U.S. Army War College's National Security Seminar

At Carlisle Barracks, Harrisburg, PA (June 2015)

One of 25 breakdown groups, referred to as "seminars"

Many of tomorrow's military, diplomatic and international leaders are graduates of the Army War College, where critical thinking is taken to the top, strategic level. During the final week of the ten month program, prominent civilians join the seminars and enter into lively dialogues with the students. This exercise is known as the National Security Seminar. The job of the community leaders is to challenge and interact with the students, following lectures on important issues facing the country, the military and the world. Nearly 400 students graduated in the Class of 2015, including mid level military officers, senior federal employees and 79 international officers. My group's foreign representatives came from Japan, Ghana, South Africa and Poland. Civilian members included an oil company geologist, real estate developer, bio-medical company president, philanthropist, economic development officer, a university faculty member, and an author/journalist from Iowa. I can tell you, we are in good hands with this crop of promising leaders. I wondered if I was rubbing shoulders with the likes of Generals Eisenhower, Schwarzkopf, Haig or Abrams, all of whom started their careers at the War College.