-first century. It argues for the creation of a new non-governmental organization to tap extensive private sector expertise and mobilize the talents of Americans and partners around the world. The report also presents wide-ranging recommendations regarding strategy, leadership, organization, resources and methods of U.S. public diplomacy and how this important instrument of statecraft should be integrated into a broader foreign policy strategy.
Lord will be joined by a distinguished panel of experts including Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution; Thomas A. Miller, vice president of Business for Diplomatic Action; and Charles Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering. Senior Fellow Martin Indyk, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, will offer introductory remarks and Carlos Pascual, vice president and director of Foreign Policy, will moderate the discussion. After the program, panelists will take audience questions.
Can Facebook defeat terrorism?
Maybe. From Gutenberg to pre-Revolutionary pamphleteers to the Internet, increasing the access to information has been a catalyst for change. Yesterday, Steve Corman looked at this question and noted that
[w]hile Facebook played an important role in the development of the protest march, it can be better described as a catalyst than a cause.
The media, formal and informal, new and old, is the oxygen both terrorist and counter-terrorist movements require to exist and thrive. The advantage of the latter over the former is truth, transparency, and promising futures. New Media’s ability to engage, mobilize, and empower transcends geography and time. It simultaneously reaches locally and globally, providing instant and “time-shifted” access to text, pictures, and videos. It also fosters trusting peer relationships that add credibility to messages and the movement itself.
Today, the State Department announced an event to facilitate more catalysts for change:
Facebook, Google, YouTube, MTV, Howcast, Columbia Law School and the U.S. Department of State Convene the Alliance of Youth Movements Summit
Dec. 3-5 Summit in New York to Bring Together Global Youth Groups, Tech Experts to Find Best Ways to Use Digital Media to Promote Freedom and Justice, Counter Violence, Extremism and Oppression
New York, NY, November 18, 2008—Facebook, Google, YouTube, MTV, Howcast, Columbia Law School, the U.S. Department of State and Access 360 Media are bringing leaders of 17 pioneering organizations from 15 countries together with technology experts next month in New York for the first-ever conclave to empower youth against violence and oppression through the use of the latest online tools.
Rising star Jared Cohen (author of Children of Jihad: A Young American’s Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East) is a major force behind this event. The rest of the press release is below the fold.
Smith-Mundt Symposium Schedule
Cross posted at http://armstrongsig.com/2008/11/agenda.html.
The agenda for the January 13, 2009, Smith-Mundt Symposium is below. It is final with the only likely change is a panel title or two.
Mark your Calendar for the Smith-Mundt Symposium: Jan 13, 2009
Mark your calendar for January 13, 2009.
That is the confirmed date for “The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948: Past, Present, and Future”, a symposium to discuss the sixty-year old law that continues to set the parameters of America’s international engagement.
The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 was passed as we were beginning a “war of ideology… a war unto death,” as our Ambassador to Russia at the time described it. But, beginning in the 1970’s, instead of promoting international engagement through information, cultural and educational exchanges, the law has been distorted into a barrier of engagement. From propaganda and counter-propaganda intentions, it became an anti-propaganda law for reasons that had little to nothing to do with concerns over domestic influence.
It is time to put the law into its proper context, especially in today’s information environment, is essential. We’ve seen the Defense Department step up to fight the information fight. The State Department has begun to do the same under the leadership of Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Jim Glassman. The keynotes given by both Under Secretary Glassman and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Mike Doran demonstrate the interest in and the importance of this event.
The symposium is set for January 13, 2009. It will be in DC and open to the public. There will be no registration fee, but registration will be required. The details on registration and the location will be forthcoming.
There will be four panels plus two keynotes. The panels will be 90-minutes each and structured to encourage discourse and audience Q&A rather than monologue and PowerPoint.
The first panel examines the history of Smith-Mundt. The second panel, tentatively named “America’s Bifurcated Engagement,” looks at the present-day impact of the law. The third, “Limiting the Arsenal of Persuasion,” looks at a future with Smith-Mundt. The fourth panel, “What to do and How,” focuses on legislative issues.
To receive event updates via RSS or email click here.
The organizer and point of contact for this event is Matt Armstrong.
See also:
Event: New America Foundation conference on Al Qaeda 3.0 – with live webcast
The pace of “what’s next” conference is picking up. From the New America Foundation:
Al Qaeda 3.0
The ‘War on Terror’ After the Bush Administration
At Al Qaeda 3.0, leading policy makers, law enforcement officials, scholars and journalists from around the world will assess the current threat posed by al Qaeda and its affiliates to the United States, Europe, the Middle East and South Asia. The conference speakers will also explore what steps the next administration should take in combating al Qaeda and its affiliates both at home and abroad.
The event is tomorrow, Friday, October 10, 2008. Start: 8:45a ET, Finish: 5p ET.
The conference has an impressive list of panelists (bios): Frances Fragos Townsend, Bruce Hoffman, Steve Coll, Peter Bergen, Lawrence Wright, Daniel Kimmage, Nir Rosen, Brian Fishman, Mohammed Hafex, Thomas Hegghammer, Marc Sageman (no, Bruce and Marc are not on the same panel), and others.
Register here.
Event: Under Secretary James K. Glassman to Speak at National Press Club Oct. 3
From the NPC:
James. K. Glassman, under secretary of State for public diplomacy and public affairs, will speak at a luncheon on Friday, Oct. 3, on “The New Age of Public Diplomacy.”
Since taking up his position in June, following confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Glassman has been leading the government’s efforts to win a war of ideas to combat violent extremism, and his speech will outline his views on how best to achieve this goal.
Event: “Defending Hamdan” at CTLab
Starting today and continuing through next Friday, the blog The Complex Terrain Laboratory is holding an online symposium titled “Defending Hamdan.” The symposium is CTlab’s first, and is the first in a series entitled Social Sciences in War. This symposium revolves around the personal account of Dr. Brian Glyn Williams, an historian of Central Asia and Al Qaeda based at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, of his experiences as an expert witness in the Guantanamo Bay trial of Salim Hamdan, “bin Laden’s driver.”
Scholars from the the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand will participate in the symposium.
- David Betz: Insurgency Research Group, Dept. of War Studies, King’s College London
- Christian Bleuer: Political Science, Australian National University
- John Matthew Barlow: History, Concordia University
- Craig Hayden: Int’l Communications, American University, Intermap.org
- Kevin Jon Heller: Law, University of Auckland/University of Melbourne, OpinioJuris.org
- John Horgan: Psychology, Pennsylvania State University
- Thomas Johnson: Cultural Studies, Naval Postgraduate School
- Jason Ralph: Politics & International Studies, University of Leeds
- William Snyder: Law, University of Syracuse/Maxwell School
- Marc Tyrrell: Anthropology, Carleton University, blogger
- Tony Waters: Sociology, Chico State University
- L.L. Wynn: Anthropology, Macquarie University
The first five installments of Dr. Williams’ account have already been posted to the weblog:
- The Capture and Defense of Bin Laden’s Driver
- On Ruffling Establishment Feathers
- Letter and Spirit of the Law
- Digging Deeper for the Defense
- Defending Hamdan: Trial And Verdict
With the fifth post, the symposium will be formally launched with two forthcoming introductory blog posts, one providing the background and outlines of the symposium, the other surveying coverage of the Hamdan trial in the law blogosphere.
This will be an event worth following. The implications are substantial and go beyond the immediate issue of Hamdan and should go toward basic understanding of the culture and rule of law and perceptions.
Event: Public Diplomacy and the War of Ideas: Agendas for the Next Administration
Marc Lynch saw the need for a discussion, so he organized one:
Public Diplomacy and the War of Ideas: Agendas for the Next Administration
George Washington University, September 30, 2008, from 2:00-3:30, Location TBA
Featuring
Hady Amr, Director, Brookings Doha Center and Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, and co-author (with Peter Singer) of Engaging the Muslim World: A Communication Strategy to Win the War of Ideas (Brookings, April 2007).Dr. Michael Doran, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Support to Public Diplomacy, U.S. Department of Defense; 2007 testimony on the war of ideas available here.
Kristin Lord, Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, and author of Public Diplomacy and the New Transatlantic Agenda (Brookings, August 2008)
Marc Lynch, George Washington University, co-director of Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communications and author of Voices of the New Arab Public
Marc notes the roster may expand and more details will be forthcoming. Save the date, however.
Event: Reforming U.S. Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communication: Views from Congress
At the Brookings Institution next week:
On September 23, the Brookings Institution will host Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Representative Adam Smith (D-Wash.) for a discussion on the future of U.S. public diplomacy and strategic communication. With increasing force and frequency, members of the United States Congress are calling for reforms to U.S. public diplomacy, strategy, organization and practice. These proposed reforms seek to improve U.S. relations with foreign societies, advance American interests abroad and counter extremist ideologies. Seven years after 9/11, the question remains: is the United States communicating effectively with foreign publics? Is it undermining support for extremist ideologies around the world?
For more information, and to register, go to the event’s website.
I’ll be at this event immediately after a 1.5 day seminar at the George C. Marshall Conference Center.
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On the Air in three, two… and you’re done, thanks for coming
I’ll be on Al Jazeera English tonight talking about the struggle for minds and wills with anchor Shihab Rattansi with a lead in by Barnaby Phillips’ American Challenge series. I’m told the live broadcast will be 20 minutes into the 7:00p PT (0200 GMT) News Hour.
Since most Americans can’t get AJE, watch online or check back here as I’ll post a link when the video’s available.
Update: No video yet, not sure if there will be one. Because of other news, instead of a 10 minute discussion beginning at 7:20, it was about one minute that began around 7:35. It was during my second answer that I learned the segment would be truncated. There was no follow up. I had planned to go into the struggle of minds and wills more, the understanding of local dynamics, the need for security and capacity building that is done by, with, and through Iraqis for participation and buy-in, raise Medical CMO, the good part of CERP, etc. The original plan was a discussion/debate with two people and the anchor, but as the segment was severely truncated, it’s good they couldn’t find somebody to disagree with me, so I was told I’d have the whole 10 minutes. They also didn’t mention MountainRunner… hopefully next time.
Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency: to some, a natural pairing, to others, not so much
This should be interesting. This weekend the University of Chicago holds a conference titled Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency that will explore
Anthropology’s relationship to the United States’ global projection of its power, while simultaneously mounting an anthropological inquiry into the nature of that power and of the changing world in which it operates.
Don’t mistake this as a chance to discuss revisions to the Counterinsurgency Manual. On the contrary,
We seek ethnographic understanding of global responses to recent deployments of the US military, and of US military actions in comparison to other forms of coercion, compellance, and intervention. Reading US military theorists, we seek to understand the emerging interest in study of culture in the broad context of military responses to US military failures (and opportunities). We pursue the full implications of the connection now being sought by the US military between culture and insurgency and turn an anthropological lens on the nature of violence and order in the current era.
The presenters are a varied group and, for the most part, will probably do their best at Ivory Tower analysis to talk past each other. Below the fold are a few of the abstracts that caught my eye for the “1.6” day event (cocktails/keynote Friday night + all day Saturday + half of Sunday).
Public Diplomacy Conference: Murrow at Tufts
Today and tomorrow is promises to be a good discussion on public diplomacy at Tufts: Murrow 100th Anniversary Conference on “Public Diplomacy and International Citizenship.” See the program here.
The primary purpose of the conference is to elicit and facilitate the presentation of research, including faculty and student research (drawing upon seminar papers, M.A. and M.A.L.D. and Ph.D. theses, conference papers, etc.), in the field of Public Diplomacy, broadly conceived to encompass not just informational activity and communications systems and flows (and related techniques and technologies) but also educational exchange programs, cultural projects, foreign correspondence, the role of public opinion, government-business and government-civil society interaction, and inter-civilizational dialogues involving individuals and groups as well as governments and international organizations, at various levels and on different scales.
Particular topics on which panels have been proposed so far include: the various challenges facing officials conducting government public diplomacy, U.S. and other; international exchanges (educational, professional, cultural); diplomacy and ICT/media; PD and international business; the role of public diplomacy in conflict situations; and the public diplomacy of international organizations (UN system, WTO, other multilateral institutions). The “public diplomacy” of national political campaigns and the state branding efforts of “green” countries also have been suggested as possible panel topics for the conference. Other ideas may also be considered.
While the topics are broad, this is primarily an internal discussion as conference panelists are primarily Tufts alumni with some current students. That said, I am very interested in what was said in this morning’s panels “Public Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution” and “Public Diplomacy and National Security” and especially the panel later today: “Government Public Diplomacy: Contemporary Challenges.” Tomorrow’s “Nation Branding” will be interesting, but, and no offense to Switzerland, I would have suggested somebody from Sweden (a post on that country’s PD is forthcoming).
I won’t be there but if you are, I’m interesting in your take-aways from what will surely be valuable discussions.
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Three Upcoming Conferences (Updated)
There are two three upcoming conferences this week that might interest you. All should be interesting. Hopefully at least one of them will be useful.
The first conference is Stability Operations and State Building: Continuities and Contingencies in Tennessee February 13-15, 2008. This part of the conference description threw me:
…we will look at theoretical, intellectual, and moral foundations of state-building as derived from the Age of Enlightenment, ethical norms, and religious values from various societies… we will examine contemporary practices as related to us by serving military officers.
This sounds like a colonial mindset even when throwing in "various societies." Will they truly look at the socio-political-economic structures of target territories and will local systems take primacy over our "superior" systems?
That said, a friend is presenting at paper at the conference. Read it and read a discussion about it at Small Wars Journal.
Tom Barnett and John Robb will be bookending the Valentine’s Day session with Tom in the morning, 8-9:30a, and John in the evening, 8-8:40p.
The second conference is The Challenges of Integrating Islam: Comparative Experiences of Europe and the Middle East at GWU’s Elliott School in DC. Friend of MountainRunner Marc Lynch announced this event on his blog today:
The morning panel looks at the headscarf issue in Turkey, while the lunch address is being given by Jakob Skovgaard-Peterson, director of the Danish-Egypt Dialogue Institute (which must be one of the most thankless jobs in the world, but one which must offer some interesting perspectives on inter-faith relations). Two outstanding anthropologists are slated to speak as well: Jon Anderson (American University) and John Bowen (Washington University – St. Louis). I’ll be rushing over from a morning workshop across town to speak at the 1:45 panel. I was slated to talk about "The social and the political: Islamist views of reform", but now I’m planning to work up some remarks on the fascinating controversy which has erupted in the UK over remarks by Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, over the application of sharia law in Great Britain. Stay tuned.
The third conference is Public Diplomacy: Reinvigorating America’s Strategic Communications Policy at the Heritage Foundation tomorrow, February 13, noon – 1:30p.
Strategic communication has long been essential to furthering American foreign policy goals, especially during times of war. Recently, the government has taken numerous steps to improve its wartime strategic communication capacity. However, it is evident that the current system is not working as well as during the Cold War, and the United States still lacks an integrated public diplomacy strategy capable of bolstering America’s image overseas. This panel will address the efficacy of the current administration’s strategy and give recommendations for the next administration, whether it is Democrat or Republican.
I won’t be at any of these. If you go, I’d appreciate sharing your thoughts on the events.
DHS S&T Conference: Post Mortem
As you know, I was at the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Conference in DC where I has the opportunity to chair two panels at the request of DHS. My panels were different than the rest, not just because I was the only “outsider”, but neither panel was on the one of the two main messages of the conference:
- Come check out the new and improved Science and Technology Directorate
- Let me tell you about a problem so you can make money with a solution
More on the panels in a moment. The general sessions were primarily about topic #1 above. Perhaps the best illustration of this was the session titled “A World in Change: A View from the Hill”. While “A World in Change” was intended to speak to the “new” threat environment, it also fit the new S&T under the Honorable Jay M. Cohen, Under Secretary, Science & Technology, DHS, formerly of the Office of Naval Research (as is much of DHS S&T who followed Admiral Cohen to the new post). For a short time more, video of the general sessions are available here and I suggest, if you’re interested in the politics of DHS, you watch the beginning (warning: the streaming video is high quality but doesn’t stream well at all) of the general from the Congressional staffer. He goes on about how bad thing were and why the Congress cut funding, etc, comments that were paired with praise with Cohen and the new S&T.
Day One At the Naval S&T Conference 2006
This week is the 2006 Naval Science and Technology Partnership Conference at the Wardman Park Marriot in Washington, D.C. This conference is put on by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), in partnership and with technical support from the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The conference’s slogan should give you an idea of the topics to be covered over the next four days: “The Navy After Next… Powered by Naval Research”.
Continue reading “Day One At the Naval S&T Conference 2006
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2006 Naval S&T Partnership Conference
Next week — July 31 to August 3 — MountainRunner will be blogging from the Naval Science and Technology Partnership Conference in Washington, DC.
What is this conference?
Presented by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) with technical support from the Office of Naval Research, the 2006 Naval S&T Partnership Conference is the successor to, and builds upon the success of, the six annual partnership conferences previously presented by ONR. The 2006 Naval S&T Partnership Conference will provide key insight into the Navy & Marine Corps drive to enable revolutionary naval operational concepts that meet the challenges of the 21st century through strategic investment in S&T research. The Conference will inform government, industry and academia of the direction, emphasis, and scope of the Department of the Navy’s investment in science and technology research, and how companies and universities can do business with the Naval Research Enterprise.
A number of blogs were inviting, including obviously MountainRunner. We will be credentialed as media in an experiment for the conference. In return, the conference simply requests we report (blog) on the conference. This may seem different, and it is, but it is certainly inline with a growing awareness of the Internet (see Defense Science Boards’ research into the value of Google, blogs, and other Net resources). I’ll post which blogs actually show when I get there next week (the confirmed list right now is short so the blog-exclusive press availability with the Chief of Naval Research may be closer to a one-on-one interview).
Here are the highlights of the conference, direct from its preliminary agenda:
- Hear from the senior leadership of the Department of the Navy, the Office of Naval Research, and the Naval Research Enterprise
- Gain an understanding of partnership opportunities for industry and academia, and learn how to do business with ONR and the Naval Research Enterprise
- Get key insights into the Power and Energy challenges and opportunities facing the Navy and Marine Corps in the 21st Century
- Meet one-on-one with Program Managers from ONR and across the Naval Research Enterprise, including Naval Laboratories and Warfare Centers
- Learn how to participate in the challenge to creative innovative solutions to meet Fleet and Force requirements in the Future Naval Capabilities (FNC) and Innovative Naval Prototypes (INP) programs.
- See and discuss innovative technologies from Industry, National and Federal Labs, and Academia in the Conference Exhibit Hall.
The Conference is being extremely helpful in facilitating additional interviews with the Office of Naval Research. Topics I’m looking to discuss and investigate further with ONR includes programs similar to the USS Emory S. Land reach out to Africa recently (blogged here previously and other public diplomacy programs), building strategic relationships ("partnership capacity" as defined in the QDR), thoughts on the Core-Gap & Barnett, and of course piracy. Of course those are just a few things I hope to ask and discuss, but we’ll see what actually transpires after reality sets in.
By the way, "science" is stretched beyond technology if you look at the ONR Science and Technology Departments, which include at the top level: Expeditionary Warfare and Combating Terrorism; Command, Control Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR); Ocean Battlespace Sensing; Sea Warfare and Weapons; Warfighter Performance Department; Naval Air Warfare and Weapons; and Office of Transition.
Any questions or topics you’d like to have asked or looked into, let me know. I’m open for suggestions, leads, etc.
More to come…