Washington, DC

Conference

PILAC Director Naz K. Modirzadeh will participate in a panel on “How Should We Adjust the Laws of War to Address the Changing Nature of Conflict?" as part of the first annual Future of War Conference. The conference brings together a diverse, interdisciplinary collection of experts to discuss the profound social, political, economic, and cultural implications of the changing nature of war and conflict. The theme of the event is “How is Warfare Changing?,” which will be explored through a consideration of three sub-themes: “How Are Emerging Technologies and Strategies Redefining the Practice of War?;” “Are We Living in a Forever War?;” and “Can We Better Understand How Warfare is Evolving by Reflecting on History?” The conference also launches the Future of War Project. Photo credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Live Stream

This conference is being streamed live online [link].

Date

The conference takes place on February 24th and 25th.

Agenda

Tuesday February 24, 2015

8:30 – 8:50: Welcome and Opening Remarks

Dr. Michael Crow – President, Arizona State University
Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter – President and CEO, New America

9:00 – 9:50: Machines That Kill: Will We Rely on Autonomous Weapons?

Peter Bergen (moderator) – Vice President, Director of Studies, New America; Professor of Practice, Arizona State University; Co-Director, Future of War Project
Dr. Mary (Missy) Cummings – Associate Professor, Duke University; Director, Humans and Automation Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Former U.S. Navy Fighter Pilot
Dr. Werner Dahm – Chief Scientist, Security & Defense Systems Initiative, Arizona State University; Former Chief Scientist, U.S. Air Force; ASU Foundation Professor; Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan
Vice Adm. (ret.) Ann Rondeau – Former President, National Defense University
Dr. Peter W. Singer – Strategist and Senior Fellow, New America; Author, Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War (forthcoming)

9:50 – 10:40: Climate Change, Pandemics, and the Competition for Prosperity: Planning for Non-Military Security Challenges

The Honorable Sharon Burke (moderator) – Senior Advisor, International Security Program, New America; Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs, U.S. Department of Defense
Nadya Bliss – Director, Global Security Initiative, Arizona State University
Dr. David Gartner – Co-Director, Center for Law and Global Affairs, Arizona State University
Col. Troy Thomas – Director for Strategic Planning, National Security Council; Officer, United States Air Force

10:50 – 11:40: Continuities and Change in Future Armed Conflict

Jake Tapper (moderator) – Chief Washington Correspondent; Anchor, The Lead, CNN
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster – Commanding General, Army Capabilities Integration Center, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command

11:40 – 12:00: Lunch

12:00 – 12:30: Striking a Balance: Authorizing the Future Use of Military Force

Heather Hurlburt (moderator) – Director, New Models of Policy Change Program, New America
The Honorable Harold Koh – Sterling Professor of International Law, Yale Law School; Former Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State

12:40 – 1:30: How Will the Digital Biology Revolution Transform Conflict?

Dr. Gaymon Bennett – Assistant Professor of Religion, Science, and Technology, Arizona State University
Dr. Michael Crow – President, Arizona State University
Dr. Gary Marchant – Lincoln Professor of Emerging Technologies, Law, and Ethics; Faculty Director of the Center for Law, Science, and Innovation, Arizona State University

1:40 – 2:20: How Will Technology Shape the Future of War?

Barbara Starr (moderator) – Pentagon Correspondent, CNN
Dr. Arati Prabhakar – Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

2:20 – 3:00: What is Cybersecurity at Home?

Alan Davidson (moderator) – Vice President, Open Technology Institute, New America
The Honorable Suzanne Spaulding – Under Secretary, National Protection and Programs Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

3:10 – 4:00: How Should We Adjust the Laws of War to Address the Changing Nature of Conflict?

Rosa Brooks (moderator) – Professor, Georgetown University Law Center; Senior Fellow, International Security Program, New America
William Banks – Distinguished Professor of Law; Director, Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism, Syracuse University
Laura A. Dickinson – Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor of Law, George Washington Law School; ASU Future of War Fellow, New America;
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Charles Dunlap – Professor of the Practice of Law; Executive Director, Center on Law, Ethics and National Security, Duke University
Naz Modirzadeh – Founding Director, Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, Harvard Law School

4:10 – 5:00: How Does the Navy See the Future of War?

Jim Sciutto (moderator) – Chief National Security Correspondent, CNN
Adm. Michelle Howard – Vice Chief, Naval Operations, U.S. Navy

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

8:30 – 9:30: Reflections on the Future of War

Wolf Blitzer (moderator) – Anchor, The Situation Room, CNN
Gen. Raymond Odierno – Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

9:40 – 10:20: What Do Lessons from History Tell Us About the Future of War?

Michael Lind (moderator) – ASU Future of War Fellow; Co-Founder, New America
Dr. Philip Bobbitt – Herbert Wechsler Professor of Federal Jurisprudence; Director, Center for National Security Law; Columbia Law School; Author, The Shield of Achilles
Sir Lawrence Freedman – Professor of War Studies, King’s College London; Author, Strategy: A History
Dr. Ian Morris – Jean and Rebecca Willard Professor of Classics and Professor of History, Stanford University; Author, War: What Is It Good For?

10:30 – 11:00: Why is Violent Conflict Decreasing in the Long-term?

Daniel Rotherberg – Professor of Practice, Arizona State University; Fellow, New America; Co-Director, Future of War Project
Dr. Steven Pinker – Johnstone Family Professor, Department of Psychology, Harvard University; Author, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

11:10 – 11:50: How Will the Wars of the 21st Century be Fought?

Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter (moderator) – President and CEO, New America
Dr. Brad Allenby – Lincoln Professor of Engineering and Ethics, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering; Affiliated Faculty, Center on the Future of War, Arizona State University
Dr. David Kilcullen – Chairman, Caerus Global Solutions; ASU Future of War Senior Fellow, New America; Author, The Accidental Guerilla and Out of the Mountains
Dr. Peter W. Singer – Strategist and Senior Fellow, New America; Author, Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War (forthcoming)

11:50 – 12:00: Personal Reflection – The Next Generation of Cyberwar

Dr. Peter W. Singer (introduction) – Strategist and Senior Fellow, New America; Author, Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War (forthcoming)
Midshipman Zane Markel – Midshipman, Center for Cyber Security Studies, U.S. Naval Academy

12:00 – 12:20: Lunch

12:20 – 12:50: Will There be a Nuclear War in South Asia?

Gordon Lubold (moderator) – Senior Military Writer, DefenseOne
Shamila Chaudhary (moderator or panelist) – Senior South Asia Fellow, New America; Former Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan, National Security Council
Dr. Anish Goel – Senior South Asia Fellow, International Security Program, New America; Former Senior Director for South Asia, National Security Council
Orde Kittrie – Professor of Law, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University
Dr. Moeed Yusuf – Director, South Asia Programs, U.S. Institute of Peace

12:50 – 1:20: Is a Long Peace Possible in Asia? How Does China See the Future of War?

Bay Fang (moderator) – Senior Fellow, International Security Program, New America; Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Philippe Le Corre – Visiting Fellow, Center on the United States and Europe, Brookings Institution
Dr. Oriana Mastro – Assistant Professor of Security Studies, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University; Officer, U.S. Air Force Reserves
Dr. Sheldon Simon – Director, Center for Asian Studies, Arizona State University

1:30 – 1:40: Personal Reflection – Life as a Mayor in Wartime Iraq

Col. Joel Rayburn (introduction) – Adjunct Fellow, International Security Program, New America; Author, Iraq After America: Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance
Maj. Gen. Najim Abed al-Jabouri – Distinguished Research Fellow, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University; Former Mayor, Tal Afar, Iraq

1:40 – 2:20: What Does the Rise of ISIS Tell Us About the Future of War?

Dr. Tara Maller (moderator) – Associate Director for Strategic Communications, Franklin Project, Aspen Institute; Research Fellow, International Security Program, New America
Barak Barfi – Research Fellow, International Security Program, New America
Souad Mekhennet – Journalist, Washington Post, ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen), and the Daily Beast
Dr. Douglas Ollivant – Partner, Mantid International; ASU Future of War Senior Fellow, New America; Former Director for Iraq, National Security Council
Emma Sky – Senior Fellow, Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Yale University; Former High Level Advisor in Iraq for the U.S. and U.K. Governments

2:20 – 3:00: How Do You Defeat a Networked Enemy Like ISIS? Lessons from Joint Special Operations Command

Peter Bergen (moderator) – Vice President, Director of Studies, New America; Professor of Practice, Arizona State University; Co-Director, Future of War Program
Commander Chris Fussell – Chief of Network Management, McChrystal Group; Senior Fellow, International Security Program, New America; Navy SEAL Commander (Reserves)
Col. (Ret.) Ioannis Koskinas – CEO, Hoplite Group; Senior Fellow, International Security Program, New America; Retired U.S. Air Force Officer, Special Operations

3:10 – 3:50: What Human Rights Will Be Most at Risk in Future Wars?

Dr. Karen Greenberg (moderator) – Director, Center on National Security, Fordham University School of Law
Dr. Ryan Goodman – Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Professor of Law, New York University School of Law; Editor-in-Chief, Just Security Blog
The Honorable Tom Malinowski – Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State
Daniel Rothenberg – Professor of Practice, Arizona State University; Fellow, New America; Co-Director, Future of War Project

3:50 – 4:30: Is the Pentagon Adapting Fast Enough?

Kevin Baron (moderator) – Executive Editor, DefenseOne
Dr. Janine Davidson – Senior Fellow for Defense Policy, Council on Foreign Relations; Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Plans, U.S. Department of Defense
The Honorable Michèle Flournoy – Co-Founder and CEO, Center for a New American Security; Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, U.S. Department of Defense
Tom Ricks – Senior Advisor for National Security, International Security Program, New America; Contributing Editor, Foreign Policy

4:30 – 5:00: How Will Congress Shape the U.S. Military of the Future?

Sen. John McCain – U.S. Senator, Arizona; Chairman, Senate Armed Service Committee