The Institute of World Politics

About the Lecture: This lecture will discuss the dangers that advanced AI would pose to the United States, the world, and humanity if developed and deployed without proper safeguards. These dangers would include its impact on our economy, geopolitical relations, and our national security. About the Speaker: Brendan Steinhauser is a Partner with Steinhauser Strategies, a public affairs firm based in Austin, Texas. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in Government from The University of Texas in 2004 and earned his M.A. in Statecraft and International Affairs from The Institute of World Politics in 2013. Brendan served as an adjunct professor of Political Science and Global Studies at St. Edward's University in Austin, where he taught courses on Global Issues and State & Local Government. He has been published in the peer-reviewed academic journal, The Journal of South Texas. ‍Brendan has led campaigns for candidates and causes in more than 40 states, including for Senator John Cornyn, Congressman Michael McCaul, and Congressman Dan Crenshaw. TIME magazine named Brendan as one of "40 Under 40" rising stars in American politics. Campaigns & Elections magazine awarded him a "Rising Star" award in 2012. Former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey called working with Brendan one of the highlights of his career. Over the years, Brendan has worked as a Director of Federal and State Campaigns, Communications Director, and Chief Strategy Officer of various nonprofit organizations. He is a frequent media commentator and has appeared on Fox News, Comedy Central, MSNBC, CNN, the BBC, NewsNation, and Newsmax. He has also been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and many more newspapers, magazines, books, and journals. Some of his clients have included the Republican Party of Texas, Texas Right to Life, State Senator Angela Paxton, and the War Veterans Fund. Brendan serves as a First Lieutenant and Company Commander in the Texas State Guard, the premier state defense and emergency response force in the U.S. He graduated from Officer Candidate School and received his commission in 2021, at the age of 39. He earned a certificate in Counterintelligence Awareness from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. Mark Beall is a leading expert at the intersection of AI policy and national security. After serving as the inaugural Pentagon AI Policy Director at the Department of Defense’s Joint AI Center, he became the Senior Advisor at the AI Policy Network, an organization that builds bipartisan support for legislation that will help the United States prepare for the future capabilities of AI systems. Beall also co-founded Gladstone AI, an entity that advocates for the responsible development of AI and guardrails to protect the country against national security threats from AI. He has publicly spoken on these issues numerous times through speeches, interviews, and more, and is a voice critical in the mission to prioritize security in the development of AI. Beall holds a BA in Physics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and an MA in Statecraft and National Security from the Institute of World Politics. **Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academics/graduate-degree-programs/ ***Make a gift to IWP: https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=3

About the Lecture: "Our democracy is getting self-destroyed, for it abused the rights of freedom and of equality; for it taught the citizens to regard insolence as a right, illegality as freedom, impertinence as equality, and anarchy as happiness." Isocrates, Athenian orator (436-338 BC) Democracy first emerged in ancient Athens in 507 BC following a long turbulent period of aristocracy and tyranny, when a nexus of intertwined geopolitical, sociopolitical, economic, and cultural developments led to the morphogenesis of this new political constitution. Athenian Democracy formulated the political ideology and fundamental principles that were later canonized by modern democracies, formalized defensive mechanisms against undue concentration of power and employed innovative integrative mechanisms to propagate its ideology and educate the citizens. Pathogenic traits-catalysts, however, such as the extreme polarization between mass and elite, demagogy, populism, failure of justice, apathy, and poor education caused extensive political ankylosis. Internal corrosion and changing historical conditions caused the decline and fall of Democracy three centuries later.Isocrates’ aphorism, therefore, rings alarmingly all too pragmatic and relevant today, 250 years since the resurgence of Democracy in the modern era. Are we running a similar cycle, repeating old mistakes, standing at the same juncture, heading towards the same dead end? To navigate forward, find solutions, and shape our future, we need first to study our past. About the Speaker: With over 35 years of experience in archaeology, teaching, and administration, Prof. Christofilis Maggidis is a faculty member at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C., President of the Mycenaean Foundation, and Field Director of Excavations at Mycenae and Lamia. Throughout his career, Prof. Maggidis has combined academic leadership with a commitment to innovative teaching and interdisciplinary research. He earned the BA at the University of Athens, the Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, and completed postdoctoral research at Brown University. Prof. Maggidis taught at Campus College and the University of Indianapolis, Athens, Greece, and held the distinguished Christopher Roberts Chair in Archaeology at Dickinson College for two decades, where he created and chaired the Department of Archaeology, designed the archaeology academic curriculum, and directed study abroad programs. In 2022 Prof. Maggidis joined the Institute of World Politics in Washington D.C. where he teaches at graduate level and directs "Hermes," the Institute's study abroad program in Greece. His research focuses on Minoan and Mycenaean archaeology, Classical Greek art and architecture, and archaeological methodology. With 40 years of field experience, Prof. Maggidis has led excavations at prominent sites in Greece, including Mycenae, Glas, and the Spercheios Valley, making significant discoveries and directing acclaimed field schools that trained over 450 students from 44 universities worldwide. Maggidis has secured substantial external and institutional funding for his research and fieldwork ($2.8million), and his findings have been widely disseminated in scholarly publications and international media. His scholarly publications comprise 26 articles, numerous field reports, one book submitted for publication and three forthcoming books. Furthermore, Prof. Maggidis has presented 45 international conference papers and delivered 42 invited lectures at prestigious universities and institutes worldwide.

About the Lecture: In the summer and fall of 1919 not only the fate of Russia, but also that of Europe and the world, was hanging in the balance as the White anti-Bolshevik forces approached Moscow from the south. Lenin’s Bolshevik regime was teetering on the edge and appeared increasingly close to total collapse. However, the Red Army eventually counter-attacked and, turning a fighting retreat into a full-scale rout, pushed the White armies into the Crimea, thereby taking the decisive upper hand in the Russian Civil War. The sudden White defeat, and the survival and strengthening of Soviet communism, is generally attributed to White inflexibility, imperialistic rhetoric, failure to build a viable state apparatus and make national or economic concessions where necessary, and general lack of political sophistication and realism. However, the staunch hostility of Polish head of state Jόzef Piłsudski to the Whites, and his refusal to help the Whites, was an equally important factor. About the Speaker: Paweł Styrna was born in Poland and earned a PhD in history from American University in Washington, DC, writing a dissertation on the attitudes of the Russian Whites towards Poland and Poles in 1918 – 1921. He is also a graduate of the Institute of World Politics and the University of Illinois Chicago, holding MA degrees from both institutions. Dr. Styrna works in immigration policy and has written numerous articles on history, current affairs, and mass migration.

About this Event: Join us for a fireside chat, “The Future of U.S. Involvement in the Middle East,” featuring House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Emeritus Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), in conversation with journalist Dr. James Robbins. The discussion will be moderated by Haley Byrd Witt, Senior Reporter at NOTUS. This event will examine the evolving role of the United States in the Middle East through perspectives from Congress, the media, and policy experts. About the Speakers: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Emeritus Michael McCaul (R-Tex.) is currently serving his eleventh term representing Texas' 10th District in the U.S. Congress. He previously served as Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security and is currently Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Prior to Congress, he served as Chief of Counter Terrorism and National Security in the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Texas, and led the Joint Terrorism Task Force. He also served as Texas Deputy Attorney General under Senator John Cornyn and as a federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section in Washington, DC. A fourth-generation Texan, Congressman McCaul earned a B.A. in Business and History from Trinity University and a J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law. He and his wife Linda are the proud parents of five children. Dr. James S. Robbins is IWP faculty and the current Dean of Academics. He is also a national security columnist for USA Today and Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council. Dr. Robbins is a former special assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and in 2007 was awarded the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award. He is also the former award-winning Senior Editorial Writer for Foreign Affairs at The Washington Times. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Review, and other publications, and he appears regularly on national and international television and radio. Dr. Robbins holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and has taught at the National Defense University and Marine Corps University, among other schools. His research interests include terrorism and national security strategy, political theory, and military history. Haley Byrd Witt is a Senior Reporter at NOTUS, covering politics and Congress with a focus on the Republican Party, foreign policy, human rights, and domestic legislation. Her reporting has appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, and Christianity Today. She previously covered Congress for The Dispatch, CNN, and The Weekly Standard.

About the Lecture: China’s espionage activities are changing the global balance of power, impacting the U.S. and foreign economies, and providing challenges to domestic, national security, and foreign policy formulation. China's "whole of society" intelligence approach provides a sophisticated and expanding global reach to target individuals for recruitment and collection. This briefing analyzes more than 865 cases of Chinese espionage operations and tactics including espionage, economic espionage, covert action, and illegal exports of technology. The briefing identifies tradecraft methodologies, recruitment motivations, and key indicators. About the Speaker: Nicholas Eftimiades is a professor of homeland security at Penn State University. He retired from the US Department of Defense in 2017. His 34 year government career includes employment in CIA, as a Special Agent in the US Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, and a Senior Intelligence Officer in Defense Intelligence Agency. Mr. Eftimiades held positions in analysis, human and technical intelligence collection, and leadership. He served overseas for 10 years. Mr. Eftimiades is recognized as a leading authority on China and its espionage activities. His book Chinese Intelligence Operations was the first ever scholarly examination of the structure, operations, and methodology of the intelligence services of the People's Republic of China. His recent book Chinese Espionage: Operations and Tactics (Second Edition) updates that work and is the most detailed account ever published on China’s intelligence operational tradecraft. Eftimiades testified numerous times before Congress, as a certified expert in US courts, and advises government agencies and private industry. Nick is a frequent lecturer and public speaker on China and national security issues. He has appeared as an expert on dozens of television and radio broadcasts. He has been quoted in hundreds of newspapers and magazines across the world. He has taught over 1,000 US government counterintelligence officers and commercial industry insider threat specialists. Mr. Eftimiades has an M.S. Strategic Intelligence, National Defense Intelligence College, and a B.A. East Asian Studies, George Washington University. He has lived and studied in Asia for five years. Mr. Eftimiades held senior appoints on the DoD Defense Science Board, DHS Homeland Security Advisory Council/Economic Security Subcommittee, and as an Intelligence Community Associate for the National Intelligence Council. Eftimiades was also a Senior Research Fellow for six years at King’s College War Studies Department, London UK.