Regional Perspectives

Moderator: Dr. Andrew Wilder is vice president of Asia Programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He first joined USIP as the Director of Afghanistan and Pakistan Programs. Before USIP, he was a research director for politics and policy at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. Dr. Wilder has conducted extensive research exploring issues relating to state-building, development, and stabilization efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Recent research focuses on electoral politics in Afghanistan and the effectiveness of aid in promoting stabilization objectives in Afghanistan and Pakistan. See extended bio.

Ambassador Ali Jalali has served as a distinguished professor of International Relations at NESA since October 2005. He is a former Interior Minister of Afghanistan and Afghanistan Ambassador to Germany. As Interior Minister of post-Taliban Afghanistan, he created a trained force of 50,000 Afghan National Police (ANP) and 12,000 Border Police to work effectively in counter-narcotics, counterterrorism, and criminal investigation to fight against organized crime and illegal border crossings. As Afghanistan Ambassador to Germany, Jalali interacted with Germany and European Union on major bilateral and multi-lateral issues. During his military service in Afghanistan army, Ambassador Jalali served in command, staff, and educational posts with a final rank of colonel. See extended bio. 

Dr. Barnett Rubin, Associate Director of the Center on International Cooperation (CIC), oversees the Afghanistan Pakistan Regional Program. He was the Senior Adviser to the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the U.S. Department of State and Special Advisor to the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan during the negotiations that produced the Bonn Agreement. Dr. Rubin subsequently advised the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on the drafting of the constitution of Afghanistan, the Afghanistan Compact, and the Afghanistan National Development Strategy. See extended bio.

Dr. Marvin Weinbaum, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Director for Pakistan studies at the Middle East Institute, served as an analyst for Pakistan and Afghanistan in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. His research, teaching, and consultancies have focused on the issues of national security, state-building, democratization, and political economy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. See extended bio.

Dr. Ariane Tabatabai, Associate Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation and adjunct senior research scholar at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, is a Truman National Security Fellow and a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) term member. Before joining RAND, Dr. Tabatabai served as the Director of Curriculum, a visiting assistant professor of security studies at the Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, and an international civilian consultant for NATO. See extended bio.

Dr. Mohsen Milani, founding Executive Director of the Center for Strategic & Diplomatic Studies and professor of politics at the University of South Florida, served as Chair of the Department of Government and International Affairs at USF for thirteen years. During his tenure as Chair, the department began a new Ph.D. program in Governance. Dr. Milani was a research fellow at Harvard University, Oxford University, and the Foscari University in Venice, Italy. Since 2000, he has been invited to 200 conferences in 27 countries. Both private and governmental entities solicit his advice. See extended bio. 

Brigadier General Derek C. France is the Deputy Director of Operations, U.S. Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, FL. He is responsible to the USCENTCOM Commander on all matters pertaining to the strategic and operational employment of assigned forces and the conduct of joint and combined combat operations and for the coordination of all aspects of operations to include air, ground, naval information operations, joint fires, and cyber and special operations forces in the USCENTCOM area of responsibility. General France is a Command Pilot with more than 2,800 hours in the F-15C and F22. He served as a Weapons School Instructor Pilot and Operations Officer, Deputy Detachment Commander, and Instructor Pilot in the Royal Saudi Air Force Fighter Weapons School in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and commanded the 43d Fighter Squadron, Tyndall Air Force Base, FL, the 3d Operations Group Joint Base Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, and the 325th Fighter Wing, Tyndall Air Force Base, FL. See extended bio. 

Ms. Barbara Slavin, is the Director of the Future of Iran Initiative and a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, a lecturer in international affairs at George Washington University, and a columnist for Al-Monitor.com -- a  website devoted to news from and about the Middle East. She is a regular commentator on U.S. foreign policy and Iran on NPR, PBS, and C-SPAN. As a career journalist, Ms. Slavin previously served as assistant managing editor for world and national security at the Washington Times, a senior diplomatic reporter for USA TODAY, Cairo correspondent for the Economist, and an editor at the New York Times Week in Review. See extended bio.

Dr. Ariane Tabatabai, Associate Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation and adjunct senior research scholar at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, is a Truman National Security Fellow and a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) term member. Before joining RAND, Dr. Tabatabai served as the Director of Curriculum, a visiting assistant professor of security studies at the Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, and an international civilian consultant for NATO. See extended bio.

Mr. Michael Singh, a Lane-Swig Senior Fellow, is Managing Director at the Washington Institute and former Senior Director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council. During his White House tenure, he was responsible for devising and coordinating U.S. national security policy toward the region, stretching from Morocco to Iran, with a particular emphasis on Iran’s nuclear and regional activities, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Syria, and security cooperation in the broader Middle East. Previously, Mr. Singh served as a special assistant to secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell and at the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv.

Moderator, Ms. Brianne Todd is assistant professor of Central Asian Studies at NESA. Her areas of expertise include transnational threats and regional security issues in Central Asia, Russia, and the Caucasus. Before joining NESA, she worked at the Center for Political-Military Analysis at the Hudson Institute, where she analyzed U.S. and foreign defense, intelligence, and homeland security and counterterrorism policies and on the Eurasian Strategy Project, where she focused on Eurasian political and security issues. Previously Ms. Todd worked at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC, where she was awarded the Franklin Award, and at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia. See extended bio. 

Dr. Mohsen Milani, Founding Executive Director of the Center for Strategic & Diplomatic Studies and professor of politics at the University of South Florida, served as Chair of the Department of Government and International Affairs at USF for thirteen years. During his tenure as Chair, the department began a new Ph.D. program in Governance. Milani was a research fellow at Harvard University, Oxford University, and the Foscari University in Venice, Italy. Since 2000, he has been invited to 200 conferences in 27 countries. Both private and governmental entities solicit his advice. See extended bio.

Dr. Barnett Rubin, Associate Director of the Center on International Cooperation (CIC), oversees the Afghanistan Pakistan Regional Program. He was the Senior Adviser to the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the U.S. Department of State and Special Advisor to the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan during the negotiations that produced the Bonn Agreement. He subsequently advised the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on the drafting of the constitution of Afghanistan, the Afghanistan Compact, and the Afghanistan National Development Strategy. See extended bio.

Dr. Marvin Weinbaum, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Director for Pakistan Studies at the Middle East Institute, served as an analyst for Pakistan and Afghanistan in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. His research, teaching, and consultancies have focused on the issues of national security, state-building, democratization, and political economy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. See extended bio.

Ambassador Michael Ranneberger, a highly experienced senior foreign service executive with the rank of Career Minister, has led major U.S. foreign policy initiatives both in Washington and abroad. He has a distinguished record leading policy formulation and implementation in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, frequently involving high profile, politically sensitive issues. Skilled at analyzing complex problems and identifying operationally effective courses of action to achieve results, Ambassador Ranneberger's efforts are considered a worldwide model for other U.S. Missions in fostering a highly cohesive interagency approach to development and implementation of major programs. See extended bio.

Moderator, Dr. Adib Farhadi is an assistant professor of Peace & Conflict in the Department of Religious Studies and Faculty Director of Executive Education. He is a recognized global leader in fragile and post-conflict states with more than 20 years of experience in stabilization, reconstruction, and economic development. Dr. Farhadi's research has focused on the economic impact and modeling of the ‘Silk Road’ projects essential to bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan and the entire region. He earned a B.S. in Biology from East Carolina University, an M.A. in Liberal Studies from New York University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Canberra. See extended bio. 

Dr. Frederick Starr joined the American Foreign Policy Council as Distinguished Fellow for Eurasia in January 2017. He serves as the Founding Chairman of the Central Asia -Caucasus Institute. Dr. Starr is also a research professor at Johns Hopkins University-SAIS in Washington and Head of Advisory Council at the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm. Dr. Starr has focused on the challenge of reopening continental-wide transport passing through Central Asia and Afghanistan, which he sees as the key to success in Afghanistan itself. See extended bio.

Ms. Karen Freeman is the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs. A Career Minister with the U.S. Foreign Service, Ms. Freeman was previously the Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA). Prior to that, she served as Mission Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Kenya and the East Africa Mission. Before being appointed Mission Director in Nairobi, she was the Senior Deputy Mission Director in Islamabad, Pakistan. Other senior management positions include the USAID/Ethiopia Deputy Mission Director, where she directed more than $530 million in relief during the humanitarian crisis, and the USAID Mission Director in Zimbawe, where her oversight focused on a program ensuring the well-being of the people during the height of historic hyperinflation, political transition, and violence.  See extended bio. 

Dr. Richard Ponzio is director of the Just Security 2020 Program and a Senior Fellow at Stimson. Previously, he directed the Global Governance Program at The Hague Institute for Global Justice, where (in a partnership with Stimson), he served as Director for the Albright-Gambari Commission on Global Security, Justice, & Governance. Dr. Ponzio is an expert in the areas of global and national democratic institution-building, global political economy, and international institutions' roles in responding to state fragility, global financial volatility, and population displacement. See extended bio. 

Mr. Mitchell Shivers, President of Hughes & Shivers, LLC., was a former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian & Pacific Security Affairs, Office of the Secretary of Defense. In that capacity, he was one of the Pentagonʼs top policy officials developing, implementing and overseeing policy for the region. Mr. Shivers also served as the regionʼs Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense toward the end of the George W. Bush Administration, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Central Asia, and Senior Advisor and the Economic Sector Chief of the State Departmentʼs Afghanistan Reconstruction Group (ARG) at the United States Embassy, Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was the principal American advisor on economics and finance to American ambassadors to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, and his successor, Ronald Neumann as well as advisor to the Afghan ministers of Finance, Economy, and Commerce.

Mr. Michael Peters is President and CEO of Emergent Strategies, Architekton Resources, Illuminate Technologies, and Trusted Inc., Washington, DC. In addition to teaching executives in the Harvard Graduate School of Design, he leads the large collaborative projects for Harvard University's Executive Education Program in 15 countries with Washington, DC. Mr. Peters has helped build organizations in real estate development, technology, manufacturing, construction, and retail as well as helped to build underserved communities by leveraging technology for economic development, education, and job creation. Mr. Peters has forged the ideas for multiple patents in laser use, anti-fraud security documents, Piezo alternative energy, blockchain, collaboration neuroscience, and technological innovations across disciplines and industries. See Linkedin & extended bio. 

Moderator COL (R) Jack Gill is an associate professor on the faculty of the Near East – South Asia Center (NESA). A former U.S. Army South Asia Foreign Area Officer, he retired as a colonel in 2005 after more than 27 years of service. Before joining the NESA Center, COL (R) Gill worked on South Asia issues in the Pentagon from 1998-2001, including the 1999 Kargil crisis. He has been following South Asia issues from the intelligence and policy perspectives since the mid-1980s in positions with the U.S. Joint Staff, the U.S. Pacific Command staff, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. See extended bio.  

Maj. Gen. (R) Edward Reeder is President & CEO of Five Star Global Security, a global security company owned and operated by former Special Operators from the U.S. Special Operations Community. Maj. Gen (R) Reeder was commissioned in the Infantry through the Appalachian State University ROTC in 1981 and attended the U.S. Army Special Forces Qualification Course in 1986. His command assignments are impressive, and his personal awards include various U.S. and foreign decorations and badges. He earned a Master of Science in administration from Central Michigan University and a Master of Science in national security strategy from the U.S. National War College. See extended bio. 

Dr. Richard Russell is professor of National Security Affairs at the Near East and South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA) and a non-resident Senior Fellow for Strategic Studies at the Center for the National Interest as well as a lecturer at Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University. Dr. Russell’s career blends scholarship with national security practice. He has taught nearly ten years of graduate courses on international security, grand strategy, and military operations for Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program. Additionally, he has served seventeen years as a political-military analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency. See extended bio. 

Mr. Andre Hollis is the Chief Executive Officer and majority owner of Tiger International Advisors, LLC, an internationally focused strategic business development, consulting and due diligence firm with offices in the U. S., Europe, and the Middle East. Tiger Principals possess over 400 years of collective experience in international commerce, law, government service, law enforcement, banking, and other industries. A distinguished military graduate of Princeton University, Mr. Hollis earned a commission in the U.S. Army and his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law; he practiced as a commercial litigator in State and Federal Courts. Mr. Hollis served as counsel and senior counsel for the House of Representatives’ Committees on Commerce and Government Reform and was the Department of Defense Deputy Assistant Secretary for counternarcotics. He was recognized by the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security with the Medal for Exceptional Public Service and Distinguished Public Service Award, respectively.

Dr. Anda Jackson, a political scientist, has conducted research while living in Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Mali, studying civil wars, state failure, ethnosectarian violence, social movements, revolutionary ideologies and organizations, violent extremism, insurgency, counter-insurgency, and U.S. efforts to build partner capacity to govern. Her Afghan research describes the government actions, insurgent and traditional local organizations, and residents in a set of communities in order to explain why some organizations succeed and others fail in controlling the behavior of populations. Dr. Jackson is an instructor for General Officers deploying to Afghanistan and Iraq at the Air Force Culture and Language Center.            

Moderator Dr. & COL Andrew Whiskeyman currently serves as the Chief of Information Operations Division within the U.S. Central Command Operations Directorate J3, located at MacDill AFB. His previous assignment was as the Chief of Strategy for the CENTCOM Joint Cyber Center. He has deployed five times: Kosovo, 3 times to Afghanistan, and Iraq and has had numerous shorter trips into the Middle East theater of operations. He is a graduate (and plank owner) of the Marine Corps Expeditionary Warfare School, Air Command and Staff College, and the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. He completed his PhD in Military Strategy. COL Whiskeyman has numerous awards and decorations, including the Bronze Star and Defense Meritorious Service Medal.  

Dr. Mark Abdollahian is Chief Executive 0fficer at ACERTAS and a professor at the School of Politics and Economics, Claremont Graduate University. He focuses on designing and delivering advanced analytics for data-driven decision making. His global experience spans national policy, corporate strategy, economic development, finance, public-private partnerships, M&A, and business process reengineering. Dr. Abdollahian creates, architects, and implements enterprise class data and strategy analytics used by the U.S. government, the World Bank, and the United Nations as well as by private sector companies worldwide. He is the author of dozens of articles and two books on data-driven strategy across business, politics, and economics; lectures to audiences worldwide, and is a board member for several private and nonprivate enterprises. His Ph.D. is in Political Economy and Mathematical Modeling from Claremont Graduate School. See extended bio.

Dr. Sean Ryan, assistant professor at West Liberty University, teaches courses in public and non-profit management and the capstone strategy. After graduating from West Point with a bachelor’s in engineering, Dr. Ryan spent 30 years in the military. He retired in 2012 as Colonel, with a successful career characterized by progressively challenging assignments in Asia, the Middle East, Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Americas. He received his Ph.D. in Management (2017) from Walden University. See extended bio.

Dr. Randy Borum is a professor, Director of Intelligence Studies, and Associate Director of the School of Information at the University of South Florida. From 2017-2019, he was jointly appointed as a senior behavioral scientist in the National Security Directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Dr. Borum supported three Directors of National Intelligence (DNI) on the Intelligence Science Board (ISB) and served on the Defense Science Board Task Force on Understanding Human Dynamics. He has taught courses on Terrorism, Intelligence Concepts, Intelligence Analysis, Information Behavior, Strategy & Decision-Making, Interrogation, and Criminal Psychology and is author/co-author of more than 175 professional publications. See extended bio.

Mr. Ernie Ferraresso is Associate Program Director for Cyber Florida, where he oversees the Center's partnership program, working with industry, academia, and the private sector as well as government and law enforcement to collaborate on projects of mutual interest. Previously, Mr. Ferraresso was Director of Operations for a small technology design and integration firm, overseeing the design and implementation of cybersecurity and emergency operations center technology solutions in the U.S. and throughout Latin America. He is a retired U.S. Marine Intelligence Officer whose assignments included U.S. Special Operations Forces, the intelligence community, the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, and U.S. Cyber Command.