Dr. Michael CARPENTER
Senior Director of the Joseph R. Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania, USA
Dr. Michael Carpenter is Senior Director of the Joseph R. Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Carpenter is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense with responsibility for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, the Western Balkans, and Conventional Arms Control. Prior to joining the Department of Defense, Dr. Carpenter served in the White House as a foreign policy advisor to Vice President Joe Biden and as Director for Russia at the National Security Council. Previously, Dr. Carpenter was a career Foreign Service Officer with the State Department, where he received four Superior Honor Awards and three Meritorious Honor Awards. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University. Dr. Carpenter was a Fulbright Scholar at the Polish Academy of Sciences and has received fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, MacArthur Foundation, and IREX Foundation for his academic research.
Brg. Gen. Jarosław KRASZEWSKI,
Director of Armed Forces Department at National Security Bureau, Poland
Brig. Gen. Jarosław Kraszewski started his military carrier in 1988 joining the Academy of Field Artillery in Torun. His first assigment was a platoon leader in 23 FA Brigade in Zgorzelec. In this unit, he also occupied positions as a baterry commander, FA battalion executive officer, and FA battalion commanding officer. Between 1998-2000 he was studing at the National Defence Academy in Warsaw. In 2000 he was assigned as a staff officer in the Polish Land Forces HQ dealing with the NATO training and exercises. Beween 2002-2003 he was studying at the US Army Command and General Staff College. In 2003, he became a branch chief, training and exercise (G-3 Ops, POL Land Forces HQ). Between 2006-2008 he was working as a deputy director, Armed Forces Departmnet at the Polish National Security Bureau (Warsaw). 2008-2009 he served as an assistant of the Chief of Training, POL LF HQ. Starting from January 2010 he has been the commanding officer of 23 FA Brigade in Boleslawiec. Brig. Gen. Kraszewski has taken part in many NATO and mutinational exercises, courses as well as in operations abroad. In 2012 he finalized his PhD study of effects based approach to operations. Between 2012-13 he was assigned as a commanding officer of the multinational brigade in Lublin. Starting from March of 2013, Brig. Gen. Kraszewski had been serving as a chief of the Polish Field Artillery, Polish Army HQ. His current assigment is a director of Armed Forces Department at National Security Bureau (from 16 November 2015).
Garry KASPAROV,
Chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, and political activist
Mr. Garry Kasparov is a Russian pro-democracy leader, global human-rights activist, business speaker and author, and former world chess champion.
In 2005 he formed the United Civil Front, of which he is still the chairman, and co-led The Other Russia coalition that focused on uniting the Russian opposition to Putin under the banner of free and fair elections. In 2012 he became the chairman of the NY-based Human Rights Foundation, which is dedicated to protecting dissidents and individual freedom around the world. His latest book is “Winter is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World must be Stopped.”
Mr. Kasparov also turned his energy to writing and public speaking. His keynote lectures and seminars on strategic thinking, achieving peak performance, and tech innovation have been acclaimed in dozens of countries. His 2007 book on decision-making, “How Life Imitates Chess” was translated into over 20 languages.
The Kasparov Chess Foundation was launched in New York City in 2002 with the purpose of bringing chess into the educational system in the USA and worldwide. Kasparov has long promoted the many benefits of chess for schoolchildren KCF’s program is now used in thousands of schools. KCF formed branches in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America and will continue rapid expansion. Kasparov has traveled to dozens countries to promote scholastic chess programs.
Yauheni PREIHERMAN,
Policy Director at Center for Analytical Initiatives PA Discussion and Analytical Society Liberal Club
Mr. Yauheni Preiherman is a foreign policy and security analyst based in Belarus. He is the Policy Director of the Discussion and Analytical Society Liberal Club which is a non-governmental, nonprofit organization for research and educational projects, based in Minsk. Mr. Preiherman holds a BA in International Relations from the Belarusian State University. He also completed an MA in European Politics from Sussex University in the United Kingdom. He is also a PhD candidate in international relations at the University of Warwick (UK). Mr. Preiherman hosts informational and analytical programs in an audio business portal PRIMUS.BY
Col. (Ret) Samuel GARDINER,
Retired United States Air Force Colonel, Military Strategist
Col. Samuel Gardiner is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who has taught strategy and military operations at the National War College, Air War College, and Naval War College. He was recently a visiting scholar at the Swedish Defence College. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he was a regular on CNN, the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, BBC radio and television, and National Public Radio. One of the war games Col. Gardiner was organized by the Atlantic Monthly to gauge how an American president might respond, militarily or otherwise, to Iran’s rapid progress toward developing nuclear weapons. He also has conducted war games on North Korea.
Tomas JERMALAVICIUS,
Head of Studies / Research Fellow, International Centre for Defence and security
Mr. Tomas Jarmalavicius holds a BA in political science from the University of Vilnius, an MA in war studies from King’s College London and an MBA degree from the University of Liverpool.
Prior to joining ICDS, Mr. Jarmalavicius worked at the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL), first as deputy director of the College’s Institute of Defence Studies in 2001-2004, and later as dean of the college in 2005-2008. In the latter capacity, he was also the editor of the journal ‘Baltic Security and Defence Review’. At BALTDEFCOL, he lectured and published articles on strategy, military theory, defence policy and civil-military relations. He was also involved in the Prometheus Programme of Transition Studies at the Euro-College of the University of Tartu, post-graduate military diplomacy programme at the Lithuanian Military Academy as well as in various projects of the Estonian Academy of Young Scientists (ENTA). In 1998-2001 and in 2005, Tomas worked at the Defence Policy and Planning Department of the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence. At the end of 1998 - beginning of 1999, he was a research fellow at the Swedish National Defence Establishment (FOA, now FOI).
At ICDS, Tomas focuses on the issues pertaining to science, technology and innovation, defence industry, security and defence governance and management (especially civil-military relations, whole-of-government approach and organisational culture), foresight and resilience.
Dr. Pavel USOV,
Director of the Center for Political Analysis and Prognosis, Belarus
Dr. Pavel Usov is the director of the Center for Political Analysis and Prognosis co-founder of the Belarusian Analytical Center in Warsaw. He have written more than 500 hundred analytical, publicist and scientific articles in Russian, English and Polish languages.
Dr. Usov studied history and journalism at Mogilev State University, while acquiring his PhD in political science at the The Belarusian State University in Minsk. Moreover, he did post graduate studies in in Polish Academy of Science, where in 2012 defended a dissertation ,,The neo-authoritarian regime in Belarus: consolidation and functioning."
From 2005 to 2008 he had been the member of the board of the Mogilev Human right defense center. From 2007 he serves as political analyst and expert for Belarusian Independent Television “BELSAT”, while working as director at the Center for Political Analysis and Prognosis.
Dr. Usov speaks fluently in four languages, while he is able to understand and read in three more. His sphere of the interests consists of ancient and modern history of Russia and Belarus, geopolitics and political processes in post-soviet countries.
Michael MALM,
Course coordinator, Institute for National Security Studies at Swedish Defence University
Mr. Michael MALM is a course coordinator at the The Institute for National Security Studies at Swedish Defence University. Mr. Malm has previously worked in the Baltic Defence College. He has also acted as the Head of the Strategic Section at Swedish Armed Forces HQ and worked as a Senior Analyst for the Swedish Defence Research Agency. Mr. Malm has served as an officer in the Swedish Air Force for over a decade.
Mykhailo SAMUS,
Deputy Director for International Affairs, Centre of Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies, Ukraine
Mr. Mykhailo SAMUS serves as the Deputy Director for International Affairs at Center of Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies (CACDS). In 2009-2015 he was a Head of CACDS and Defense Express Office in EU (Prague, Czech Republic). Before 2009, when he opened CACDS and Defense Office in Prague, he was CACDS deputy director, CACDS military-political projects coordinator, Editor-in-chief оf Export Control Newsletter and a journalist of Defense Express. His articles are published in Defense Express, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, Radio Svoboda, Dilova Stolytsia, Espreso, Lidovky, Komentari, NatoAktual.cz.
In 1993 Mr. Samus finished the Kyiv Shevchenko National University and in 2007 acquired a degree in the Institute of Journalism, Kyiv.
Edward LUCAS,
Senior editor at "The Economist"
Mr. Edward Lucas is a senior editor at The Economist, the world’s foremost newsweekly. His expertise includes energy, cyber-security, espionage, Russian foreign and security policy and the politics and economics of Eastern Europe.
Heis also a senior vice-president at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).
In 2008 he wrote The New Cold War, a prescient account of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. In 2011 he wrote Deception, an investigative account of east-west espionage. He is a strong critic of the fugitive NSA contractor Edward Snowden, and author of an e-book>The Snowden Operation. His latest book is Cyberphobia. He has also contributed to books on religion and media ethics.
An experienced broadcaster, public speaker, moderator and panelist, Edward Lucas has given public lectures at Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge and other leading universities. He is a regular contributor to the BBC’s Today and Newsnight programmes, and to NPR, CNN and Sky News. He is regularly cited by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the top 100 Twitterati.
For many years a foreign correspondent, he was based in Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Moscow and the Baltic states. He is currently in London, as a senior editor at The Economist, responsible for the daily news app Espresso. He also writes obituaries. His weekly syndicated column has appeared since 2005; he also writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Foreign Policy and Standpoint.
As well as working for the Independent, the BBC and the Sunday Times, he also co-founded an English-language weekly in Tallinn, Estonia: the Baltic Independent. His undergraduate degree is from the London School of Economics and he speaks five languages — German, Russian, Polish, Czech and Lithuanian.