Events | 2018

The Clements Center, Strauss Center, and Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project were honored to host our fifth annual Texas National Security Forum “The Return of Great Power Competition.”

On Thursday, November 15, 2018, the Clements Center and LBJ School Research Colloquium welcomed Philip Gorski, Professor of Sociology and Director of Graduate Studies at Yale University, for a talk “In Search of Our Better Angels: A Brief History of Civil Religion in America” at the University of Texas at Austin.

On Wednesday, November 7, 2018, the Clements Center and the University of Texas History Department welcomed Professor Arne Westad, the S.T. Lee Professor of U.S.-Asia Relations at Harvard University, for a talk “The Past in the Present: How the Cold War Created Trump, Putin, and Xi Jinping” at the University of Texas at Austin. 

On Monday, November 5, 2018, the Clements Center welcomed Sam Kleiner for a talk at the University of Texas at Austin on his newly released book The Flying Tigers.

On Thursday, November 1, the Clements and Strauss Centers and the LBJ School Research Colloquium welcomed Congressman Joaquin Castro for a talk “Intelligence and National Security Policymaking: A Congressional Perspective” at the University of Texas at Austin. 

On Thursday, October 25, 2018, the Clements Center and LBJ School Research Colloquium welcomed Sarah B. Snyder, Associate Professor, School of International Service at the American University, for her talk “From Selma to Moscow: How Human Rights Activists Transformed U.S. Foreign Policy.” 

On Tuesday, October 23, the Intelligence Studies Project, Clements Center for National Security, and Strauss Center for International Security and Law hosted NSA Deputy Director George Barnes for a campus visit. Deputy Director Barnes delivered mid-day remarks on “Cybersecurity: Threats and Responses” at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. 

On Monday, October 22, 2018, the Clements and Strauss Centers welcomed Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University, and Isaac Stone Fish, Senior Fellow at the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations, for a conversation on Clive Hamilton’s new book Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia at the University of Texas at Austin in the Bass Lecture Hall, LBJ School of Public Affairs. The Center for East Asian Studies and the Edward A. Clark Center for Australian and New Zealand Studies co-sponsored this event. 

As part of the Clements Center’s mission to prepare students for careers in public service, we are pleased to continue our series of Professional Development workshops during the 2018-2019 academic year. On Thursday, October 18, we hosted a workshop on ‘how to write a cover letter’ led by Clements Center Associate Director Celeste Gventer. This…

On Wednesday, October 17, the Clements and Strauss Centers welcomed General John R. Allen USMC (Retired), President of the Brookings Institution, for a talk at the University of Texas at Austin in the Bass Lecture Hall, LBJ School of Public Affairs.

On Tuesday, October 16, 2018, the Clements and Strauss Centers, along with the John Quincy Adams Society, welcomed Joshua Shifrinson, Assistant Professor of International Relations with the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, for a talk on his recently released book, Rising Titans, Fallings Giants: How Great Powers Exploit Power Shifts.

On Thursday, October 11, 2018, the Clements Center welcomed Danielle Pletka, Senior Vice President for Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute, for her talk “Middle East Realignment and Israel.” 

On Wednesday, October 3, 2018, the Clements Center welcomed Frank Lavin, the CEO and founder of Export Now and former Under Secretary for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce, for a talk on his World War II history book, Home Front to Battlefront. 

On Friday, September 28, 2018, from 8:30-9:30am, UT Distinguished Scholar and Intelligence Studies Project’s Senior Advisor John Brennan participated in a panel discussion titled “The Threat Assessment” at the annual Texas Tribune Festival. Former CIA Director Brennan was joined by Admiral William McRaven, former National Counterterrorism Center Director Nick Rasmussen, and NBC’s Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel. The discussion was moderated by Professor William Inboden, Executive Director of the Clements Center for National Security.

On Thursday, September 27, 2018, the Clements Center welcomed Walter Russell Mead, the James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and the Humanities at Bard College and a Distinguished Fellow in American Strategy and Statesmanship at the Hudson Institute, for a talk at the University of Texas at Austin in the Bass Lecture Hall, LBJ School of Public Affairs.

On Monday, September 17, the Clements and Strauss Centers welcomed Admiral Bill McRaven and Congressman Michael McCaul for a discussion at The University of Texas at Austin.  Chris Tomlinson with the Houston Chronicle moderated the conversation. The event was co-sponsored by the LBJ School and the Innovations for Peace and Development (IPD). Missed the talk? Listen…

David Koranyi, Senior Fellow for Energy Diplomacy at the Atlantic Council, gave a talk on Friday, September 14, 2018, on “The Geopolitics of Energy Transition.” This talk was sponsored by the LBJ School’s Global Policy Studies Speaker Series, and was co-sponsored by the Clements and Strauss Centers.

On Thursday, September 13, 2018, the Clements Center welcomed Matthew Sutton, the Edward R. Meyer Distinguished Professor of History at Washington State University, for his talk “Spies and unHoly Lies: How American Missionaries-Turned-Covert-Agents Helped Win World War II and Shape the Future of U.S. Intelligence.” The Intelligence Studies Project (ISP) co-hosted this event.

On Tuesday, September 11, 2018, the Clements and Strauss Centers welcomed Carl Minzner, Professor of Law at Fordham University for a talk on his latest book End of an Era: How China’s Authoritarian Revival is Undermining Its Rise. The event was co-sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. 

On Thursday, September 6, 2018, the Clements Center welcomed Barry Pavel, the Senior Vice President of the Atlantic Council, for a talk at the University of Texas at Austin.

The Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with SMU Lyle School of Engineering Presents The Texas-Israel Cyber Security Conference, “Securing Our Critical Infrastructure.”  

The Clements Center hosted Dr. Marvin Feuer, the Director of Policy and Government Affairs at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, who spoke on “Growing Security Challenges Facing Israel.” 

The Alexander Hamilton Society and the Clements Center hosted a talk with Michael Mazza, a Research Fellow with Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, on “US Perspective on the Korean Peninsula Security Crisis.” 

The Wilson Chair in Pakistan Studies, with the Clements Center for National Security, hosted former Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan on April 18th, 2018.  Ambassador Khan’s spoke on “Afghanistan: the Long Conflict and Prospects of Peace” and led a discussion of regional foreign policies and prospects for peace in south and central Asia.  

The Clements Center and the History Department hosted “A Conversation With U.S. Military Officers On American National Security,” featuring Colonel Joseph A. Anderson, Lieutenant Colonel John C. Crawson, Lieutenant Colonel Matthew G. Humphrey, Colonel Edward A. Kaplan and Colonel Eric Lopez.  Clements Center Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor of History Aaron O’Connell moderated the event.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Crimea and interference in the 2016 election, many Americans are unsure what to make of Russia’s decisions, how to understand the relationship between Russia and the West, and whether the Putin regime alone is to blame.

On April 12, the Clements Center hosted a colloquium featuring some of America’s best thinkers and policymakers working on Russia. “Peaceful Coexistence? Russian Grand Strategy beyond Putin” sought to get beyond personalities to the deeper forces shaping Russian foreign policy, exploring Russian visions of world order, enduring constraints on Russia’s choices, and historical analogies that can help us think about US-Russia relations today.

The Clements and Strauss Centers hosted Dr. Joshua Eisenman, Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs and Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar, for a talk on his new book “China Steps Out: Beijing’s Major Power Engagement with the Developing World.” Dr. Eisenman was joined by Dr. Huaiyin Li, Director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, as a discussant for the talk. This event was co-sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies.

The Clements and Strauss Centers hosted Edward You, an expert on Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for a talk on “Safeguarding the Bioeconomy: Challenges to Data Security, Health, and National Security.” 

The University of Texas at Austin’s Intelligence Studies Project(ISP) hosted its Spring Symposium “U.S. Intelligence: Confronting 21st Century Challenges,” on Thursday, March 29, 2018 at the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center on campus. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats delivered the keynote address.

On March 27th, please join us for a professional development workshop on competitive application writing, designed to improve students’ ability to write and apply for competitive internships, fellowships, and jobs. This workshop will be held on March 27th at 12:30pm in CLA 1.302B.