Speaker Biographies
Dr. Kwesi Aning
Head, Conflict Prevention Management and Resolution Department, Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Center (Ghana)
Panelist, Panel 3
Dr. Kwesi Aning currently serves as Head, Conflict Prevention Management and Resolution Department (CPMRD) of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, Ghana. Prior to taking up his new position in January 2007, he served as the African Union's first Expert on Counter-Terrorism, Defense and Security with responsibility for implementing the continental counter-terrorism strategy and oversight of the African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT) in Algiers, Algeria.
Dr. Aning holds a doctorate from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His primary research interests deal with African security issues, comparative politics, terrorism, and conflicts. He has taught in several universities in Europe and Africa and was recently given an adjunct professorship with the 34th External Session of The Hague Academy of International Law.
Dr. Aning's recent publications have appeared in Journal of Asian and African Studies, Encyclopedia of African History, and African Security Review, with several book chapters due in 2007. He has just published a monograph titled “Regional Security Complexes and Responses” as part of the Coping with Crisis series by the International Peace Academy (IPA). Furthermore, he is completing a major study on “The war on terror, security, and official development assistance.” He reviews for several scholarly journals and serves on diverse boards.
Dr. Pauline Baker
President, The Fund for Peace
Panelist, Panel 1
Pauline H. Baker is President of The Fund for Peace, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that is dedicated to preventing war and alleviating the conditions which cause war. Dr. Baker has taught at the University of Lagos in Nigeria and the Graduate School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She was a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at American University an currently is a Professorial Lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
A political scientist who earned her doctorate with distinction from UCLA in 1970, Dr. Baker did her undergraduate work at Douglass College, Rutgers University. She specializes in U.S. foreign policy, African issues and international ethnic conflict. From 1964 to 1975, she lived and worked in Nigeria. Upon her return from Africa, Dr. Baker became a professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She was staff director of the African Affairs Subcommittee and also covered committee activities dealing with the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and South Asia. Dr. Baker has also been a research scientist at the Human Affairs Research Center at the Battelle Memorial Institute and a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she wrote and lectured on South and Southern Africa. She founded and chaired the South Africa Speakers Forum for eight years. She also served as Deputy Director of the Congressional Program at the Aspen Institute, on an educational program in which over 100 Members of Congress participated. The colloquia focused on developments in the new nations of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, post-Cold War issues, and the UN.
A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, and various other professional organizations, Dr. Baker appears frequently on the media, lectures widely. She has published over 80 articles and is author or co-author of several books. Her most recent work is, together with the FfP staff, “The Failed States Index,” in Foreign Policy (July/August, 2007) and “Fixing Failing States” in The Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, (Winter/Spring 2007).
Peter Barlerin
Deputy Director for Regional Affairs, Office of Regional and Security Affairs, Bureau of African Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Panelist, Panel 3
Peter Henry Barlerin is Deputy Director of the Office of Regional and Security Affairs in the Bureau of African Affairs, U.S. Department of State. He oversees counter-terrorism, democracy, human rights, policy planning, anti-trafficking in persons, and resource management for the bureau, as well as the desk backing up the U.S. Mission to the African Union in Addis Ababa and Africa-related UN Security Council matters. Prior to his current position, Mr. Barlerin served for three years as Chief of the Economics and Finance Section at the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, France.
His Excellency Mahamoud Adam Béchir
The Ambassador of Chad to the United States
Keynote Speaker, Friday, February 29
Ambassador Mahamoud Adam Béchir was named Chad’s ambassador to the United States in 2004. He also serves as the country’s ambassador to Canada, Brazil, and Argentina.
Ambassador Béchir was born Jan. 1, 1965, in Biltine, Chad. He received his primary and secondary schooling in Chad, graduating from the High School Academya. He then attended the University of Khartoum in Sudan and graduated with honors in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy. Following graduation, he was commissioned as an officer in the army and given responsibility for running the pharmacy for the Military Hospital in the capital city of N’Djamena. Two years later he was named chief pharmacist for the Health Department within the Ministry of Defense.
In 1995, Ambassador Béchir was chosen to study at the U.S. Naval Post Graduate School’s Defense Resources Management Center in California. While there he earned his master’s degree in international security and civil military relations from the Center for Civil Military Relations. He was also honored with the center’s Award for Excellence in Civil Military Relations.
Returning to Chad in 1997, Ambassador Béchir was soon appointed as director, Military Cooperation of the Defense Ministry. After a year in that post, he was named national coordinator of the High Committee for Demining. This program to eradicate old land mines is part of an international effort coordinated by the United Nations, and Ambassador Béchir became an internationally recognized authority on the issue. In 2003, Ambassador Béchir was chosen by President Deby to be his special envoy in peace talks with rebel groups, an effort that culminated with signed peace agreements in December 2003. He is fluent in English, French and Arabic.
Dr. Michael Doran
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Support to Public Diplomacy, U.S. Department of Defense
Keynote Speaker, Thursday, February 28
Michael S. Doran was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Support to Public Diplomacy in April 2007. He is responsible for advising the Department’s senior leadership on policy to support public diplomacy and strategic communication, and for advocating key themes and messages to promote U.S. national security interests. Prior to joining the Department of Defense, Dr. Doran served as Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC). His portfolio covered all of the countries in the region except for Iraq.
Prior to coming to the NSC, Dr. Doran was a professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, where he taught courses on the international politics of the Middle East. From 2002 to 2004 he also served as an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Prior to arriving at Princeton, Dr. Doran taught in the History Department at the University of Central Florida.
Following September 11, Mike Doran conducted extensive research on terrorist use of the internet. This research informed an influential article he authored on Osama bin Laden titled “Somebody Else’s Civil War,” which was published in the January/February 2002 issue of Foreign Affairs. It also informed an article on Saudi Arabia titled “The Saudi Paradox” in the January/February 2004 issue of Foreign Affairs, and a Washington Post op-ed called “Intimate Enemies” on the depth of the Sunni-Shiite conflict in the Middle East. Originally from Indiana, Dr. Doran received a BA from Stanford in 1987 and a PhD from Princeton in 1997.
Dr. James J.F. Forest
Director of Terrorism Studies, Combating Terrorism Center, U.S. Military Academy, West Point
Moderator, Panel 1
James JF Forest, Ph.D. is Director of Terrorism Studies and Associate Professor of Political Science at the United States Military Academy, where he has worked since 2001. He teaches undergraduate courses in terrorism, counter-terrorism, information warfare, international relations, and sub-Saharan Africa. He also directs a series of research initiatives for the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, covering topics such as recruitment, training, and organizational knowledge transfer. He holds a top secret clearance with the U.S. Department of Defense, and has worked on numerous policy and research initiatives for various government agencies. He has also served as an advisor to the Future of War panel for the Defense Science Board.
Dr. Forest was selected by the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy Magazine as one of “100 of America’s most esteemed terrorism and national security experts” and participated in their Terrorism Index studies of 2006 and 2007. He has been interviewed by many newspaper, radio and television journalists, and is regularly invited to give speeches and lectures in research projects in the U.S. and abroad. He has published 11 books, including Countering Terrorism and Insurgency in the 21st Century: International Perspectives (Praeger, 2007);Teaching Terror: Strategic and Tactical Learning in the Terrorist World (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006); and Oil and Terrorism in the New Gulf: U.S. Policy in West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea (Lexington, 2006, with Matt Sousa).
Dr. Forest’s research has also appeared in the Cambridge Review of International Affairs, the Journal of Political Science Education, and the international journal Democracy and Security, as well as contributed chapters in other books. He is currently working on two new publications: The Handbook of Defense Politics: International and Comparative Perspectives (Routledge 2008, with Isaiah Wilson) and Information Warfare 2.0: Terrorism, Strategic Influence and the Internet (Praeger, 2008). Dr. Forest received his graduate degrees from Stanford University and Boston College, and undergraduate degrees from Georgetown University and De Anza College.
Gregory E. Glaros
President & CEO, Synexxus, Inc.
Introductory Speaker
Gregory Glaros is the President and CEO of Synexxus, Inc., a total systems engineering company. Previously, he served for two decades as a Strike/Fighter Pilot and dual qualified as a Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) in the U.S. Navy. Mr. Glaros’ last tour, with the Department of Defense, was as a direct report to the Secretary of Defense. In this capacity, he was the principle architect for several revolutionary, billion-dollar military business initiatives and processes that rapidly linked evolving technology to emerging concepts of operations. As a result, he was widely considered a defense entrepreneur whose leadership and vision created programs that changed the way military systems are designed, managed and procured.
As a Naval Officer, Mr. Glaros was a proven combat leader in one of the U.S. Military’s most elite aviation warfare communities. He has commanded and lead combat seasoned officers and sailors in several positions and assignments. These assignments included five operational and combat tours as an Airwing Strike Leader engaged in combat operations during Desert Shield / Desert Storm, and in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq. Mr. Glaros’ twenty years spanned all the world’s oceans embarked on the USS Saratoga (CV-60), USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), USS George Washington (CVN-73), USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), and USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67).
Mr. Glaros is a 1986 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, received his Space Systems Engineering and Electrical Engineering MS degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School, attended the Naval War College and was an Airwing Strike Leader graduate of the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center “Top Gun.” His awards include the Defense Superior Service Award, Meritorious Service Medal, three Individual Air Medals (with Combat V for valor), three Strike/Flight Air Medals (greater than 60 combat missions flown), four Navy Commendation Medals (with Combat V), three Navy Achievement Medals, and various campaign, unit and sea service awards.
Brigadier General (retired) Russell D. Howard
Director, The Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies
Introductory Speaker and Moderator, Panel 3
Brigadier General (retired) Russell D. Howard is the Founding Director of the Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies at The Fletcher School, Tufts University. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, General Howard was the Head of the Department of Social Sciences and the Founding Director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. His previous positions include Deputy Department Head of the Department of Social Sciences, Army Chief of Staff Fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and Commander of the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Lewis, Washington.
General Howard has authored or edited several textbooks on the subjects of terrorism and counter-terrorism. His Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Understanding the New Security Environment (McGraw-Hill, 2003; second edition 2005; third edition 2008, forthcoming) is the country’s best-selling textbook on the subject. Most recently, General Howard has co-edited Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism (McGraw-Hill, 2007). His other books include Defeating Terrorism (McGraw-Hill, 2003) and Homeland Security and Terrorism (McGraw-Hill, 2005). Additionally, General Howard teaches both undergraduate and graduate-level courses on terrorism, counter-terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and homeland security at The Fletcher School and Tufts University.
General Howard holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management from San Jose State University, a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies from the University of Maryland, a Master of Arts degree in International Management from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and a Masters of Public Administration degree from Harvard University. General Howard was an Assistant Professor of Social Sciences at the U.S. Military Academy, and a Senior Service College Fellow at The Fletcher School.
Ky Luu
Director, Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Panelist, Panel 2
Ky Luu is the Director of USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). Prior to joining OFDA, he served for three years as Vice President for International Medical Corps (IMC) in Washington, DC, where he played a key role in strategic planning, policy and program development, and emergency global response. Mr. Luu has extensive experience working with NGOs, including serving as Director of Government Relations for the International Research & Exchanges Board in Washington, DC; Resettlement Officer for the United States Refugee Resettlement Office in Croatia; and Government Relations Officer for the International Rescue Committee in Washington, DC.
In addition to his NGO experience, Mr. Luu worked for White & Case LLP in New York as a Corporate Associate in Mergers and Acquisitions. Mr. Luu holds a JD from George Washington University School of Law and a BA from the University of Michigan. Mr. Luu has completed course work for an MPH at George Washington University School of Public Health.
Mark Malan
Peacebuilding Program Officer, Refugees International
Panelist, Panel 2
Mark Malan joined Refugees International as a Peacebuilding Program Officer in May 2007. He also serves as the Executive Coordinator for the Washington, DC-based Partnership for Effective Peacekeeping. From 2004 to 2006, Malan established and headed the Conflict Prevention, Management, and Resolution Department of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center. From 1996 to 2003, he was a senior researcher and head of the Peace Missions Programme at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), which delivered specialised training and research in support of ongoing efforts to establish indigenous Southern African capacities for participation in peace missions.
Before joining the ISS, Malan served for twenty years with the South African Army, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel and holding a variety of posts – including senior lecturer in Political Science at the SA Military Academy. Malan has developed a number of regional peacekeeping training courses and manuals, and has published extensively on issues relating to regional security and peacekeeping in Africa. He has been an active participant in the African and global policy debate on peace operations. Malan drafted the White Paper on South African Participation in Peace Missions, and was a contributing author to the supplementary volume of the ICISS report, "The Responsibility to Protect”.
Dr. Dyan Mazurana
Director, Gender, Youth, and Community, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
Panelist, Panel 3
Dyan Mazurana’s areas of specialty include women's human rights, war-affected children and youth, armed conflict, and peacekeeping. She is a primary author of Women, Peace and Security: Study of the United Nations Secretary-General as Pursuant Security Council Resolution 1325 (United Nations, 2002) and has published over 40 scholarly and policy books and essays in numerous languages.
Dr. Mazurana works with a variety of governments, UN agencies, human rights and child protection organizations regarding improving efforts to assist youth and women affected by armed conflict, including those associated with fighting forces. She has written and developed training materials regarding gender, human rights, armed conflict, and post-conflict periods for civilian, police, and military peacekeepers involved in UN and NATO operations. In conjunction with international human rights groups, she wrote materials now widely used to assist in documenting human rights abuses against women and girls during conflict and post-conflict reconstruction periods. She has also worked with international NGOs and the ICRC to dialogue with leaders of armed opposition groups worldwide to help strengthen and promote their adherence to international humanitarian and human rights law.
Dr. Mazurana’s research focuses on the experiences of armed conflict on youth combatants and civilian populations and their efforts for justice and peace. She has worked in Afghanistan, the Balkans, and southern, west and east Africa. Her current research focuses on Uganda and South Sudan.
LTC Timothy Mitchell
U.S. Defense and Army Attaché, Tanzania
Panelist, Panel 2
Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Tim Mitchell is a U.S. Army Infantry and Sub-Saharan Africa Foreign Area Officer currently serving as the U.S. Defense and Army Attaché (DATT) to the Republic of Tanzania. LTC Mitchell’s previous postings in Africa include a three-year tour in N’Djamena, Chad as the DATT to both Chad and the Central African Republic (2004-2007), and a one-year assignment in Tunis, Tunisia (2002-2003) where he attended the Tunisian Command and General Staff College and traveled extensively throughout Africa. While in Chad, LTC Mitchell was responsible for implementation of Department of Defense (DoD) counter-terrorism efforts in support of Operation Enduring Freedom-Trans Sahara (OEF-TS), and as the DATT in Tanzania he is responsible for all DoD activities in Tanzania.
Prior to becoming an African Foreign Area Officer, LTC Mitchell served in the Social Sciences Department at the United States Military Academy, where he taught American and Presidential Politics (1997-2000); as Commander, Bravo Company 5/87 Infantry, Fort Davis, Panama (1993-1995); and as an infantry platoon leader, specialty platoon leader, and company executive officer in Fort Lewis, Washington (1988-1991).
LTC Mitchell earned his master’s degree in public policy from Duke University (1997), and his B.S. in Management from the United States Military Academy (1987). He and his wife, Catherine, are the proud parents of an 18-month old daughter, Bennett Evelyn.
Major Jean-Philippe Peltier
Sub-Saharan Africa Course Director, U.S. Air Force Special Operations School
Panelist, Panel 2
Major Jean-Philippe N. Peltier is the sub-Saharan Africa Course Director at the United States Air Force Special Operations School. The course is the Department of Defense's (DoD) focal point for educating Special Operations Forces (SOF) on the sub-Saharan African region’s political-military, economic, and cultural aspects tailored to SOF operations. A native French speaker, Major Peltier was born in Fort Lamy, Chad and was raised in Francophone Africa, specifically, Burkina-Faso, Madagascar, D.R. Congo and the Comoros. Mr. Peltier received a Masters with Distinction in National Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) (2001). At NPS, he focused on sub-Saharan Africa and served an internship as a political observer at the American Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Major Peltier was sent to Lusaka, Zambia as a team member of the U.S. delegation to the last meeting of Heads of State of the Organization of African Unity. Subsequently, Major Peltier received his Doctorate in Political Science focusing on sub-Saharan Africa from Michigan State University (2007), Phi Kappa Phi.
Col. Mark Rosengard
Commander, Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara
Panelist, Panel 3
Colonel Mark D. Rosengard entered military service as an Infantry Second Lieutenant upon graduation from Tufts University in 1979. He currently serves as the Commander of Joint Special Operations Task Force–Trans Sahara (JSOTF-TS, and concurrently as the Chief of the Operations Staff at Special Operations Command–Europe (SOCEUR), in Stuttgart Germany. He recently completed a special assignment with NATO Special Operations Forces supporting the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, an extension of his responsibilities with SOCEUR.
Colonel Rosengard came to Germany in 2002, following a year in Afghanistan, where he served as the J3 (Director of Operations) of Task Force Dagger, the Special Forces unit which, via use of the indigenous population, expelled the Taliban regime. After Operation Anaconda in March of 2002, Colonel Rosengard assumed duties in the U.S. Embassy’s Office of Military Cooperation (OMC) in Kabul, where he was a principal architect of the Afghan National Army Training Project.
Colonel Rosengard’s infantry assignments include duty as a platoon leader, company commander, and operations officer; including duty with the 1st RANGER Battalion. His previous Special Forces assignments include overseas service in Central and South America, Germany, Bosnia, Kosovo, and extensive service with the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne). He has commanded an SFODA (“A-Team”) and two Special Forces Companies, held numerous staff positions, and served for three years as 10th Group’s Deputy Commander. He is a veteran of multiple unconventional and other special operations across Europe and in Northern Iraq with the 10th Group, prior to his recent experiences in Afghanistan.
Colonel Rosengard’s awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. He is a Master Parachutist, and in addition to his American Jump Wings, has earned military parachute badges from the nations of Norway, Poland, and Mali. Colonel Rosengard is married to Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Lynn Wagner, a 1990 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and they have three children, all of whom will likely join the Navy...
Dr. Gayle Smith
Senior Fellow, The Center for American Progress
Panelist, Panel 1
A Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, Gayle Smith served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council from 1998-2001, and as Senior Advisor to the Administrator and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Agency for International Development from 1994-1998.
Dr. Smith was based in Africa for over 20 years as a journalist covering military, economic, and political affairs for the BBC, Associated Press, Reuters, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Toronto Globe & Mail, London Observer, and Financial Times. Smith has also consulted for a wide range of NGOs, foundations, and governmental organizations including UNICEF, the World Bank, Dutch Interchurch Aid, Norwegian Church Relief, and the Canadian Council for International Cooperation. She won the World Journalism Award from the World Affairs Council and the World Hunger Year Award in 1991, and in 1999 won the National Security Council’s Samuel Nelson Drew Award for Distinguished Contribution in Pursuit of Global Peace.
Smith is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the boards of Oxfam America, the Africa America Institute, USA for Africa, and the National Security Network. She also serves on the policy advisory boards of DATA, the Acumen Fund, and the Global Fairness Initiative, and is the Working Group Chair on Global Poverty for the Clinton Global Initiative.
Dr. Marc Sommers
Associate Research Professor of Humanitarian Studies, The Fletcher School
Panelist, Panel 1
Marc Sommers is an Associate Research Professor of Humanitarian Studies with the Institute of Human Security at the Fletcher School. He regularly works as an international consultant, and is a Research Fellow with Boston University’s African Studies Center. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Boston University in 1994.
Dr. Sommers began researching the situation and perspectives of war-affected youth 18 years ago. Since that time, he has conducted research, assessment and evaluation work in 21 war-affected countries, and has presented widely and published extensively on youth, urbanization, child soldiers, education, peace education, conflict negotiation, forced migration, human rights, and coordination issues in war and post-war contexts. He has consulted for policy institutes and numerous United Nations, non-government, and donor agencies, as well as the U.S. Department of Defense, and has received research support from the Ford, Guggenheim, Mellon, and Rotary foundations.
Dr. Sommers is currently finalizing a book on youth in Rwanda and carrying out research for a book on the influence of popular culture and child soldiers in Sierra Leone. His first book, Fear in Bongoland: Burundi Refugees in Urban Tanzania, received the 2003 Margaret Mead Award.
Dr. Peter Uvin
Henry J. Leir Professor of International Humanitarian Studies; Director, Institute for Human Security; and Academic Dean, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Introductory Speaker
Peter Uvin is the Henry J. Leir Chair of International Humanitarian Studies and Director of the Institute for Human Security at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He is also The Fletcher School’s Academic Dean for 2007-08. His numerous publications deal with development aid, genocide in the African Great Lakes region, human rights and post-conflict issues, NGO scaling up, hunger, and food aid.
Dr. Uvin’s latest book, Development and Human Rights (Kumarian Press, 2004), studies the way human rights can be integrated in the practice of development. His previous book, Aiding Violence: The Development Enterprise in Rwanda (Kumarian Press, 1998), received the African Studies Association’s Herskowits Award for the most outstanding book on Africa in 1998.
Dr. Uvin spends a large amount of his time consulting bilateral and multilateral agencies and NGOs in Africa, foremost in the Great Lakes region. He was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006 to analyze young people’s lives in post-transition Burundi.
Dr. Peter Walker
Director, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
Moderator, Panel 2
Peter Walker is Director of the Feinstein International Center and Irwin H. Rosenberg Professor of Nutrition and Human Security, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University. Active in development and disaster response since 1979, Dr. Walker has worked for a number of British-based NGOs and environmental organizations in several African countries and has been a university lecturer and director of a food wholesaling company.
Dr. Walker joined the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva in 1990, where he was Director of Disaster Policy for ten years before moving to Bangkok as Head of the Federation's regional programs for Southeast Asia. He has traveled extensively in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, and has published widely on subjects as diverse as the development of indigenous knowledge and famine early warning systems, to the role of military forces in disaster relief.
Dr. Walker was the founder and manager of the World Disasters Report and played a key role in initiating and developing both the Code of Conduct for disaster workers and the Sphere humanitarian standards. He became Director of the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University in September 2002.
Lieutenant Colonel Scott Womack
U.S. Army Sub Saharan Africa Foreign Area Officer
Panelist, Panel 1
Lieutenant Colonel Scott E. Womack is a U.S. Army Sub-Saharan Africa Foreign Area Officer and has been the chief of the French section at the U.S. Military Academy since August 2006. His previous assignments in Africa include postings in Dakar, Senegal as the U.S. Defense Attaché to Cape Verde, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal (2004-2006) and in N’Djamena, Chad as the U.S. Defense Attaché to the Central African Republic and Chad (2002-2004). He has also served as the Sub-Saharan Africa Security Assistance Officer at the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany (1998-2001); Commander of D Company 96th Civil Affairs Battalion, U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, (1996-1998); Commander of A and Headquarters Companies, 2nd Battalion 13 Armor Regiment (1991-1994); and as a tank platoon leader, scout platoon leader, company executive officer and assistant operations officer in the 3rd Battalion 73rd Armor Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina (1986-1990).
Lieutenant Colonel Womack’s major deployments include refugee repatriation assistance in Rwanda in 1996 and participation in Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989-1990. His U.S. awards and decorations include three Defense Meritorious Service Medals, two Army Meritorious Service Medals, a Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Master Parachutist Badge, Pathfinder Badge, and Ranger Tab. His foreign awards include the National Order of Senegal, the National Order of Chad, the Senegalese Parachutist Badge, and the Canadian Parachutist Badge.
Lieutenant Colonel Womack is currently enrolled in a Doctorate of Education Administration program at Seton Hall University. He earned his M.A. in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California (1995) and his B.S. in History from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York (1986). He speaks French and German. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Lieutenant Colonel Womack is married to Rebecca Crispin and has two children: Josiah, ten years old, and Samuel, seven years old.
