Press | 2021

Dec 20, 2021

Take a look back at the Fall 2021 Semester! 

Christopher Kolenda | Dec 20, 2021

In this week’s episode of Horns of a Dilemma, we hear from retired U.S. Army Colonel Dr. Christopher Kolenda about his new book, Zero-Sum Victory: What We Get Wrong About War.  Kolenda draws on his experience in Iraq and Afghanistan to help explain why it feels as if the United States has had what he calls “the…

The LBJ School Spotlight on National Security Faculty

Dec 16, 2021

The LBJ School of Public Affairs recently did a feature on its national security faculty, highlighting many Clements Center affiliates. The LBJ School is home to 12 faculty conducting research on all aspects of national security and intelligence. Their faculty support the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, the Clements Center for National Security, the Intelligence Studies Project, the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project, and the newly launched Asia Policy Program.

The Cipher Brief | Dec 14, 2021

Undergraduate fellows Katherine Birch, Ashish Dave, Peter Denham, Archit Oswal, and William Tran published short essays on a variety of topics on The Cipher Brief.

Brandon J. Archuleta | Dec 13, 2021

Major Brandon J. Archuleta, formerly a fellow at the Clements Center for National Security, was included in the 2021 Power 50 Leadership List by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Diversity in National Security Network (DINSN).

David McCloskey | Dec 10, 2021

This week’s Horns of a Dilemma may be a first in that it deals with a work of fiction.  Author David McCloskey joins Stephen Slick of the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas, Austin, to discuss his new novel, Damascus Station.

In Memory of Bob Jervis

Will Inboden | Dec 10, 2021

The Clements Center mourns the death of Professor Bob Jervis of Columbia University. One of the most eminent and influential political scientists of the past century, he was a valued member of our academic board of reference, a mentor to a number of our scholars, an instructor at our Summer Seminar in History and Statecraft,…

Karl Rove | Dec 08, 2021

The Clements Center was honored to partner with the President’s Office, Plan II Honors program, and the School of Government to support this course in Fall 2020. The Wall Street Journal Opinion page published Karl Rove’s reflections on his Fall 2020 campaign course.

Will Inboden | Dec 07, 2021

If you’re looking for a book to dive into over your semester break, check out the 2021 holiday reading list from War on the Rocks and Texas National Security Review.

Avrel Seale | Dec 06, 2021

  This semester, UT students have had a unique opportunity to learn about political campaigning from experts on both sides of the aisle. Read Avrel Seale’s story on UT News.

Will Inboden | Dec 06, 2021

On December 4, 2021, Clements Center Director Will Inboden participated in a panel at the Reagan National Defense Forum.
Bobby Chesney | Dec 03, 2021

On December 1, 2021 the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced the appointment of the first 23 members of the Agency’s new Cybersecurity Advisory Committee, a group that will advise and provide recommendations to the Director on policies, programs, planning, and training to enhance the nation’s cyber defense. Strauss Center Director Bobby Chesney was…

Ian Johnson | Dec 03, 2021

Ian Johnson, of Notre Dame University and a former Clements Center fellow, discusses Soviet and German cooperation in the decades prior to WWII in this week’s episode, as detailed in his book, Faustian Bargain: The Soviet-German Partnership and the Origins of the Second World War.

Ashlyn Hand | Dec 01, 2021

Former Clements graduate fellow Ashlyn Hand’s book review published in Oxford Journal of Church and State.

Will Inboden | Nov 29, 2021

“You can’t put a price on national security,” he said. “Just about every aspect of American national security strength depends on semiconductors.” 

Charlie Laderman and Brendan Simms | Nov 22, 2021

“It reminds us how contingent even the most significant historical events can be, how many other possibilities lurked beyond the familiar ones that actually happened — and how even the greatest leaders often have only a shaky grasp of what is happening.” Read the The New York Times book review for Charlie Laderman and Brendan Simm’s new book, “Hitler’s American Gamble”. Dr. Laderman was formerly a Harrington Fellow at UT Austin and the Clements Center.
Jane Vaynman | Nov 12, 2021

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, we hear from Professor Jane Vaynman, author of “Better Monitoring and Better Spying: The Impact of Emerging Technology on Arms Control,” which appears in Vol. 4/Iss. 4 of the Texas National Security Review, a special issue dedicated to the memory and legacy of Janne Nolan. Vaynman explores how advances in the…

Mark Lawrence | Nov 09, 2021

Mark Lawrence’s new book, The End of Ambition: The United States and the Third World in the Vietnam Era, is a groundbreaking new history of how the Vietnam War thwarted U.S. liberal ambitions in the developing world and at home in the 1960s.

Sheena Chestnut Greitens | Nov 09, 2021

In an interview with Texas Standard, Clements Faculty Fellow and Founding Director of the Asia Policy Project, Sheena Chestnut Greitens, explains what is behind rising tensions between China and Taiwan and how that will affect the U.S. 

America in the World Consortium | Nov 09, 2021

The America in the World Consortium seeks applications from recent Ph.D. recipients for its Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. 
Daniel J. Samet | Nov 08, 2021

Daniel J. Samet is a Ph.D. student in History at the University of Texas at Austin and a Graduate Fellow at the Clements Center for National Security. He researches U.S. foreign policy with a focus on relations with the Middle East. Daniel previously worked at the Atlantic Council and the National Endowment for Democracy. The…

CALL FOR PAPERS: Uncertainty: The Indo-Pacific Region and American Foreign Policy

Nov 08, 2021

The America in the World Consortium invites students, scholars, and policy practitioners to submit proposals for a one-day conference on issues facing the Indo-Pacific region and its role in American foreign policy and strategy.

CSIS: Nicholas Szechenyi, Hannah Fodale, Jada Fraser | Nov 05, 2021

In a new commentary for CSIS, Nicholas Szechenyi, Hannah Fodale, and former Clements undergraduate fellow Jada Fraser make the case for U.S.-Japan-ROK Cooperation on democracy support in the Indo-Pacific region.

Thomas Shugart | Nov 05, 2021

In this week’s episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Thomas Shugart, adjunct senior fellow with the defense program at the Center for a New American Security, discusses the implications of growing Chinese military power. Shugart frames his discussion in terms of what he calls the “Malacca Dilemma”: Since much of Chinese trade and almost all Chinese energy imports must flow through strategic chokepoints controlled by the U.S. Navy or its allies and partners, Chinese leaders want to be able to protect their interests in these vital regions. But the same capabilities that allow them to protect their trading interests also allow them to threaten, intimidate, and coerce other regional countries, and may give Chinese communist leaders the tools needed to challenge or change the global order that has defined the region for decades.

Nicholas Romanow | Nov 02, 2021

Former Undergraduate Fellow Nicholas Romanow on why the Democratic Peace still matters. 

Emma Rogers | Nov 02, 2021

Clements Graduate Portfolio student Emma Rogers details how the use of drones has evolved over the last four presidential administrations.

APPLY NOW for 2022 Summer Seminar in History and Statecraft

Nov 01, 2021

Applications are now open for our seventh annual seminar! The 2022 Summer Seminar will be held from July 17 – 22 at the Pines Resort in Beaver Creek, Colorado. 

Condoleezza Rice | Oct 28, 2021

In a special issue of The Texas National Security Review, Dr. Condoleezza Rice reflects on her friendship with Janne Nolan, and on Janne’s profound impact on how we think about nuclear issues. Dr. Rice sits on the Clements Statecraft Board of Reference.

Benjamin Young | Oct 29, 2021

While most people think of North Korea today as an isolated pariah state, the “hermit kingdom” exercised significant influence among Third World nations during the Cold War. North Korean leader Kim Il Sung sent advisors to assist African liberation movements, trained anti-imperialist guerrilla fighters, and completed building projects in developing countries. State-run media coverage of events in the Third World shaped the worldview of many North Koreans and helped them imagine a unified global anti-imperialist front with North Korea at the vanguard. In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Professor Benjamin Young of Virginia Commonwealth University discusses these developments, as detailed in his book, Guns, Guerrillas, and the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third World. This talk was sponsored by the Clements Center at the University of Texas, Austin, and was hosted by Professor Sheena Greitens of the LBJ School at the University of Texas, Austin.

Jeremi Suri | Oct 28, 2021

Jeremi Suri, a Faculty Fellow at the Clements Center, reviewed Martin Indyk’s new book, Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy, for the New York Times. The book follows Kissinger’s diplomatic negotiations in the Middle East throughout his career, highlighting the unique challenges it presented. Henry Kissinger serves on the Clements Center Statecraft Board of Reference.

Certificate in Security Studies Updated Spring 2022 Course List Now Available

Oct 25, 2021

We have updated the list of Spring 2022 courses that will apply for the Undergraduate Certificate in Security Studies

Elbridge Colby | Oct 22, 2021

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, we hear from Elbridge Colby, co-founder of the Marathon Initiative, former deputy assistant secretary of defense, and author of The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Competition. Colby makes the case for a U.S. defense strategy focused on preventing Chinese hegemony in Asia by…

Intelligence Studies Project | Oct 20, 2021

Studies in Intelligence, the journal of the U.S. IC’s Center for the Study of Intelligence, recently released an unclassified special edition that includes reflections on the current state of integration within U.S. intelligence.  Studies Volume 65, No. 3 is available in full here.  This edition includes an essay by ISP Director Steve Slick “On a Path Toward Intelligence Integration” that concludes “[p]rogress along this path has been uneven, but U.S. Intelligence is immeasurably more unified and effective than it was when [the author] entered on duty during the final throes of the Cold War.”   

Oct 19, 2021

Hosted by UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken, the Clements Center recently convened a panel discussion on the trajectory and end of our war in Afghanistan for the benefit of the distinguished Chancellor’s Council. Panel participants include Clements Senior National Security Fellow General Bob Neller, Clements Director of Research Aaron O’Connell, Clements faculty affiliate Jeremi…

Robert Divine: 1929-2021

Oct 19, 2021

The Department of History lost one of its true giants last Wednesday when Robert Divine, a preeminent scholar of U.S. foreign relations, passed away at the age of 92. Bob taught at UT for a remarkable 42 years before retiring in 1996. Along the way, he published 14 books, racked up numerous teaching awards, served as department chair, and advised numerous PhD students who went on to distinguished careers. Bob touched innumerable lives – including ours — and is remembered for generosity and good cheer as well as his scholarly brilliance.

Oct 18, 2021

The Clements Center mourns the death of Colin Powell.  He is the only person in history to have served in all three roles of National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Secretary of State, and he was the first black American to hold each position. Above all, he was an American patriot.