2024 KU Security Conference
Russia’s war against Ukraine is more than a conflict between two states; the war threatens human security across the globe. Russia’s invasion has caused the largest refugee migration in Europe since World War II, disrupted global food supplies, damaged ecosystems, and reshaped alliances in the Middle East, Asia, and elsewhere. On the internet, the war has been accompanied by disinformation campaigns that undermine democratic institutions and influence political decision-making.
This two-day conference, organized by the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (CREES), the Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (ICCAE), Graduate Military Programs, and the Dole Institute of Politics, considered how the world can respond to the many challenges posed by the war. The conference brought together scholars and practitioners from academia, the intelligence community, and the military. General Philip M. Breedlove, Former Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO, opened the conference with a public keynote address. The conference panels addressed the war’s environmental impact, the informational battles accompanying the armed conflict, and the future of Russia and Ukraine in the international system.
General Breedlove's Keynote Address
At the 2024 KU Security Conference, General Philip Breedlove delivered a keynote address at the Dole Institute of Politics, discussing the prolonged and devastating war between Russia and Ukraine. He emphasized that the conflict, which he described as illegal and inhumane, has been ongoing for 10 years, starting in 2014, but was escalated by Russia in 2022. Breedlove highlighted the broader implications of the war, pointing out Russia's strategic aim to reshape Eastern Europe, starting with Ukraine but potentially extending to Georgia and Moldova.
General Breedlove sharply criticized the response of Western countries to Russia’s aggressive actions in Georgia and Ukraine in 2008 and 2014, suggesting that the lack of a strong response encouraged Russia's “bad behavior.” He explained that Wester policies allowed Russia to retain occupied territories, which only emboldened its military campaigns.
The general drew parallels between the damage inflicted on Ukraine and the devastation Europe faced after World War II, emphasizing the severe human and economic toll the war has taken on millions of Ukrainians. He underscored the urgent need for reconstruction and the strategic necessity for the West to reassess its approach to Russia's ambitions in Eastern Europe.
In conclusion, Breedlove called for a robust and unified Western response to support Ukraine fully. He argued that such a response is crucial not only for the sake of Ukrainian sovereignty, but also for the stability and security of the entire region. He warned that without decisive action, the West would see further aggression from Russia.
Summary prepared by Injuu Jyenis, CREES Graduate Assistant
Panel 1: The Russo-Ukrainian War and Global Politics
Gen. Philip M. Breedlove began the panel by paraphrasing Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, noting that “if Ukraine falls, Asia could be next.” The General acknowledged that the world is watching how the US demonstrates its true policies in Ukraine and how the US responds, as he said, “People don’t care what you say, they watch what you do.” Breedlove also criticized the response from the West and the international community for the inadequate response to the Russian occupation of 20% of Georgian territories in 2008, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. General admitted that the West “rewarded bad behavior.” Russia invaded and occupied the Crimean Peninsula in 2013-2014 and then the Donbas region, 12-13% of Ukraine. He emphasized that it has been ten years of war in 2024. Breedlove said that the West allows bad behavior to avoid any conflict or its possibility, answering how the war changed global politics. Meanwhile, the risk builds every day, as Russian president Vladimir Putin has a plan to re-establish and change the security architecture of Eastern Europe.
Assoc. Prof. Volodymyr Dubovyk of Mechnikov National University agreed with Breedlove that the lack of strategic ambiguity is a critical mistake, specifically on the end of the US, explaining that the approaches in decision-making on Russia should be more proactive than reactive. However, he noted, the war’s outcomes are not completely up to the West; it is also up to the Ukrainians and are a testament to Ukrainian resilience. Dubovyk noted that the war is taking a toll on Ukraine’s economy and demography. Meanwhile, Russia continues destroying Ukrainian cities to break the Ukrainian will and undermine international support, forcing Ukraine into disastrous peace treaties to give up its territories in exchange for peace. Dubovyk acknowledged the increasing role of the EU in global politics and addressed the question of Ukraine’s membership in NATO, saying that Ukraine should be a NATO member before the war ends.
The moderator, Dr. Scott, asked what other approaches the US and its allies should take to respond to the events in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. The speakers explained that there must be ambiguity and that the initiative should be regained. The speakers also addressed the questions of NATO membership, the Budapest Memorandum, and long-term strategies.
Summary prepared by Andrii Drobko, CREES Graduate Assistant
Speaker Biographies
Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, USAF, Ret., is a highly decorated retired general of the U.S. Air Force where he reached the highest levels of military leadership as one of six geographic combatant commanders and the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. During 39 years of service, General Breedlove served in a variety of demanding command and staff positions, leading large-scale, diverse, global operations across two theaters of combat.
As the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and the Commander of U.S. European Command, he answered directly to NATO’s governing body, the North Atlantic Council, and to the President of the United States and Secretary of Defense. He led the most comprehensive and strategic structural and policy security changes in the alliance’s 70-year history. His diplomatic skills reassured allies, deterred potential aggressors and maintained alliance unity during the most dynamic and challenging period since its inception. He led the forces of 28 nations and multiple partners in ensuring the security of an alliance that accounts for more than half the world’s gross domestic product. As Commander, U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, General Breedlove was responsible for organizing, training, equipping and maintaining combat-ready forces while ensuring theater air defense forces were ready to meet the challenges of peacetime air sovereignty and wartime defense.
As Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, he presided over the Air Staff and served as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Requirements Oversight Council and Deputy Advisory Working Group during a period of intense challenge. Additionally, he was one of two original authors of the Defense Department’s Air-Sea Battle Concept. His extensive command and control experience in wartime, contingency planning, and humanitarian relief actions include operations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
He earned his Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Science in aerospace technology from Arizona State University. Additionally, he completed a Masters of International Security Affairs from the National War College, a Fellowship in International Security Affairs, Seminar XXI from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed Leadership at the Peak at the Center for Creative Leadership, Colorado Springs. General Breedlove is the CEO of Emerald Coast Strategic Solutions and currently serves on the Georgia Tech Civil and Environmental Engineering School Advisory Board. Further he is a Distinguished Professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech, is a Senior Advisor to Fairfax National Security Solutions, and is on the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Council.
Volodymyr Dubovyk is an Associate Professor, Department of International Relations and Director, Center for International Studies, Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University (Ukraine). V. Dubovyk has conducted research at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (1997, 2006-2007), at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland (2002), taught at the University of Washington (Seattle) in 2013 and at St. Edwards university/University of Texas (Austin) in 2016-17. Volodymyr has been a Fulbright Scholar twice. He is the co-author of “Ukraine and European Security” (Macmillan, 1999) and has published numerous articles on US-Ukraine relations, regional and international security, and Ukraine’s foreign policy.
Currently, in addition to his work in Odesa, he is a Visiting Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and a Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis. He is also a recipient of the emergency grant from the Kennan Institute (2022), non-resident fellowships from the George Washington University (2022-2023) and University of Toronto (2022-2023). Areas of expertise: Ukraine, Transatlantic Relations, U.S., Black Sea security, security studies.
Erik Scott is an Associate Professor in the KU History Department, and the Director of CREES. He is a historian of modern Russia, the Soviet Union, and the global Cold War. His work examines migration, diaspora, and empire within and beyond the borders of Russia and Eurasia to illuminate the region’s diversity and reconsider its relationship to the broader world. He received his B.A. from Brown University, his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and he has held research fellowships at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Georgetown University’s Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies. He has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, and Fulbright-Hays, among others. In addition to his historical research, he is the author of several publications on contemporary Russia and Eurasia. His latest book, Defectors: How the Illicit Flight of Soviet Citizens Built the Borders of the Cold War World, traces the winding journeys of defectors from the Soviet Union to the West through border zones, extraterritorial spaces, and areas at the limits of state jurisdiction, such as international waters and airspaces. He is currently working on a global history of hostage-taking in the Cold War, examining it as a practice and paradigm that defined the era.
Panel 2: The War and Environmental Security
Dr. Kurt Preston used his practical experience as a military officer and a civilian environmental engineer to approach the concept of environmental security. He acknowledged the challenges in defining environmental security and gave a simplified definition, which was a synthesis of definitions from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and the US Indo-Pacific Command. He explained that environmental security is an intersection of environmental issues and national security issues.
Dr. Kurt shared three lived experiences from his career related to environmental security including his work in the former Yugoslavia during Operation Joint Endeavor in the early stages of instituting the Dayton Accords, his work with US adaptation and/or resilience plans for climate change during Hurricanes Michael and Florence, and finally his work in environmental security discussions with host nation militaries in former Soviet states on how to clean up after the Cold War.
Dr. Kristina Hook used her research in Ukraine over the past nine years to evaluate the Russian invasion's environmental impact on Ukraine. Her presentation looked at three topics: the layers of environmental impact, Russia’s intent regarding environmental damage, and recovery.
She explained that impact is evaluated by the environmental arena, the time frame, and victims. While discussing the time frames of damage, Dr. Hook emphasized the correlation between the short-term and long-term environmental impacts on Ukraine's environment and population's physical and mental health and ecology. She explained that many tend to think of the environment as collateral damage, but that it is also a targeted victim of war, using the term “ecocide” to describe the Russian destruction of the Kakhovka Dam.
Dr. Hook discussed the challenges of rebuilding in Ukraine, focusing on green energy, reconstruction, city planning, and innovation. She mentioned that rebuilding in areas of pre-existing vulnerabilities is an opportunity for environmental remediation.
Dr. Antonina Broyaka, a native Ukrainian, discussed the devastating impact of the war on Ukrainian agriculture production, international trade, and significant direct and indirect losses, acknowledging the importance of agriculture for Ukraine’s economy. She presented the costs of the war’s damage to Ukraine’s population, soil, and agriculture. She also presented figures on Ukraine’s share in global exports. She criticized Russia’s weaponization of food security and the direct damage to Ukraine’s economy and agriculture.
The audience's questions covered China’s policies on Ukraine’s grain and Russia's international trade with South America, the issues of unminding Ukraine, food security, transportation disruptions for the supply chain, urban planning, agriculture and labor migration, and land ownership.
Speaker Biographies
Dr. Kristina Hook is an Assistant Professor of Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University’s School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding, and Development. She is an anthropologist and scholar-practitioner specializing in civilian protection and human security. Hook is an expert on the Russia-Ukraine war, where her work focuses on the identity, technological, and environmental ramifications of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. A former Fulbright scholar to Ukraine, she has conducted multiple years of fieldwork in Ukraine since 2015 and is writing a book on the Ukrainian Holodomor. Her work has been supported by National Endowment for the Humanities, National Science Foundation, Fulbright, and USAID fellowships and has appeared in venues including the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, CNN, Washington Post, and USA Today. Kristina received her joint PhD in anthropology and peace studies from the University of Notre Dame's Department of Anthropology and Kroc Institute for International Studies. She previously served as a U.S. Department of State policy advisor for mass atrocity prevention, as a nonresident research fellow at the Marine Corps University, and as a U.S. Presidential Management Fellow. She is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center. Published in July 2023, she is the Principal Author of the expert report, The Russian Federation's Escalating Commission of Genocide in Ukraine: A Legal Analysis, from the New Lines Institute and Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
With over 25 years of leadership experience in national security and environmental science, Dr. Kurt Preston recently joined the University of Kansas as a Professor of Practice. He brings a unique combination of academic, legal, and military expertise to his role, as well as a passion for advancing research and innovation that supports sustainable and resilient solutions for complex challenges. Prior to coming to his current position, he was a Program Manager for both the Department of Defense (DoD), Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program and the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program. As such, he was the focal point for the development of technologies to sustain DoD environmental infrastructure. Dr. Preston’s has tracked his career between civilian university and military positions. Previously as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of NebraskaLincoln (UNL), he led faculty development efforts to improve research competitiveness, executed initiatives that built upon the strengths of the faculty, and worked with technology transfer personnel, academic departments, and colleges to build university research capability. In addition, he was the university’s export control empowered official. At the national level, he was a member of the Chief of the Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Advisory Board while at the university. He holds a bachelor’s degree in agronomy-soil science from the University of Georgia, a master’s degree and a doctorate in environmental engineering from Purdue University, and a juris doctorate from North Carolina Central University. Dr. Preston is a retired lieutenant colonel with previous assignments in Europe, South America, and the Middle East. He is a past Federal Environmental Engineer of the Year for his work in Bosnia and the former Yugoslavia.
Antonina Broyaka is a PhD in Economics and Associate Professor from Ukraine. From 1998 to 2022 she carried out scientific and educational activities at the Vinnytsia National Agrarian University on various positions, ended up as Associate Dean for Research and then as Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Entrepreneurship. In her research, she focuses on the development of agro-industrial sector, agricultural extension service, food security, grain markets, and ag foreign trade. After beginning of Russian invasion of Ukraine she found refuge in the USA. She is continuing research activity as an Extension Associate of Agricultural Economics Department at Kansas State University on an issue of economic impact of Russian military aggression on Ukrainian agriculture, grain markets and glob food security.
Dr. Shannon O'Lear is a political geographer with interests in environmental geopolitics, critical geopolitics, the South Caucasus, and Science and Technology Studies (STS). She is interested in decoding political stories about the environment and how those stories, and agendas underlying them, have spatial impacts and implications. She demonstrates this approach in her 2018 book, Environmental Geopolitics (Rowman and Littlefield) and her 2019 edited volume, A Research Agenda for Environmental Geopolitics (Edward Elgar). She has also edited a volume, A Research Agenda for Geographies of Slow Violence (Edward Elgar 2021) in which a wide range of scholars demonstrate different ways to study violence that is obscured and difficult to see. She has published work on climate science, geography and STS, geopolitics in Azerbaijan and Armenia, genocide and other forms of violence. She served as an Expert on the Environmental Science and Human Security Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education (AC-ERE) of the National Science Foundation to produce a report, Environmental Change and Human Security: Research Directions. She has served as the Councilor for the Great Plains Rocky Mountain Region of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) through 2023, and she is now a Fellow in the AAG’s “Elevate the Discipline” inaugural cohort. She holds a BA in Geography and Russian and a Master’s degree in Geography from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Ph.D. in Geography from Syracuse University. Currently, she is the Director of the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Kansas.
Panel 3: The War, Disinformation, and Global Influence Campaigns
Dr. Anon Shikov began the discussion by noting that the Kremlin’s propaganda falsifies history, appealing to the collective memory and reframing current events. It undermines alternative views and polarizes and weakens its adversaries by creating confusion and disinformation. He explained how Russian propaganda becomes more effective when it aligns with people's existing beliefs and is delivered through trusted sources. It creates new narratives that exploit beliefs already engrained in the target audience. Politicians and influential media personalities can amplify and transmit propaganda to their audiences because they find it useful for their own purposes, they are not necessarily pro-Russian. These figures make the propaganda seem more trustworthy. Dr. Shirikov demonstrated how news agencies can spread disinformation by publishing articles written without access to reliable sources on the ground.
Dr. Shirikov also provided examples of Russian propaganda's persuasiveness during the 2020 US election and the conflict in Ukraine. He focused on conditions under which the audience became more receptive, such as plausibility and trustworthiness, deconstructing the methods used by the Russian propaganda and presented statistics on disinformation deception percentage in Slovakia, Chechia, and Poland, and statistics on belief in propaganda worldwide. He said the main thing we can do to fight Russian propaganda is to focus on eliminating unhealthy incentives, reducing polarization, and working on editorial standards.
Dr. Rebecca Johnston discussed how Russia uses cultural production to create an informational environment that is conducive to facilitating military success in Ukraine. She deconstructed how a videogame funded by the Russian government creates an operative framework that alters the players’ understanding of reality in the context of cultural production. She paid close attention to Russia’s post-Soviet national security strategies and traditional values as they have changed over time and how cultural production is linked to and has helped manifest these strategies.
She discussed epistemic frames in videogames, arguing that the Russian government does something similar with cultural production to control reality and shift the narratives and understanding of its citizens. She noted that unlike with propaganda, it is less important that the audience believe the narratives, and more that they understand the boundaries of public discourse in which they are allowed to operate.
She also examined how the Russian government uses cultural institutions such as the Russian Ministry of Culture and its oversight of various cultural establishments to control and spread propaganda.
Dr. Kat Romonova discussed disinformation campaigns and conspiracy theories, presenting findings from a study on the correlation of conspiracy beliefs and radicalization, explicitly focusing on gender-threatening narratives. Her presentation looked at the specific psychological mechanisms used to weaponize disinformation as well as who is most vulnerable to viral disinformation.
She noted that authoritarian leaders, following Russia’s “disinformation playbook,” use social networks as a successful tool for their disinformation campaigns. She discussed the results of studies she conducted with colleagues that exemplified how conspiracy theories are largely used for disinformation campaigns. These studies looked at QAnon conspiracy theories and the conspiracy of LGBTQ contagion. They found a strong connection between fragile masculinity and radicalization including support for the use of military force. The gender-threatening conspiracies led to more fragile masculinity, which resulted in more support of war and authoritarian leadership. In general, even short-term exposure to conspiracy theories increased respondents’ level of radicalization. In the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war, those conspiracy theories are used by Russia as a tool for radicalization and mobilization.
The panelists also addressed the moderator's and audience questions. They discussed the importance of social media in the context of the war. Audience questions covered the use of conservative values and narratives by the Ministry of Culture to mobilize the population, future trends in influence campaigns, and historical aspects of influence campaigns and propaganda.
Speaker Biographies
Anton Shirikov is a Postdoctoral Scholar in Russian Politics at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University, and an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at KU. Anton earned his PhD in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2022. His book project investigates how propaganda helps authoritarian leaders maintain public support and undermine the influence of independent media. In related research, he studies how we can teach citizens to treat propaganda and disinformation more critically and how Russian propaganda spreads in the United States. His other work examines political elites and institutions in Russia and Ukraine, inter-ethnic trust in Kazakhstan, and the legacies of communism in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. His research has been published in The Journal of Politics, Political Communication, The Quarterly Journal of Political Science, Problems of Post-Communism, The Journal of Legislative Studies, and East European Politics and Societies. His analysis and commentary have appeared in The Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, The Financial Times, Newsweek, Huffington Post, USA Today, Euronews, and other media outlets. Before his PhD studies, Anton worked as a journalist and an editor in Russian independent media.
Rebecca Adeline Johnston is the inaugural Cyber Social Fellow at the University of Kansas, where she conducts research on the intersection of Russian and Soviet history, culture, and information warfare. She holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Texas-Austin. She previously held positions at UT-Austin as Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Historical Studies, National Security Fellow at the Clements Center for National Security, and project lead at the Strauss Center for International Security and Law. Her expertise includes the history of culture, ideology, and governance across the Russian, Soviet, and post-Soviet space. She has also worked extensively within the field of international human rights. She received a Master’s degree in Russian, East European and Eurasian studies from the University of Texas-Austin and a bachelor’s degree in Russian language and literature from Grinnell College.
Kat Romanova (Ph.D., University of Florida) is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies, University of Kansas. Her research interests include political communication, misinformation, and media effects. More specifically, she examines the influence of media messages on political engagement among ethnic diasporas, political radicalization, and the spread of misinformation. Her research can be found in journals like Mass Communication and Society, Journalism Studies, Political Studies Review, and Public Relations Journal, among other publications. Dr. Romanova teaches courses on political communication and political campaigns.
Dr. Mahir J. Ibrahimov (also known as Dr. I.) is the Director of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) Cultural and Area Studies Office (CASO), the U.S Army Combined Arms Center, U.S. Department of Defense.
He is the author or editor of six books, and his expertise is featured in global media outlets such as BBC World News, Los Angeles Times, and other global venues. As the first U.S. Army Culture and Foreign Language Advisor, he established a successful Culture and Foreign Language Program during the U.S. and coalition military and related Counterinsurgency (COIN) operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere at that time. It was recognized as the Army-wide model, and he was promoted to become the Army’s Senior Culture and Foreign Language Advisor. In that position, and later as Director of CASO, he continues developing and improving the program with an outreach extending across the Army and beyond with a variety of educational programs, including publishing, guest speakers, direct support to CGSC classes, live panels, video podcasts, international cooperation, and research.
He is known for his unique background. He served as a deputy platoon commander in the Soviet Army and witnessed the breakup of the Soviet Union. Then he was a Senior Middle East Expert in Moscow, USSR. After the demise of the USSR, Mahir helped to open the first embassy of independent Azerbaijan and served as a senior diplomat in Washington, DC., then he served as the vice president of the newly established American University in Azerbaijan, which followed by his work at the Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State in Washington DC.
While providing vital assistance to U.S. forces in the Middle East as a multi-lingual cultural adviser, Dr. Ibrahimov was featured as the linguistic ‘genius’ in early years of Iraq war and during the U.S. and coalition Counterinsurgency (COIN) operations in the region. He has then served as the first senior U.S. Army Culture and Foreign Language Advisor, travelled to Ukraine as part of the U.S. Army Chief of Staff ‘Study,’ and provided follow on recommendations in support of U.S. national security.
Based on his extensive first-hand knowledge, regional and global expertise, he has been regularly invited to support our European NATO partners’ regional policy development over the last years. He is fluent in five languages and versed in many cultures.
Panel 4: Ukraine’s Future: Military and Intelligence Perspectives
Dr. Glenn Corn started his talk by agreeing Gen. Breedlove's statements and emphasizing the importance of supporting Ukraine and its need for American assistance. He said that one of America’s values is standing up for people who need and believe in democracy. Dr. Corn emphasized Gen. Breedlove’s point that the US is in fact at war with Russia and its allies in Iran, Beijing, and Pyongyang, saying that people need to realize this and understand that failing to stand by the Ukrainians now will be “horrible” for the US on many levels.
He spoke against the Russian narratives surrounding the war, stating that Ukrainians are fighting for their independence and nothing else. He warned that Russia would not stop at Ukraine. He stressed that Ukraine is running out of ammunition, whereas Russia continues waging war against Ukraine and its civilian population, committing war crimes, and trying to “terrorize the Ukrainian people into submission.” He explained that Russia is targeting civilians and called the number of civilians lost and war crimes committed in this war “horrendous.” Dr. Glenn Corn underscored that American aid for Ukraine is crucial and cannot be delayed any longer. Russia’s victory would be a loss for the US.
Col. Dimmick began by stating that though the conference teases out complicated issues surrounding the war, “nothing could be more black and white than the dignity and justice of Ukraine’s cause and the absolute evil of Russia’s.” He said that there are lessons being learned by the US military from the Russo-Ukraine war by observing how the Ukrainians are fighting and the challenges of the modern battlefield including the ubiquitous surveillance of actions and planning happening on both sides. Col. Dimmick mentioned that the electronic aspect of warfare is a game changer because it critical in target detection. The US must be more inventive and creative. He also recognized the role and impact of different types of drones in the war. Russian drones aid in the frontline surveillance that he discussed. He also mentioned the growing involvement of geospatial intelligence provided by private companies in the detection of Russian forces.
Dr. Corn continued the discussion, saying that the Russians learn quickly from their mistakes. Ukrainians informed him that Russians had made incredible progress and that accurate intelligence was effective. They can purchase geospatial intelligence owned by private entities. He stated that the US made a mistake in taking its eyes of Russia after the 1990s, noting that Russia never took its eyes of the US. He argued that the US has more to learn from the Ukrainians than they do from the US. He said that the US and its western partners should have a plan in place to aid in the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war is over, making it a “symbol of success.”
Audience questions focused on how ISIS, international terrorism, and conflicts shape international relations and US policymaking regarding its allies. The speakers expressed concerns about Russia's threats and risks for Europe and NATO. They also addressed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and threats to neighboring countries, such as the Baltic States, Moldova, and Georgia.
Speaker Biographies
Col. Matt Dimmick, U.S. Army, Ret. served 29 years in uniform, retiring in 2021. He is currently the European Program Manager for Spirit of America, a non-profit organization that has delivered over $40 million dollars in nonlethal aid to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Previously, Matt was the Director for Russia and Eastern Europe on the National Security Council Staff during the Trump and Biden administrations. He also served as the Russia Director for the Secretary of Defense from 2016 to 2019. Additionally, he held positions as Defense Attaché in Tbilisi, Georgia, Deputy Foreign Policy Advisor for the Chief of Staff of the Army, and Assistant Army Attaché in Moscow. Matt is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, holds a Master of Arts in National Strategy from the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, and a Master of Arts in Russian and Eastern European Studies from the University of Kansas.
A 34-year veteran of the U.S. Intelligence and Foreign Affairs communities, Professor Glenn Corn served for over 20 years abroad, including tours in Russia, Turkey, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. He served as the Chief of Station/Director of National Intelligence Representative in three Eurasian countries and one Middle Eastern Country and held leadership positions in the Central Intelligence Agency’s Counter Terrorism Center, South Asia Division and one of the Agency’s most important Mission Centers. He is a graduate of a number of CIA sponsored specialized training programs in Intelligence Collection, Counter Intelligence, Security, Analysis, Denial and Deception, and Executive Leadership. He is a founding partner of the Strategic Advisory and Consulting firm “Varyag”, Expert contributor to the “Cipher Brief”, member of the Board of Advisors of the Non-Profit organization “Intelligence for Good” and the Special Advisor to the President of the Diplomatic Studies Foundation. He has a master’s degree in Russian Language and Literature from American University and a bachelor’s degree in Russian Studies from Hofstra University, and he is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Russian Institute.
Dr. Joshua S. Campbell is the Founder of Sand Hill Geographic, a consultancy providing advisory services on geospatial technology, policy, and product management. Dr. Campbell has over 25 years of geographic information science and technology experience working across a range of national security, diplomacy, international development, and academic contexts. Most recently he served as a Senior Advisor in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR). In this position he supported the Department’s Geographer, helping write the Department's first Geospatial Data Strategy, and managing several geospatial technology initiatives related to cartographic production, web-based GIS, and management of the official International Boundaries dataset. Beyond the State Department and World Bank, Dr. Campbell has worked in research and development positions at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), DARPA, and other Department of Defense organizations. He is a Councilor of the American Geographical Society, voting member of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), and a charter member of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). He holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Geography, Master of Arts in Geography, and Bachelors of General Studies in Anthropology, each from the University of Kansas.
Closing Remarks Speaker Biographies
Mike Denning has been the Director of the Office of Graduate Military Programs at The University of Kansas since July of 2011. A retired Marine Corps colonel, Mike is a graduate from the University of Kansas, the Naval War College, and a National Security Fellow from Harvard Kennedy School. He served in the Marine Corps for 27 years, commanded light-attack and tilt-rotor aviation units, and had multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. As the Director of GMP, Mike serves as the University's liaison to DOD for advanced civilian education programs and research proposals.
Erik Scott is an Associate Professor in the KU History Department, and the Director of CREES. He is a historian of modern Russia, the Soviet Union, and the global Cold War. His work examines migration, diaspora, and empire within and beyond the borders of Russia and Eurasia to illuminate the region’s diversity and reconsider its relationship to the broader world. He received his B.A. from Brown University, his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and he has held research fellowships at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Georgetown University’s Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies. He has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, and Fulbright-Hays, among others. In addition to his historical research, he is the author of several publications on contemporary Russia and Eurasia. His latest book, Defectors: How the Illicit Flight of Soviet Citizens Built the Borders of the Cold War World, traces the winding journeys of defectors from the Soviet Union to the West through border zones, extraterritorial spaces, and areas at the limits of state jurisdiction, such as international waters and airspaces. He is currently working on a global history of hostage-taking in the Cold War, examining it as a practice and paradigm that defined the era.
View Full Agenda
April 10
Location: Dole Institute of Politics
7:00pm
Keynote Presentation:
- Introductory Remarks: Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer, University of Kansas,
- General Philip Breedlove, Georgia Institute of Technology
April 11
Location: Bruckmiller Room, Jayhawk Welcome Center
8:00am
Breakfast & Poster Exhibition
9:00-9:15am
Opening Remarks:
- Executive Dean Arash Mafi, University of Kansas
9:15-10:30am
The Russo-Ukrainian War and Global Politics:
- General Philip Breedlove, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Volodymyr Dubovyk, Center for European Policy Analysis and I. I. Mechnikov National University (Ukraine)
- Moderator: Erik Scott, University of Kansas
10:30am-12:00pm
The War and Environmental Security:
- Kristina Hook, Kennesaw State University
- Antonina Broyaka, Kansas State University
- Kurt Preston, University of Kansas
- Moderator: Shannon O’Lear, University of Kansas
12:00pm
Lunch & Poster Exhibition
1:00-2:30pm
The War, Disinformation, and Global Influence Campaigns:
- Anton Shirikov, Columbia University
- Rebecca Johnston, University of Kansas
- Kat Romanova, University of Kansas
- Moderator: Mahir Ibrahimov, Cultural and Area Studies Office, US Army Command and General Staff College
2:30-4:00pm
Ukraine’s Future: Military and Intelligence Perspectives
- Matt Dimmick, Spirit of America
- Glenn Corn, Institute of World Politics
- Moderator: Joshua Campbell, Sand Hill Geographic/National Geospatial Intelligence Agency
4:15pm
Closing Remarks: Michael Denning and Erik Scott, University of Kansas
Conference Sponsors
Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics
Intelligence Community Centers for Academic Excellence
Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies