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2015 Halifax International Security Forum

2015 Halifax International Security Forum

Date
November 20-22, 2015
Location
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Participants
300

Agenda & Speakers

Friday, November 20
Saturday, November 21
Sunday, November 22

7:00

5K Run with Canadian Minister of National Defence Harjit Singh Sajjan

LOCATION: Westin Lobby

5K Run In Pictures

9:00-10:15

Breakfast Sessions

Inclusive Security:  Winning With Women
LOCATION: Harbour B

SPEAKERS:

  • General John Allen, Ret., Co-Director, Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence, Brookings Institution
  • Ms. Smadar Perry, Middle East Senior Editor, Yediot Ahronot
  • General Jonathan Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff, Canadian Armed Forces
  • Ms. Amira Yahyaoui, Founder and Executive Director, Center 247
  • MODERATOR: Ms. Jacqueline O’Neill, Director, The Institute for Inclusive Security

Cheap Energy, Pricey Consequences
LOCATION: Atlantic Ballroom

SPEAKERS:

  • The Hon. John Barrasso, Senator (R-WY), United States
  • Dr. Hasan Murat Mercan, Chair, 2016 World Energy Congress Organizing Committee, World Energy Council
  • Mr. Laurent Ruseckas, Senior Advisor, Eurasian Gas, IHS Energy
  • MODERATOR: Dr. Constanze Stelzenmüller, Robert Bosch Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

10:30-11:45

Plenary 7: Hi-Tech, Bio-Tech: Unleashing Known Unknowns On the record

Speakers

Washington Editor-at-Large, The Atlantic; Editor-in-Chief, AtlanticLIVE & QuartzLIVE
Moderator
Mr. Steve Clemons

Mr. Steve Clemons

Mr. Steve Clemons attended the Forum in 2011 as a Senior Fellow of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation. He attended is 2012 and 2013 as Editor-at-Large at The Atlantic, and in 2014 as the Washington Editor-At-Large for The Atlantic and Editor-in-Chief of AtlanticLIVE and QuartzLIVE. He is also Editor-at-Large for Quartz. At AtlanticLIVE, The Atlantic’s premium events division, Clemons develops concepts and editorial content and leads programs as an interviewer, moderator, and host. Clemons joined The Atlantic in June 2011 from the New America Foundation, a think tank devoted to pragmatic, non-ideological policy innovation, and intellectual entrepreneurship. He helped launch the Foundation twelve years ago, served as its Executive Vice President for eight years, founded its American Strategy Program, and continues to serve there as a Senior Fellow. Mr. Clemons also served as Executive Vice President of the Economic Strategy Institute, as Senior Policy Advisor on Economic and International Affairs to Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), and as the first Executive Director of the Nixon Center. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum Council on Geopolitical Risk.

Premier, New Brunswick
The Hon. Brian Gallant

The Hon. Brian Gallant

Brian Gallant is New Brunswick’s 33rd Premier. At age 32, he is the youngest elected premier in Canada in the last two centuries. Growing up, Gallant’s parents worked in grocery stores and fast food restaurants around New Brunswick to provide for their three children. Determined to pursue a postsecondary education, Gallant started and operated two small companies to pay for his university education. At the Université de Moncton, he completed a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Laws. He also earned a Master of Laws degree from McGill University. Gallant practised law with the firm Stewart McKelvey in the areas of corporate and commercial law. He later joined the Veritas Law firm in Dieppe as a partner. Gallant was elected Leader of the New Brunswick Liberal Party on October 27, 2012, at a leadership convention that saw a record number of convention voters cast a ballot. He was first elected to the province’s Legislative Assembly in a by-election for the riding of Kent in April 2013, and was sworn in as Leader of the Official Opposition. In the September 2014 general election, Gallant offered and won the seat in his home riding, Shediac Bay-Dieppe. On October 7, he was sworn in as Premier, President of the Executive Council, Chair of the New Brunswick Jobs Board, Minister responsible for Innovation, Intergovernmental Affairs, Women’s Equality, and Rural Affairs. Since then, his government has focused on its efforts to create jobs, improve finances, and support families in the province.

Investigative Journalist and Author
Ms. Annie Jacobsen

Ms. Annie Jacobsen

Annie Jacobsen is an investigative journalist and bestselling author who writes about war, weapons, US national security and government secrecy. Her non-fiction bestsellers include “Area 51,” (2011) and the critically acclaimed “Operation Paperclip,” (2013). Her newest book (fall 2015) is “The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top Secret Military Research Agency.” Annie Jacobsen graduated from Princeton University where she studied Greek and served as Captain of the Princeton Women’s Ice Hockey Team. From 2009 to 2013 she was a contributing editor for the Los Angeles Times Magazine. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two sons.

Commanding General, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command
General David Perkins

General David Perkins

General David G. Perkins commands the US Army Training and Doctrine Command and is responsible for selecting and recruiting every US Army Soldier, training and educating Army professionals, and designing the future US Army. His numerous senior leadership positions include Special Assistant to the Speaker of the House, 104th US Congress; Battalion Commander during Operation Able Sentry; Brigade Commander for the invasion of Iraq; Executive Assistant to the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Division Commander during the transition of US Forces from Iraq in 2010- 2011. General Perkins commanded the US Army’s premier education and leader development institution at Fort Leavenworth, responsible for managing training development and support, developing US Army doctrine, and synchronizing leader development. A native of New Hampshire, he graduated from the US Military Academy, holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering as well as a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies.

Research Scientist, Global Security Initiative, Arizona State University
Dr. Heather Roff

Dr. Heather Roff

Heather M. Roff is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, a Research Scientist in the Global Security Initiative at Arizona State University, a national Cybersecurity Fellow at the New America Foundation, and a Research Associate at the Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies at the United States Air Force Academy. Her research interests pertain to issues of international security and global justice, principally in relation to emerging military technologies. She is author of Global Justice, Kant and the Responsibility to Protect (Routledge, 2013) and over a dozen articles relating to international ethics and emerging technologies, particularly autonomous weapons and cybersecurity. Her new book project, Lethal Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War examines the moral, legal and policy implications of these systems. She has testified before the United Nations Convention on Conventional Weapons as an invited expert on autonomous weapons. Her work appears in the Huffington Post, the Wall Street Journal, The Globe and Mail, and Slate Magazine.

The panel and audience pursued a vigorous – and occasionally pointed – debate on the promise and the risks of military innovation. The discussion focused primarily on the issue of autonomous weapons systems and biotechnology. Specifically, panellists examined whether the responsibility for ethical use belongs to the scientists and innovators endowing these weapons with greater intelligence, or to those executing these advanced capabilities in the field. Experts from the military, watchdog, and political realms offered differing views, ultimately agreeing that the element of human decision-making must be safeguarded above all.

“I’m not quite certain that you can create artificial intelligence that’s going to act and react in the same way that you think a human being is going to react.”

— Dr.Heather Roff, Senior Scientist, Global Security Initiative, Arizona State University

“You hear comments, ‘Well, if we have autonomous operations and robots, there are moral and ethical issues involved with that’. There are moral and ethical issues involved with using a bayonet.”

— David Perkins, Commanding General, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command

11:45-12:15

Coffee Break

12:15-13:30

Plenary 8: Financing Terror: Selling Drugs, Enslaving Women, Making Money

Speakers

Senior Fellow, Homeland Security Policy Institute, George Washington University
Moderator
Ms. Jeanne Meserve

Ms. Jeanne Meserve

Ms. Jeanne Meserve attended the Forum in 2011 and 2012 as a Homeland Security Correspondent for CNN, and in 2013 and 2014 as a Senior Fellow at the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University  She has been an anchor and correspondent for CNN and ABC News, winning two Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and an Edward R. Murrow Award. As Director of Training for The Communication Center she now travels the world providing executive coaching to clients from top corporations, government, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations. Meserve also moderates interviews and policy debates for the World Health Organization, the Aspen Institute, and other academic and policy groups. She continues to do voiceover and on camera work, and is a member of the Aspen Institute Homeland Security Advisory Committee. A graduate of Middlebury College, Meserve is a recipient of the college’s Alumni Achievement Award. Find her on Twitter: @JeanneMeserve.

Head of the Department of Foreign Relations, Kurdistan Regional Government
The Hon. Falah Mustafa Bakir

The Hon. Falah Mustafa Bakir

Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir was appointed as the first Head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Department of Foreign Relations with ministerial rank in September 2006. Mr. Bakir served as the Public Relations Officer of the Kurdistan Democratic Party from 1996 to 1999 and as the KRG Deputy Minister of Agriculture & Irrigation from 1999 to 2002. He was a Senior Adviser to KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani from 2002 to 2004, when he was appointed Minister of State. He also served as the KRG’s liaison officer to the Coalition Provisional Authority in 2003 and to the Multi-National Forces Korean Contingent stationed in Erbil in 2004. Having been tasked with creating the KRG Department of Foreign Relations (DFR) in 2006, Mr. Bakir managed the Department through the duration of the 5th and 6th Cabinets of the KRG and is now serving in the 8th Cabinet, as well. Fluent in Kurdish, English, and Arabic, Mr. Bakir is a well-received lecturer and frequently represents the KRG at international conferences around the world. Mr. Bakir promotes and encourages scholarship and training programs for the people of Kurdistan.

Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
The Hon. Husain Haqqani

The Hon. Husain Haqqani

Husain Haqqani served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States from 2008-2011 and is widely credited with managing a difficult partnership during a critical phase in the global war on terrorism. He is currently Director for South and Central Asia at Hudson Institute in Washington, DC. He is also Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Politics, University of Chicago. He has been a journalist, academic, and diplomat in addition to serving as advisor to four Pakistani Prime Ministers, including the late Benazir Bhutto. His 2005 book Pakistan Between Mosque and Military was acclaimed for explaining the roots of Pakistan’s foreign and domestic policies. His latest book Magnificent Delusions: US, Pakistan and the Global Jihad which came out in November 2013 has been described as “timely, valuable and objective” by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Co-Chair of the Arizona Task Force on Human Trafficking, The McCain Institute for International Leadership
Ms. Cindy McCain

Ms. Cindy McCain

Cindy Hensley McCain has dedicated her life to improving the lives of those less fortunate both in the United States and around the world. As Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the HALO Trust USA, a non-profit organization dedicated to landmine removal and weapons destruction in war-torn countries. Cindy serves as co-chair of the Arizona Governor’s Council on human trafficking and on the McCain Institute’s Human Trafficking Advisory Council. She is dedicated to efforts to reduce human trafficking in Arizona, throughout the United States and around the world, as well as working to improve the lives of victims of human trafficking. Cindy also served on the Board of Directors for Operation Smile, a non-profit organization whose mission is to repair cleft lips, cleft palates, and other facial deformities for children around the world. She was a founding Member of the Eastern Congo Initiative. Cindy holds an undergraduate degree in education and a master’s in special education from USC and is a member of the USC Rossier School of Education Board of Councilors. Cindy is the Chairman of her family’s business, Hensley Beverage Company, which is one of the largest Anheuser-Busch distributors in the nation. Cindy resides in Phoenix with her husband, US Senator John McCain. Together, they have four children.

Executive Director, Samir Kassir Foundation
Mr. Ayman Mhanna

Mr. Ayman Mhanna

Ayman Mhanna is the Executive Director of the Samir Kassir Foundation, a Beirut-based non-governmental organization dedicated to defending freedom of expression and operating in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. He previously worked at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. Mhanna holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from the Saint-Joseph University in Beirut and a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Sciences-Po Paris. He is also a lecturer at the Master’s program of the Saint-Joseph University’s Faculty of Economics, teaching policy development and communications. Mhanna is a member of the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections and the Lebanese Economic Association and has served since 2008 at the executive committee of the Democratic Renewal Movement (DRM), a social liberal cross-sectarian Lebanese political party. From October 2008 to August 2013, he was the coordinator for Tajaddod Youth, the youth branch of DRM.

The final plenary of the Forum examined the criminal activity that is bankrolling global terror activity. From oil exports, the drug trade, prostitution and human trafficking, right down to a mundane ATM cash withdrawal from compromised banking systems in the Middle East – it seems there is no end to the list of revenue generators for terror networks. The panel discussed ways to overcome the roadblocks to prosecution of these crimes, which are complicated by complicit allies, “informal economies”, and a lack of support for domestic law enforcement. Panelists finished with a call for renewed cooperation among nations to disrupt a dangerously diverse and sophisticated web of criminal enterprise. Halifax International Security Forum President Peter Van Praagh came on stage to conclude the 2015 Forum by thanking all speakers, participants and sponsors.

“When we manage to identify smugglers in antiquities for example, there is high probability that they are extremely connected to the ones trafficking oil, phosphate, sulphur, cement, wheat – all these products are being smuggled through these routes. Probably pulling one thread will lead to destroying the whole sweater.”

— Ayman Mhanna, Executive Director, Samir Kassir Foundation

“We’re concentrating on the plight of the refugees, as we should. But part of the problem in this is that we’re ignoring the traffickers. I’ve never seen a more disorganized issue than human trafficking. Nobody works together on it.”

— Cindy McCain, Co-Chair of the Arizona Task Force on Human Trafficking, The McCain Institute for International Leadership

13:30-14:30

Closing Lunch

LOCATION: Atlantic Ballroom

Closing Press Conference

The Hon. Harjit Sajjan, Canada’s Defence Minister and President Peter Van Praagh deliver remarks to the press to close the 2015 Halifax International Security Forum.

Clippings

U.S. expects F-35 to be part of Canada’s next jet competition
Phil Stewart

“The Pentagon expects the new Canadian government to allow Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-35 fighter aircraft to compete to replace Canada’s aging CF-18 jets, despite the Liberal Party’s stated opposition to the planes, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work said on Saturday…”

Kaine: ‘Scar Tissue’ from Iraq, Afghanistan Impacts Global Strategy
Aaron Mehta

“As the situation in Syria grinds on and members of the global community consider increasing military action to fight the Islamic State group, a top US Senator today defended the US reluctance for large-scale military intervention…”

U.S. senators in Halifax welcome Canadian pledge to train Iraqi troops
Michael Gorman

“The Canadian government’s decision to increase training for troops on the ground in the fight against ISIS is a key requirement in defeating the terrorist organization, according to American senators at the Halifax International Security Forum…”

Connecticut senator to participate in security conference
Associated Press

“Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy is participating in an international security forum in Canada where he’ll be talking with U.S. allies about efforts to defeat the Islamic State group. “Murphy is expected to discuss his push to tighten immigration laws, particularly the visa waiver program…argues under current regulations, foreign visitors from any of the 38 participating countries could easily travel to the U.S., buy a gun and use it to cause harm…”

Canada’s ISIS fight stance understood by U.S. senators at Halifax meeting

“U.S. senators attending a global security meeting in Halifax say they should be able to work out a strategy with Canada as the new Liberal government moves forward with plans to halt aerial bombing of ISIS in the Mideast…”

ISIS’s social media use examined at Halifax International Security Forum

“Combatting the use of social media as a communication, recruiting and fundraising tool in the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is a hot topic at this weekend’s Halifax International Security Forum.”

More News & Press

In Pictures

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