Modern War Institute

The NATO Urban Warfare Project
2017-01-25 12:50 - 13:45 (America/New_York) | Washington Hall 5006
NATO is currently conducting and Urbanization Conceptual Study and Experiment to examine the impact on NATO military operations of potential crisis situations in urban systems and consequences of urbanization in 2035. This panel will include the current and former directors of the project, Hungarian Air Force Lt. Col. Jozsef Bodnar and UK Royal Air Force Wing Cmdr. (Ret) Gordon Pendleton.

MWI Speaker Series: Author Max Brooks
2017-01-19 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5300
Max Brooks is the bestselling author of World War Z and The Harlem Hellfighters, a graphic novel about the 369th Infantry Regiment during World War I. He will speak about the importance of championing creativity in effective organization.

MWI Speaker Series: Medal of Honor Recipient Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta
2017-01-10 12:50 - 13:45 | Ike Hall Auditorium
Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2010 for his actions on October 25, 2007, when his platoon was ambushed in the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan.

MWI War Studies Conference: “Reassessing Deterrence in the 21st Century”
2016-11-13 - 2016-11-15 | Jefferson Hall
WAR STUDIES CONFERENCE
Reassessing Deterrence in the 21st Century
November 13-15, 2016
Conference Agenda
Tomorrow’s potential adversaries require a new approach for American strategic deterrence. Fifty years after Thomas Schelling penned Arms and Influence, globalization, modernization, interconnectedness and the pervasiveness of non-state adversaries have fundamentally changed our capability as well as our credibility to deter. The Modern War Institute (MWI) will convene a distinguished group of academics, practitioners, business leaders and policymakers to discuss these changes and explore their implications for U.S. national security strategy. The conference will emphasize greater joint, interagency, and multinational integration and readiness of the U.S. military and policymaking communities to meet current and upcoming threats and challenges. Topics under discussion include the challenge of deterring non-state enemies on the cyber battlefield; the viability of NATO and other 20th century alliances to deter; and domestic political challenges – from defense budgeting to strained civil-military relations – to deterring potential adversaries. The purpose of the conference is to gather the world’s preeminent thought leaders to discuss and debate the role of strategic deterrence in modern warfare, which will shape our first edited conference volume and help inform the West Point cadet education program.
War Studies Conference Agenda

MWI Battlefield Assessment on Sri Lanka
2016-11-10 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5006
Dr. Lionel Beehner & Dr. Cronin-Furman – MWI Battlefield Assessment on Sri Lanka

Speaker Series: Masha Gessen
2016-10-21 12:50 - 13:45
Masha Gessen – MWI Speaker Series event on US-Russian Relations Cosponsored with SOSH & English

Speaker Series: MG (ret) Robert Scales, Strategic Importance of Tactical Dominance
2016-10-19 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5300
MG (ret) Robert Scales – MWI Speaker Series with MWI Adjunct Scholar and FOX News Channel (FNC) military analyst on the strategic importance of tactical dominance.

Spymasters, with Former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden — MWI Film Screening
2016-10-14 19:30 - 22:30 | Robinson Auditorium
The Spymasters: CIA In the Crosshairs is a 2015 documentary film which covers the experience of the Central Intelligence Agency as seen through the eyes of the twelve living CIA directors, all of whom were interviewed for the film.

Speaker Series: Sebastian Junger
2016-09-30 12:50 - 13:45 | Robinson Auditorium
Sebastian Junger, author of Tribe – MWI Speaker Series/Book Talk cosponsored with BS&L

Speaker Series: Andrew Bacevich on U.S. Military Options in the Middle East
2016-09-26 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5300
Dr. Andrew Bacevich – MWI Speaker Series with MWI Adjunct Scholar and Boston University Professor of History on US military options in Middle East

MWI Panel: Future Warfare
2016-09-20 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5300
MWI is hosting a panel discussion on the future of war with CSA SSG (COL Mahaney), AWG CDR COL Mike Loos, and MWI Director COL Liam Collins.

Speaker Series: Fred Kaplan on Cyber Warfare
2016-09-19 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5300
Fred Kaplan, Columnist for Slate – MWI Speaker Series/Book Talk on Cyber War Co-sponsored with the Army Cyber Institute.

Speaker Series: Eric Maddox on the Capture of Saddam Hussein
2016-09-06 12:50 - 13:45 | Robinson Auditorium
Eric Maddox, author of the book Mission: Black List #1, will discuss the capture of Saddam Hussein.

Kill Team – Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic (SCPME) Film Screening
2016-08-19 19:00 - 22:00 | Robinson Auditorium
Kill Team, with Dan Krauss (Director) and Adam Winfield – Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic (SCPME) Film Screening
THE KILL TEAM goes behind closed doors to tell the riveting story of Specialist Adam Winfield, a 21-year-old infantryman in Afghanistan who attempted with the help of his father to alert the military to heinous war crimes his platoon was committing. Tragically, his father’s pleas for help went unheeded. Once Adam’s fellow soldiers got wind of what he’d done, they threatened to silence him — permanently. Forced to choose between his conscience and his own survival, Adam found himself drawn into a moral abyss, faced with a split-second decision that would change his life forever.
With extraordinary access to the key individuals involved in the case – including Adam, his passionately supportive parents, and his startlingly candid compatriots — THE KILL TEAM is an intimate look at the personal stories so often lost inside the larger coverage of the longest war in US history.

COL Jonathan J. Beitler, M.D., Ethics Essay Award
2016-05-06
Cadet essay award for best paper dealing with the topic of ethics or toleration in the profession of arms.
Competition is open to all cadets in all courses. Paper can be any length and does not necessarily have to involve original research.
Departments determine top essays and submit department nominee(s); interdisciplinary committee determines Academy-wide winner.
Submissions due to POC below NLT 6 May; winner announced during TEE week and award presented during Graduation Week
POC – Dr. David Frey, x7643, david.frey@usma.edu, Dept. of History and Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

This award is named for Dr. Jonathan J. Beitler to acknowledge his lifelong commitment to the military profession and to combating social inequality. Dr. Beitler hopes the award will further the Academy’s mission to educate and train cadets by inspiring them to think rigorously about the professional military ethic. Dr. Beitler earned his B.A. from Lehigh University, his M.D. from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and his M.B.A. from Columbia University. After a teaching at the University of Maryland and at the Montefiore Medical Center, Dr. Beitler joined the faculty at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Since 2003, he has been a Professor of Clinical Radiation Oncology and Clinical Otolarynology at the Einstein. He is on the editorial board of two of the leading journals in his field and as authored or contributed to nearly 100 articles, protocols, or reviews.
While at Lehigh University, Dr. Beitler joined the Army ROTC program and won an Army Health Professions Scholarship. Commissioned as a First Lieutenant, he began his medical career as a General Surgery resident. As a reservist, he has been deployed throughout Europe and North America, earning special recognition for his work with Army burn victims. He has trained in a variety of specialties, including flight surgery and advanced trauma life support. Most recently, he did reserve service at Fort Rucker. He holds the rank of Colonel.

MWI Speaker Series: MAJ D. J. Skelton
2016-05-02 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5300
Most wounded commander in U.S. Military history.

MWI Speaker Series: Medal of Honor Receipt SSG Ryan Pitts – “The Battle for Wanat”
2016-04-18 12:50 - 13:45 | Robinson Auditorium
SSG Ryan Pitts was awarded the medal on July 21, 2014, for actions on July 13, 2008, during the Battle of Wanat. As part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, SSG Pitts served as a Forward Observer.

MWI Speaker Series: COL Jimmy Blackmon – “Pale Horse: Hunting Terrorist and Commanding Heroes”
2016-04-15 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5006
Pale Horse is the remarkable never-before-told true story of an army aviation task force during combat in the Afghan War, told by the commanding officer who was there. Set in the very valleys where the attacks of 9/11 were conceived, and where ten Medals of Honor have been earned since that fateful day the war began, the narrative races from ferocious firefights and bravery in battle to the quiet moments where the courageous men and women of Task Force Pale Horse catch their breath before they take to the skies again.

An IDF Perspective: Fighting Hezbollah and Palestinian Terror
2016-04-14 12:50 - 13:45 | WH5114 (Benavidez Room)
BG Oren Avman is a Division Commander in the Israel Defense Force’s Central Command. During his almost 30 year career, he has led operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, served in Operation Defensive Shield, and fought against Palestinian terror in the West Bank and Gaza.

Speaker Series: LTC(ret) Jason Amerine - "Horse Soldiers in Afghanistan"
2016-04-06 12:50 - 13:45 | Thayer Hall 144
LTC(ret) Amerine led Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 574, an A-team of eleven soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 5th Special Forces Group which fought with and protected Afghan leader Hamid Karzai in battles against the Taliban during November and December, 2001.

Sandhurst Conference: Preparing Our Future Leaders for Modern War
2016-04-04 08:00 - 18:00
Lieutenant General Robert L. Caslen, the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy and Brigadier General Diana M. Holland, Commandant of the United States Corps of Cadets, present the inaugural Sandhurst Conference at West Point. The conference will be an annual event organized by the Department of Military Instruction and the Modern War Institute to complement the traditionally military Sandhurst competition and provide an intellectual and academic forum for officers across the globe to discuss and debate how best to prepare for modern war. To encourage a free and open exchange of views, all comments during the conference are “not for attribution.”
The theme for the inaugural conference is “Preparing Our Future Leaders for Modern War.” The premise of this conference is that technical and tactical competence alone no longer suffices for junior officers to meet the challenges of 21st Century warfare. The nature and character of war are changing amid rapid technological advancements and the growing complexity and uncertainty of the modern battlefield. Throughout this conference, we will seek to better understand the challenges of modern war and how to prepare our future leaders to win in a complex world.
This year’s conference is made possible through the generosity of the USMA Class of 1999

Conference Schedule

World War Z: Imagining Future Warfare
2016-03-31 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5300
Soldiers and scholars have long been challenged when planning and imagining future combat environments. Max Brooks, author of World War Z, used zombies and actual historical events to educate millions on crisis preparedness. Max’s unique, unconventional thinking has been sought by the U.S. Military, FEMA, and many others.
Son of Hollywood legends Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, Max Brooks has published three massively successful zombie-themed books— World War Z, The Zombie Survival Guide, The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks – and a graphic novel about the African American “Harlem Hellfighters,” during WWI. A former writer for Saturday Night Live, Brooks is an entertaining and thought provoking speaker.

MWI Movie Screening: Pech River Boys
2016-03-25 19:00 - 22:00 | Robinson Auditorium
In May 2010, Bravo Company / 3rd Platoon / 1-327IN of the legendary 101st Airborne Division was deployed to the Pech River Valley located in Afghanistan’s Kunar province. They were stationed at COP Michigan in the mouth of the deadly Korengal Valley. Pech River Boys: Tales From Afghanistan will be a documentary film to preserve the events that these men experienced and to remember their fallen brother Spc Brian Tabada. The sole purpose of this project is to provide an outlet for these soldiers to tell their stories to their family, friends, and those who will listen.

MWI and Military Science Tactical Decision Making Exercise: Arnhem Bridge
2016-03-25 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5300

Speaker Series: Ben Wizner - "Edward Snowden - Not Guilty"
2016-03-10 12:50 - 13:45 | Thayer Hall 144
Ben Wizner, a conversation with Edward Snowden’s lawyer about privacy and security.

War Council and Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Panel: "Bosnia"
2016-03-07 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5300
Bosnia: History, Genocide, Survival and Justice
BG Tim Trainor, Dean, West Point
Dr. Larry Wolff Professor, New York University
Ms. Emina Hadzic, Esq. Bosnian War Survivor
Judge Patricia Whalen, Special Adviser, War Crimes Chamber at the Court of Bosnia
COL Liam Collins, Director, Modern War Institute

MWI and Military Science Tactical Decision Making Exercise: Raid Brecourt Manner
2016-02-22 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5300
In this series, Military Science instructors introduce historical case studies and allow cadets to plan a tactical response then guide a discussion comparing the cadets’ plans to what actually happened.

CTC & MWI Presentation: Challenging Extremism through Social Media
2016-02-04 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5006
Come listen to a team from Pakistan and a team from Switzerland describe their projects that created social media campaigns, tools, and applications to help in countering violent extremism.
F.A.T.E. – From Apathy to Empathy – Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
Faces4Heritage – Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland
A U.S. Government interagency collaboration led by the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security sponsored an international contest called Peer 2 Peer: Challenging Extremism. The two teams presenting at this event are two of the three finalists. The third finalist and only U.S. team selected was a team from West Point. We will showcase their work at a future event.

War Council and CSCMO Panel: Defense Innovation
2016-01-21 12:50 - 13:45 | Washington Hall 5006
Does Silicon Valley Hold Key for Military Innovation?
Moderator John Melkon of the Center for the Study of Civil-Military Operations​ (CSCMO)
Paul Scharre, Director of Center for New American Security’s Future of Warfare Initiative
COL Henry Lutz, Joint Staff, J8 Force Application
