Past Programs
Challenges in Madagascar: Improving Food Security, Preserving Biodiversity, and Promoting Democracy
January 18, 2024, 12 noon - 2pm Dan Turk Dan Turk has spent nearly 30 years working in Madagascar—an island nation off the coast of East Africa - that has some of the greatest biodiversity in the world but also one of the highest levels of poverty. Once covered mostly in forests, Madagascar has few pockets
A Jewish Perspective on the Relationship Between Lewis Strauss and J. Robert Oppenheimer
December 7, 2023, 12 noon - 2pm Jack Shlachter In June 1954 the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) revoked the security clearance of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientific leader of the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bombs. Particularly in Los Alamos, the canonical view today of the clearance clash between Oppenheimer and 1954 AEC
Surviving in a Tough Neighborhood: Turkish Foreign Policy and the Black Sea Region in the 2020s
November 3, 2023, 12 noon - 2pm Dr. Gary M. Grossman In this presentation, Dr. Grossman examines Turkiye’s political strategy in the Black Sea region, including but not restricted to its response to the effects of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Turkiye has attempted and continues to try to balance competing interests in the area and, in so doing, achieve
Chinese Engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean
October 19, 2023 Dr. Evan Ellis What is the character of China’s engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean, including its economic, political, and military dimensions? In this first SFWAF program of the 2023-24 season, Dr. Ellis will discuss China’s “soft power” activities south of the border, its challenges and opportunities, the impact on the US
U.S. Policy on the Horn of Africa: Advancing Peace in Northern Ethiopia
May 18, 2023 Ambassador Michael (Mike) A. Hammer Ambassador Michael (Mike) A. Hammer was named the United States Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa on June 1, 2022. His most recent assignment abroad was as the U.S. ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2018-2022. Ambassador Hammer is a career member of the
Evolution of the Mexican Drug Cartels Including Trafficking of the Latest Synthetic Drugs – Fentanyl and Methamphetamine
March 16, 2023 Mike Vigil Mike Vigil grew up in Espanola and was an undercover DEA agent in Colombia and Mexico infiltrating Pablo Escobar and Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's drug cartels. He was the former Chief of International Operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration, one of the most highly decorated agents within the agency and responsible