October at AGS
This month, A. Wess Mitchell, who served as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs from 2017 to 2019, joined us for a conversation about his new book, Great Power Diplomacy: The Art of Statecraft from Attila the Hun to Kissinger. Mitchell met with students as part of his visit.
AGS also welcomed Ashlyn Hand and Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet this month as part of our recurring History and International Security series. Hand, who spent the 2021-22 academic year at AGS as an America in the World Consortium postdoctoral fellow, talked about her new book, Prioritizing Faith: International Religious Freedom and U.S. Foreign Policy, out now with NYU Press.
Twenty students joined the program for our annual staff ride to Gettysburg. “It was the people beside me, though, that made the trip so valuable,” one participating student, Avery Mack (’28), noted after the trip. “Their personification of complicated decision-makers and their thoughtful questions brought the battlefield to life.”
AGS partnered with Bridging the Gap and the Triangle Institute for Security Studies to offer a day-long workshop on October 4 for undergraduates interested in national security and foreign policy. The workshop featured a scenario planning exercise and a panel on careers in international relations.
Spotlight
Bruce Jentleson was appointed to a two-year term on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Committee of Conscience.
In The Media
The Washington Post interviewed Peter Feaver regarding the speeches President Trump and Secretary Hegseth delivered to an audience of general and flag officers in late September. Feaver also spoke to the Washington Post about investigations launched by Secretary Hegseth into employee criticism of Charlie Kirk.
Patrick Duddy spoke with Here & Now about current US strategy regarding Venezuela. Duddy, who served as ambassador to Venezuela from 2007 to 2010, has offered comments on the administration’s policy quoted in Semafor.
Simon Miles appeared on Global News to discuss the strategy behind strikes on energy infrastructure in the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine.
CBC carried comments from David Schanzer on President Trump’s efforts to cast “Antifa” as a terrorist threat, as did the Financial Times.