GPPAG Calendar of Events

Brown Bag with LTG Dana Chipman

BLDG 310, RM 201/202, 1200–1250

LTG Chipman is the Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army. He has served as judge advocate in a variety of operational and staff assignments. This includes 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment--Delta (Airborne), Joint Special Operations Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, and U.S. Central Command. His topic for the brown bag is "The Rule of Law in Military Operations and the Role of Military Lawyers."  Learn more

Brown Bag with Dr. Dave Matsuda, Human Terrain Team/Cultural Advisor

ME Auditorium 1200–1250

Dr. Dave Matsuda (Doc) is an anthropology professor from  California State University who has twice deployed to Iraq : with Human Terrain Teams in Sadr City and the Sunni Triangle and as a Cultural  Advisor to I Corps.  The Human Terrain Team (HTT) program embeds persons from the social sciences, such as anthropologists like Doc, with combat brigades in Iraq to provide military commanders with a better understanding of the local population and its culture.

Photo by Reuters

Exploring the Disagreement between Liberals and Conservatives

Special Conversation with Drs. Alice Rivlin & Sidney G. Winter

The Center for New Security Economics and Net Assessment, Graduate School of Business Policy, and the Defense Resource Management Institute are pleased to announce a special conversation between Drs. Alice Rivlin and Sidney Winter at the Naval Postgraduate School. The event will be held from 1500 to 1630 in Halligan Hall, RM 109 (TBC), with time for questions and answers. Dr. Alice M. Rivlin is a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University and a Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. Dr. Sidney G. Winter is the Deloitte and Touche Professor of Management, Emeritus, at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Before joining Wharton in 1993, he served for four years as Chief Economist of the U.S. General Accounting Office (now called the Government Accountability Office) in Washington, D.C. 

Strategy, Precision Strike & the Second Nuclear Age

Special Guest Lecture by Mr. Barry Watts

On May 2, 2012, the Center for New Security Economics and Net Assessment (CNSE), along with the Defense Resources Management Institute (DRMI) and the Global Public Policy Academic Group (GPPAG), hosted Mr. Barry Watts for a special guest lecture to the DRMI class and other members of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) community. A Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and a former head of the Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation in the Department of Defense, Mr. Watts brought decades of experience in strategic thinking and government to an engaged audience. Learn more...

NPS at Pacific Operational Science & Technology Conference
Special Topic Workshop: The Strategic Challenge of China and the Future Security Environment
Facilitated by the Center for New Security Economics & Net Assessment

Participants
Dr. Mie Augier, Center for New Security Economics, Naval Postgraduate School (Organizer and Co-Chair)
Mr. Jerry Guo, Center for New Security Economics, Naval Postgraduate School (Rapporteur)
Dr. Phillip A. Karber, Senior Fellow, Potomac Foundation; Scholar in Residence, Georgetown University
Dr. Sorin Lungu, National Defense University
Dr. Robert M. McNab, Center for New Security Economics, Naval Postgraduate School (Co-Chair)
Mr. Diego A. Ruiz Palmer, Head, NATO Strategic Analysis Capability, NATO HQ
Dr. Alexander L. Vuving, Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies
Dr. Charles Wolf, Jr., RAND Corporation

The Center for New Security Economics and Net Assessment facilitated a workshop at the 2012 PACOM Operational Science and Technology Conference. The motivation for this workshop was to gather a set of good thinkers on topics important to understanding the changing (and increasing) role of China in the future security environment. The changing role of China is one of the most important changes in the global strategic competition. We do no longer have a bipolar world war, with a clear defined opponent (Soviets) that we know well and understand. Instead, we confront several (interrelated) problems, including a) the rise of terrorism; b) increasing spread of nuclear weapons; c) global warming, overpopulation and scarce resources; and d) the rise of certain new powers, notably China. While these problems overlap and are often interrelated, the hope with the panel was to discuss issues that can help improve our knowledge of the strategic challenge of China in the future security environment. Several dozen military officers, academics, and industry partners attended the workshop, which brought together innovative thinkers from across government and academia to consider the implication of China’s rise. Participants heard six presentations on various aspects of China, and panelists engaged in significant discussion with the audience during question and answer periods. Dr. Phillip Karber of the Potomac Foundation and Georgetown University delivered the keynote presentation on the Chinese underground great wall, a topic of great strategic, theoretical as well as political significance.

Dr. Charles Wolf, Jr. of the RAND Corporation discussed China’s soft-power strategies; Mr. Diego A. Ruiz Palmer from NATO Headquarters, who spoke about reassessing trans-Atlantic relationships in light of new trends in the Asia-Pacific region; Dr. Sorin Lungu from the National Defense University discussed the changing structure of the aerospace industry in China and in the west, while Dr. Alex Vuving from the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies considered China’s interest in southeast Asia. Finally, Dr. Robert McNab delivered a presentation prepared by himself, Dr. Mie Augier, and Mr. Jerry Guo about some issues relating to the concept of economic warfare and the new ‘economic togetherness’ of US and China. Workshop participants were engaged in discussions ranging from new conceptions of China’s growing power; the importance of understanding Chinese culture (as not just our theories of strategic culture); the changing role of alliances; and the interrelations between economics, economies, and security. But more importantly, they came away with a better idea of the questions to ask when thinking about China. None of the panelists claimed to have a full understanding of China, but all emphasized that they felt the questions they posed were steps in the right direction, both from a strategy, research and economics perspective.

Several hundred attendees from the military, industry, and government attended the 2012 Pacific Operational Science and Technology Conference, organized by the National Defense Industrial Association and sponsored by Lockheed Martin, with substantive and logistical support from US PACOM HQ. The conference brings together these partners to discuss operational science and technology issues of concern to US PACOM and in US operations across the Asia-Pacific region.

The organizers hope to have a conference report available within the next month (along with a set of background readings). If you are interested in a copy, please email meaugier@nps.edu.

Mie Augier, Jerry Guo & Robert McNab

Professor Sidney G. Winter will lead a brainstorming seminar on August 23 around issues of climate change, economics, and security. Professor Winter is the Deloitte and Touche Professor of Management, Emeritus, at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. During his career he has held regular or visiting appointments at seven universities, served on the staffs of the U.S. General Accounting Office, the RAND Corporation and the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers, been a consultant for various governmental and non-profit organizations, and appeared as an expert witness in antitrust and other litigation. With Richard Nelson, he co-authored An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change (1982). His recent research focus has been on the study of management problems from the viewpoint of evolutionary economics. He is an elected fellow of the Econometric Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

A link to his website at Wharton is available here.

A interview with Professor Winter about his work is available here.

Global Challenges: Leadership and Cooperation in Complex Environments

The seminar, “Leadership and Cooperation in Complex Operations”, will be held from 14 – 18 November 2011 at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, Geneva, Switzerland. The Naval Postgraduate School and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy will bring together again approximately 30 military and civilian senior leaders confronting complex emergencies that are natural and man-made, inter-sectoral, and increasingly global.  Specifically, leaders who are shaping society amid complex operating environments and their counterparts in military, non-governmental organizations, government, academia, and private enterprise will connect in a very substantive way. Click here for more information.

Photo Credit: Rod Searcey

Center for New Security Economics and Net Assessment established

Mie Augier and Bob McNab started and co-direct a new research center. On August 25, 2011, the Research Board of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA approved the establishment of a new Center for New Security Economics and Net Assessment (CNSE) to promote research into developments in the areas of economics, security, strategy, and the dynamics that globalization adds to these topics.  CNSE intends to develop research, events, and outputs that link recent events and traditions in economics and economies as well as changes in the global security environment and implications for security and strategy of matters economics.
The focus of CNSE is to try and understand some longer-term issues and implications for the security environment of the economic crisis and trends.  Of particular interest are topics such as the strategic implications of the changes in the US-China economic issues and the interaction among the forces of climate change, economic change, energy, and national security. Interdisciplinary, diagnostic, and empirically relevant in nature, the research will build on ideas and perspectives from a variety of perspectives, including evolutionary economics, behavioral organization theory, net assessment, strategic thinking, bio social anthropology as well as other areas. For a presentation of center see the September NPS Research Newsletter (http://www.nps.edu/research/Newsletters.html).

Professor Sid Winter and Dr. Chuck Kimzey; Climate Change, Economic Change, and Security Seminar.

A few days before establishing a new center for new security economics, Bob McNab and Mie Augier organized a brainstorm seminar with Professor Sid Winter and Dr. Chuck Kimzey on issues in climate change, economic change, and security. With participants from many different departments at NPS, the discussion touched upon issues such as energy; the implications of economic changes on the social and economic costs of climate change; the security implications of the changing climate and the promises and limitations of climate models. The seminar began with Bob McNab welcoming, and introducing Kimzey and Chuck.

Dr. Janine Davidson, DASD, keynotes 'Prevention Regimes and Strategies' Research Workshop

Dr. Janine Davidson gave the keynote for the GPPAG - sponsored research workshop, 'Prevention Regimes and Strategies,' August 15-17, at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. Davidson is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Plans. Professors Karen Guttieri and Marc Ventresca convened over 25 faculty, researchers, senior Defense Department policy makers, colleagues from US Department of State, USAID, Institute of Peace, Stanford Peace Innovation Laboratory, and other thought leaders to explore 'prevention' as concept and contemporary practice.

Photo Credit: Rod Searcey

Dr. David Kilcullen, author of Counterinsurgency (2010) and The Accidental Guerrilla (2009), presents a Secretary of the Navy Guest Lecture for NPS students, staff, faculty and guests, August 16 at 3:00 p.m. in King Auditorium named “Counterinsurgency in Global Context.” Dr. Kilcullen’s many advisory roles include Senior Counterinsurgency Advisor to General David Petraeus in Iraq, in which he played a key role in planning and executing the 2007 troop surge.  Kilcullen is Founding President and Chief Executive Officer of Caerus Associates, working with communities to apply population-focused design in order to enable sustainable change in conflict-affected environments. Dr. Kilcullen's Bio.

Jerry Guo was invited to present at Stanford Conference on the 40th anniversary of the Garbage Can model and metaphor (celebrating the paper "A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice" (Cohen, March & Olsen, Administrative Science Quarterly, 1972)), organized by Professors James G. March and Alessandro Lomi. Guo presented findings from his NPS thesis research and is co-authoring a paper on "Geopolitics and Garbage Can," to be submitted to a conference volume.

Dr. Robert McNab traveled to Washington, DC in June 2011 to meet with officials at the US Department of Defense to discuss the emerging field of new security economics; the challenges of globalization and national security; and to explore collaborative opportunities for research. It is expected that Dr. McNab and Dr. Augier will hold a research symposium in August 2011 to further explore these topics.

NPS graduate LTC Cameron Sellers and Dr. Karen Guttieri attended the 351st Civil Affairs Command Memorial Day service. Also attending was COL (ret.) Daniel Wainwright who landed on Utah Beach in June 1944 and later served as a HQ military government officer. Click here for more information regarding the 351st Civil Affairs Command...

Photo: Rod Searcey

On May 26-27, 2011, Major General David A. Morris, Commanding General for the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) (USACAPOC (A)) from 2007 to 2009, met with USACAPOC students in the Global Public Policy Academic Group’s Stability, Security and Development certificate program.  MG Morris and students discussed force structure challenges, focusing on Reserve requirements and skills.  A major theme of MG Morris’ visit was the need to institutionalize the lessons of recent civil dimension experience, and to prepare all those from the squad leader to the division commander, who are "co-creators of context," (a term that describes the central idea behind the Army's Mission Command concept). MG Morris, Director of the Joint Irregular Warfare Center (JIWC),  engaged conversation with NPS leadership and faculty to highlight how irregular warfare and urban operations missions continue to be salient, and responsibilities will shift, after the US Joint Forces Command is disestablished in August 2011. MG Morris's Bio.

Dr. Davidson discussed how changes in the global context inform the way that we operate and what we do when implementing US foreign and defense policy. She outlined her assessment of US initiatives in research and development to build for the future, how we balance risk in the force posture, set diplomatic agendas for prevention, innovate in light of globalization, and protect the shared global commons. Read more...

Dr. Thorbjorn Knudsen visited GPPAG last week to collaborate with Dr. Mie Augier and Dr. Robert McNab and discuss the emerging research agenda on economics and security.  During the discussions, Drs. Augier, McNab, and Knudsen found a mutual interest in the interdisciplinary collaboration at RAND in the 1950s and 1960s with regards to organizational studies, military issues and emerging issues as well as technology and current operations.  They discussed ideas surrounding public finance and how the tension between centralized and decentralized governance have similarities with military organizations and centralized and decentralized command and control.  Click here for Dr. Thorbjorn Knudsen's CV.

On March 29, 2011 GPPAG faculty member Dr. Karen Guttieri participated in a disaster scenario simulation at San Diego State University. Exercise X24 Europe is a virtual online exercise that demonstrates the use of social media, crowdsourcing, and collaboration tools in an innovative, cost-effective, cloud-computing environment. It fosters the information-flow and coordination of activities by the international crisis-response community during the first 180 days of a natural disaster. Read more about the event by Karen Guttieri here.

On March 2, 2011 GPPAG held a Brown Bag event featuring Martha Crenshaw. Martha Crenshaw discussed the topic of terrorism as a deliberate choice and how it serves to set a political agenda, undermine authority, provoke over-reaction, mobilize support, and coerce compliance. Read More...

Melanne A. Civic was out to support the certificate course, including giving more development on the Rule of Law course. Melanne is the Special Advisor to the Center for Complex Operations (CCO) at the National Defense University (NDU) and she is the Rule of Law Advisor at U.S. Department of State.  She is an attorney with legal and policy focus in international rule of law, governance human rights, environment, energy, and the nexus of these sectors with national security in fragile states. Click here for Melanne Civic's bio.

On January 4, 2011 GPPAG held a roundtable-discussion on the topic of "The Changing Dynamics of Security and Economics," with participation from NPS and invited participants-- Maria Vintiadis, Sid Winters, and Giovanni Dosi. Read more...

The Global Challenges Forum will bring together representatives from governmental and non-governmental partners to explore joint policy research and educational partnerships at the nexus of globalization and security. Globalization has brought new challenges that appear to be beyond the ability of current institutions to address. In response, there is a need to generate new educational opportunities on a global basis. The Forum will allow the exploration of more partnership-oriented solutions to contemporary threats and risks, and aims to move dialogue and discussion forward into tangible programs of learning and actionable policy.

HSCB Panel Discussion: Social Science Research Methods Data Collection Instruments and Tools to Leverage Disparate Data Researchers from the Swiss Academy for Development have partnered with NPS faculty and staff members under the ONR funded Anomie Project to identify potential indicators of unstable social structures. This presentation discusses data collection instruments and tools to support the data needs for the Human Social Cultural Behavioral (HSCB) Modeling Effort.

The focus for this session was to explore some common knowledge among the participants and to use Alex Pang's paper as a starting point to identify research issues and policy / practice topics relevant for the emerging GPPAG initiatives. 

The Naval Postgraduate School hosted an Afghan Theater Security Strategies Workshop at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California. This intensive 2-day workshop was convened by GPPAG with 30 distinguished participants and was organized by Professors Karen Guttieri of GPPAG and John Arquilla and Hy Rothstein of the Department of Defense Analysis. As the U.S. administration was considering options in the region, the group focused on ways to investigate the prospects for stability in the Afghan theater, account for historical and global forces, visualize from many perspectives, consider strategic goals, envision realistic possibilities, and develop criteria for evaluation of success. GPPAG seeks in future to convene a policy forum on U.S. Grand Strategy in the 21st Century.  

The workshop at National Defense University, Fort McNair, Washington, DC provided an opportunity for practitioners to share best practices and assist one another as they develop and refine curriculum and content to train and educate their employees based on emerging doctrines and policies. Participants exchanged best practices based on a variety of recent military and civilian training and education efforts in the stability operations arena. 

NPS hosted Afghan Theater Security Strategies Workshop at the Asilomar Conference Groups in Pacific Grove, California. The event was organized by Professors Karen Guttieri of GPPAG and John Arquilla and Hy Rothstein of Department of Defense Analysis. 

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen was inducted into the Naval Postgraduate School's Hall of Fame in Monterey, California. 

Producer/Writers from the show and NPS faculty discuss topics addressed on the show that have real-world relevance in modern-day military affairs and the construction of scenarios for thinking through them. Download the event program or view video clips. 

Co-chaired by Dr. Karen Guttieri of the Global Public Policy Academic Group, the 6th U.S.-Singapore Maritime Security Workshop was held July 29-31, 2008 at the Marriott Crystal City Gateway Hotel near Washington, D.C. Nearly 100 participants from the U.S., Singapore, and other countries attended this workshop co-sponsored by the Naval Postgraduate School and the National University and Temasek Defense Systems Institute (NUS/TDSI) of Singapore. The three-day workshop provided attendees with the opportunity not only to present their own research interests, but also to actively discuss mutual collaboration efforts to expand the relationship between the social and hard sciences in security and stabilization research. Read the conference report.