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December 17, 2007
We are pleased to announce the release of three volumes by FPRI authors by Mason Crest Publishers, part of its new series for middle school and high school students on “The Making of the Modern Middle East.”
November 14, 2007
Date/Time: Monday, December 3, 2007, 12:00 - 1:45 p.m. Place: The Union League, 140 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA
Dr. Harvey Sicherman, President of the Foreign Policy Research Institute is pleased to announce that Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell will give the keynote talk at a one-day conference on “Energy Security in Pennsylvania and the Nation” being held by FPRI’s Center on Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
The keynote (1:00 p.m.) and lunch (12:00 noon) are open to the public and the media; the rest of the conference is closed, but conference reports will be posted at www.fpri.org/research/terrorism afterwards. Advance registration is required.
Energy security is a key priority for Gov. Rendell, who last year unveiled his Energy Independence Strategy, which is expected to push Pennsylvania into the top tier of states taking steps to cut consumer energy costs, and significantly expand the alternative fuel, clean energy and conservation sectors. The Governor’s strategy will help avoid budget-breaking rate spikes, add 13,000 new jobs and attract $3.5 billion in new investments to the state's economy. It also will match 1 billion gallons of foreign oil with alternative energy sources that are produced here at home.
October 23, 2007
FPRI is pleased to announce that Mackubin (Mac) Owens has been appointed Editor of its flagship publication, Orbis — A Quarterly Journal of World Affairs, effective with the Summer 2008 issue. Owens is a prolific writer on military affairs and a long-time associate of FPRI, where he is a Senior Fellow in the Program on National Security. Orbis, now in its 51st year, provides analysis on the full range of topics relating to American foreign policy and national security; it is published by Elsevier Inc. and available at www.sciencedirect.com and by subscription. Past editors of Orbis include James Kurth (2005–7), David Eisenhower (2001–04), and Walter McDougall (1995–2001); recent authors include Deborah Avant, Paul Bracken, Eliot A. Cohen, Philip Jenkins, and Barry Posen.
“I am honored by this opportunity to edit a journal that has long been an important part of my own reading,” Dr. Owens says. “Dr. Owens possesses the ideal background for Orbis as it continues to contribute to the national debate on the most important issues facing our country,” states FPRI president Harvey Sicherman.
Dr. Owens is Associate Dean of Academics for Electives and Directed Research and Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. From 1990–97, he was Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly defense journal Strategic Review and Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Boston University. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a Colonel in 1994. Dr. Owens earned his Ph.D. from the University of Dallas, his M.A. in economics from Oklahoma University and his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Dr. Owens is a contributing editor to National Review Online. His articles on national security issues have appeared in publications including International Security, Armed Forces Journal, Joint Force Quarterly, The Public Interest, The Weekly Standard, US Naval Institute Proceedings, Comparative Strategy, National Review, and the New York Times. He is co-editor of the textbook Strategy and Force Planning, now in its fourth edition.
Before joining the faculty of the War College, Dr. Owens served as National Security Adviser to Senator Bob Kasten (R-Wisc.) and Director of Legislative Affairs for the Nuclear Weapons Programs of the Department of Energy during the Reagan administration. He has taught at the University of Rhode Island, the University of Dallas, Catholic University, and the Marine Corps’ School of Advanced Warfighting. He is an adjunct fellow at the Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashbrook University and has been a program officer for the Smith Richardson Foundation, Senior Visiting Fellow at the Center for Naval Analyses and a consultant to the Los Alamos National Laboratory; Plans Division, Headquarters Marine Corps; and J-5 Strategy, the Joint Staff.
October 18, 2007
FPRI congratulates former intern Emily Goldman, most recently associate professor at UC-Davis, on her appointment as Advisor on Strategy and Strategic Communication to the Coordinator for Counterterrorism (Ambassador at Large Dell Dailey).
Dr. Goldman received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 and her Ph.D. from Stanford in 1989. She has authored books and articles on topics including U.S. strategic, military, and arms control policy; strategic adaptation in peacetime; military innovation; organizational change; and defense resource allocation. Her current research focuses on the strategic and foreign policy implications of revolutionary military change and the impact of the information revolution on national security. She conducted a study for the Office of the Secretary of Defense on the international consequences of military revolutions 1500-present and was project leader for a multi-year study on the diffusion of military knowledge. Prof. Goldman was the first woman to hold one of the Navys prestigious Secretary of the Navy Senior Research Fellowships at the U.S. Naval War College.
Introducing college (and sometimes high school) students to the field of foreign policy analysis is a function that is very important to us, and our internship program is at the core of our efforts in this regard. Interns serve as research and editorial assistants; they are invited to most of our seminars and lectures to enrich their experience, and some make presentations on their research. FPRI is always proud to see former interns contributing to the civic discourse in their subsequent careers and welcomes hearing updates from them.
September 11, 2007
FPRI released The War on Terrorism: A collection of FPRI essays, 2001–2007, on September 11, 2007. The softbound book is available free of charge upon request (contact lux@fpri.org). The 252-page volume collects FPRI E-notes, Orbis articles, and other essays over the past six years, with sections on American Strategy, Homeland Security, Knowing the Enemy, the Military Dimension, and What Young People Should Know About Terrorism.
September 10, 2007
On Sunday, September 9, 2007, the Philadelphia Inquirer printed an interview with FPRI Senior Fellow Robert D. Kaplan entitled “Verbatim ‘… there isn’t enough media coverage about what our troops are actually doing …’” Kaplan will speak at FPRI on September 11 regarding his new book, Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground. [Read the interview at philly.com]
August 14, 2007
FPRI is pleased to announce the appointment of Rocco L. Martino as a Senior Fellow. Dr. Martino has been in the forefront of computer applications and process innovation almost from the inception of the computer. Prior to founding XRT and then CyberFone, he held key positions with Booz Allen & Hamilton, Olin Mathieson, and Mauchly Associates, where he worked in partnership with Dr. John Mauchly, one of the developers of ENIAC and the co-inventor of electronic computers.
Dr. Martino earned his Doctorate in Astrophysics from the Institute of Aerospace Studies for his work on the re-entry of space vehicles.While with UNIVAC in the mid-50s, he worked closely with Dr. Grace Hopper on the forerunner of COBOL. He also worked closely with Sir Robert Watson Watt, the inventor of radar, on air navigation. Dr. Martino was a Professor of Mathematics at NYU and Professor of Systems Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He has lectured around the world on decision making, computers, foreign policy, and finance. Dr. Martino has authored numerous books and articles; at FPRI, he has written on innovation for Orbis (Spring 2007). He is currently writing a History of the General Purpose Electronic Computer that provides a bird’s eye view of many of the developments from the computer“s inception.
May 24, 2007
FPRI senior fellow S. Abdallah Schleifer delivered the opening dinner speech at the Wilton Park conference “Creating Common Plaforms between Muslim and Western Soceties to Tackle Extremist Discourse” this winter. Wilton Park is both a conference site and think tank for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office; the German Foreign Office also provided support for this conference of the UK parliament, European Orientalists and Muslim intellectuals from the U.S. and Europe. A transcript of Dr. Schleifer’s talk is available at http://mideasti.org/articles/doc631.html.
Apr. 27, 2007
At its April 26 FPRI, along with the National Constitution Center and the Committee of 70, received the International Visitors Council of Philadelphia’s 2007 Outstanding Civic Partner Award at IVC’s annual meeting, held in the Mayor’s Reception Room at City Hall. IVC is an international relations organization and the “door” to the greater Philadelphia community for guests of the U.S. Government as well as individuals and corporations seeking professional connections to the people and institutions of the region.
Apr. 13, 2007
FPRI Senior Fellow Abdallah Schleifer appears in Jihad: The Men and Ideas Behind Al Qaeda, a PBS documentary that premieres on Sunday, April 15, 2007, from 9-11pm ET. Dr. Schleifer was FPRI’`s 2006 Templeton Lecturer and will be speaking again for FPRI on June 5, on “From King Tut to President Mubarak: 4000 Years of Egyptian History.”
Jihad is part of a new PBS series, America at a Crossroads, which explores America’s post-9/11 challenges. Other participants include Dr. Fouad Ajami, Gary Bernsten, Michael Scheuer, and Lawrence Wright. For more information, a preview, and to check local listings, visit http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/about/show_jihad.html.
Mar. 22, 2007
Beijing Review, China’s only national weekly news magazine, attended the FPRI Asia Program March 12 conference, “China’s Rise: Assessing China’s Economic and Military Power.” Their reporter sat down with participants Jonathan Pollack and Avery Goldstein, an FPRI Senior Fellow, for a discussion on China’s military. The interview, “Beefing up Military Inevitable,” can be found at http://www.bjreview.com/report/txt/2007-03/16/content_59441.htm.
Mar. 21, 2007
FPRI associate scholar Gerald Robbins assesses the challenges facing Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov, who became president of Turkmenistan on Feb. 11, and the implications for Central Asia and beyond, in “Energy and the Turkmen Executive: Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov has his work cut out for him,” in the Weekly Standard of March 21.
Mar. 16, 2007
FPRI Senior Fellow Ed Turzanski discussed the confession by Khalid Shaikh Mohammad to masterminding the 9/11 attacks and beheading journalist Daniel Pearl, in which he also took full or partial responsibility for more than 30 other terrorist attacks or plots, on Thursday, March 15 on the Glenn Beck Show on CNN. The transcript is available at transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0703/15/gb.01.html.
Mar. 16, 2007
On Friday, March 16, at 10:00, Adrian Basora, Director of FPRI’s Project on Democratic Transitions, discussed democratic transition issues on Radio Times (on NPR-affiliate WHYY). Audio of this segment is available at http://www.whyy.org/rameta/RT/2007/RT20070316_20.ram.
Mar. 1, 2007
Vanni Cappelli, author of Containing Pakistan: Engaging the Raja Mandala in South-Central Asia (Orbis, Winter 2007) and The Alienated Frontier: Why the United States Can't Get Osama bin Laden (Fall 2005), spoke with Marty Moss-Coane on Radio Times today (NPR affiliate WHYY in Philadelphia) on the resurgence of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. A transcript is available at http://www.whyy.org/91FM/radiotimes.html.
Feb. 15, 2007
Is There Still a West? The Future of the Atlantic Alliance, edited by Harvey Sicherman and William Anthony Hay, has just been published. Is There Still a West? looks beyond recent events to put disagreements within NATO into historical perspective, exploring how cultural, demographic, economic, and military factors since the 1940s have affected future prospects for security cooperation.
Jan. 28, 2007
FPRI is pleased to announce the appointment of Ann Henderson Hart as managing editor of Orbis, our quarterly journal of foreign affairs. Ms. Hart received her B.A. in literature from Wheaton College and an M.A. in journalism from Temple University. She has extensive experience in journal and book editing and project management, including for Yale University Press, Oxford University Press, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Presbyterian Historical Society, and the journals Modern Reformation and In Character. Ms. Hart replaces Trudy J. Kuehner, who served in that role for more than five years before recently becoming the associate director of FPRI’s Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education. We welcome Ms. Hart and are delighted that the managing editor responsibilities remain in such capable hands.
Jan. 25, 2007
Since cosponsoring FPRI’s October 2006 History Institute, Understanding China, Carthage College in Kenosha, WI has agreed to offer teachers college credit for participation in future FPRI history institutes, whether held at Carthage or at other institutions. There will be a small fee for teachers who elect to receive such credit.
Jan. 22, 2007
To view a 15-minute interview with FPRI president Dr. Harvey Sicherman on the new Iraq policy and other developments in the Middle East, go to cbs3.com, click on “See All” in the top right hand box (CBS3 Video), and scroll to January 21, 2007 or search for “Newsmakers: Iraq War Strategy in Motion.”
Jan. 19, 2007
FPRI congratulates senior fellow Ed Turzanski on his appointment to the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council (ATAC), which is coordinated by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Philadelphia. Other FPRI scholars who have addressed ATAC include Stephen Gale, Lawrence Husick, and Harvey Sicherman. Dr. Turzanski has also been named a senior scholar of Jefferson Medical College.
Jan. 8, 2007
S. Abdallah Schleifer, FPRI Senior Fellow and the Washington bureau chief of Al Arabiya news channel, has been appointed Adjunct Scholar at The Middle East Institute in Washington. Earlier this month Prof. Schleifer was elected a member of the Board of Trustees of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, also in Washington, D.C.
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On November 15th at the FPRI annual dinner Fouad Ajami was presented with the Seventh Annual Benjamin Franklin Public Service Award. The event was attended by over 360 people.
Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr. was dinner chairman.
Video of keynote address
Reflections on the Arab Spring
Fouad Ajami
Special Partner Event
Al Qaeda and Jihadi Movements After Bin Laden
Christopher Swift
Special Partner Event
The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and Al Qaeda
Peter Bergen
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