An Iran Primer

July 2019 No Comments

“An Iran Primer“ Speaker: Liebl, V. (Center for Advanced Culture Learning (CAOCL)) Date: 12 July 2019 Speaker Session Preview SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Mr. Vern Liebl (Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning (CAOCL)) as a part of its SMA CENTCOM Speaker Series. Mr. Liebl began by stating that Iran does not present a large military threat to the US. Moreover, Iran’s military capabilities are fairly […]

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Interrogating Tensions in the Persian Gulf: Iran, the US and the GCC

July 2019 No Comments

“Interrogating Tensions in the Persian Gulf: Iran, the US and the GCC“ Speaker: Mabon, S. (University of Leicester) Date: 9 July 2019 Speaker Session Preview SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Dr. Simon Mabon (Lancaster University) as a part of its SMA CENTCOM Speaker Series. During this presentation, Dr. Mabon discussed the complexity of the broader competition in the Persian Gulf, posed a […]

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Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Iran Panel Discussion

June 2019 No Comments

“Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Iran Panel Discussion“ Speakers: Arquilla, J. (NPS); Ostovar, A. (NPS) Date: 21 June 2019 Speaker Session Preview SMA hosted a panel discussion as a part of its SMA CENTCOM Speaker Series. The panelists included Dr. John Arquilla (Naval Postgraduate School (NPS)) and Dr. Afshon Ostovar (NPS). During his portion of the discussion, Dr. Ostovar addressed the following questions: 1) Understanding that Iran […]

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Iran’s Military Strategy

June 2019 No Comments

“Iran’s Military Strategy“ Speaker: Bahgat, G. (National Defense University) Date: 18 June 2019 Speaker Session Preview SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Dr. Gawdat Bahgat (National Defense University) as a part of its SMA CENTCOM Speaker Series. During his presentation, Dr. Bahgat spoke about the continuous buildup of Iran’s missile program since the 1970s. He first characterized the program, highlighting that it […]

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Countering Russian Strategic Approaches: Special Operations in Hybrid Warfare

June 2019 No Comments

“Countering Russian Strategic Approaches: Special Operations in Hybrid Warfare“ Speaker: Meredith, S. (National Defense University) Date: 14 June 2019 Speaker Session Preview SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Dr. Spencer Meredith III (National Defense University) as a part of its SMA EUCOM Speaker Series. To begin, Dr. Meredith spoke about Russia’s strategic identity. He stated that Russia is “not a […]

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Social Cyber-Security Dynamics

June 2019 No Comments

“Social Cyber-Security Dynamics” Speaker: Carley, K. (Carnegie Mellon University) Date: 12 June 2019 Speaker Session Preview SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Dr. Kathleen Carley (Carnegie Mellon University) as a part of its SMA DHS Speaker Series. Dr. Carley first defined and characterized social cyber-security. She then stated that social media is about networks and identified three influential groups […]

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China’s Vision of Victory: Chinese Global Strategy and What It Means for America

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“China’s Vision of Victory: China’s Strategic Ambitions to Displace the US“ Speaker: Ward, J. (Atlas Organization) Date: 30 May 2019 Speaker Session Preview SMA hosted speaker session presented by Dr. Jonathan Ward (Atlas Organization) as a part of its Future of Global Competition & Conflict series. In this talk, Dr. Ward discussed Chinese long-term strategy. For China, the South China […]

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Measuring Soft Power in the International System

June 2019 No Comments

Speaker: Dr. Irene Wu (Georgetown University) Date: 6 June 2019 Speaker Session Preview SMA hosted speaker session presented by Dr. Irene Wu (Georgetown University) as a part of its SMA Minerva Speaker Series. During her presentation, Dr. Wu explained why soft power matters and how to measure soft power’s influence on broader considerations of geopolitics. She stated that soft power is […]

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Conceptualizing Strategic Competition—Historical and Theoretical Perspectives

May 2019 No Comments

“Conceptualizing Strategic Competition—Historical and Theoretical Perspectives“ Speaker: Mazarr, M. (RAND) Date: 14 May 2019 Speaker Session Preview SMA hosted speaker session presented by Mr. Michael Mazarr (RAND) as a part of its Future of Global Competition & Conflict Speaker Series. To begin, Mr. Mazarr stated that competition is not clearly defined in the international relations literature, and thus offered […]

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Assessing Recent Russia-China-US Security Dialogues

May 2019 No Comments

“Assessing Recent Russia-China-US Security Dialogues“ Speaker: Weitz, R. (Hudson Institute) Date: 9 May 2019 Speaker Session Preview SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Dr. Richard Weitz (Hudson Institute) as a part of its Future of Global Competition & Conflict Speaker Series. During his presentation, Dr. Weitz discussed his observations from last month’s Moscow Security Conference, a Russian Ministry of Foreign […]

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