International Development Forum: NGO-Military Relations in Complex Emergencies

Events of Globalization Week Fall 2005

Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Time: 6:00pm-7:00pm
Location: Marvin Center, Room 308, 800 21st Street NW

Moderator

Jennifer Brinkerhoff, Associate Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs, George Washington University

Event Summary

The fifth annual George Washington University International Development Forum addressed the theme of NGO-military relations in complex emergencies. In cooperation with the French Embassy, we were pleased to welcome the following discussants:

Christian Joly, Charge de Mission for NGO Cooperation, Embassy of France
Colonel Jean-Luc Friedling, military attaché for the French Embassy
Michael McNerney, the Director of International Capabilities—Stability Operations in the Office of the Secretary of Defense
Michael O'Neill, Director of Security for Save the Children
Colonel Guy White, National Security Strategy Department, National War College

Opening remarks were delivered by Jitendra Vijay, a doctoral student in the School of Business and Jennifer Brinkerhoff, Associate Professor at the School of Public Policy and Public Administration and the Elliott School of International Affairs. The event was attended by faculty, graduate students, members of the Development Management Network (an informal professional association), and others from the international development practitioner community who are working on or interested in the subject (e.g. the World Bank, USAID, and the international NGO community).

This was the fifth annual GW International Development Forum; previous themes were the role of multinational corporations in international development, international civic engagement, post-conflict reconstruction and development, and the role of the military and security in development.

The Forum was co-sponsored by GW's School of Public Policy and Public Administration, the GW Center for the Study of Globalization, and the Embassy of France.

Media

International Development Forum Presentation
Common Problem: Different Perspectives
Jitendra Vijay, School of Business

Speaker Bios

Colonel Jean-Luc Friedling

Colonel Friedling is in the Infantry division of the French Army and is currently a military attaché for the French Embassy to the US. He holds masters degrees in security strategy and in military equipment engineering. He also has special qualifications marked by High Mountain Unit Command diploma, and parachute diploma. His honors include Legion of Honor, National Order of Merit, and French National Defense Medal.

Christian Joly

Christian Joly is presently posted at the Embassy of France in the United States, where he serves as the non governmental cooperation advisor. He holds a PhD in law (Université Paul Cézanne at Aix-Marseille) and a Masters in political science (Aix-en-Provence). He has taught at the University of Exeter (UK) and Paul Cézanne at Aix-Marseille (France), as well as been a guest lecturer in numerous European universities and in the United States at Louisiana State University Law School. His fields of interest and research include European integration and the relations between the developed and developing worlds; he his the author, among other works, of "Organisations non gouvernementales et développement" (Paris, 1985), and is among the founders, in the early nineties, of a Masters Program on International Humanitarian Aid, at the University Paul Cézanne, where he taught until 2004 when he joined the French foreign service.

Michael McNerney

Michael McNerney is the Director of International Capabilities—Stability Operations in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He and his staff provide policy oversight for U.S. military peace operations, humanitarian assistance, and disaster response. In addition, his office leads Department of Defense efforts to build the capacity of partner countries to conduct stability operations. Mr. McNerney's previous assignments in the Office of the Secretary of Defense included oversight of international environmental issues, nuclear arms control, and defense budgeting. Prior to working in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Mr. McNerney worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Mr. McNerney has an MA in International Relations from the University of Maryland. He has a BA in Government and German from the University of Notre Dame and attended the University of Innsbruck as a foreign exchange student. He has co-authored book chapters on conventional arms control and military involvement in humanitarian activities. He has forthcoming a book chapter on civil-military operations in Afghanistan and an article for the journal Parameters on Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan.

Michael O'Neill

Michael O'Neill is Director of Security for Save the Children. With an international development and planning background, including humanitarian relief, O'Neill has extensive experience in conducting security assessments, facilitating training exercises, developing resource materials and providing support during evacuations. Prior to taking up this position, he served as the Coordinator of Volunteer Safety and Overseas Security at the Peace Corps (1995-2002). In both these positions he has conducted field security assessments, developed and delivered a variety of security-related training courses, formulated policy recommendations, and coordinated agency support of staff in their efforts to reduce security risks and mitigate crises. Michael is currently co-chair of the Security Advisory Group of InterAction, an international consortium of NGOs, developing resources and standards for humanitarian workers posted to insecure environments. Prior to these positions in the US, Michael served in rural development and relief management for over 12 years in Sierra Leone and Ethiopia.

Colonel Guy White

Colonel Guy White joined the faculty at the National War College in 2004 following a one year assignment as the Defense Attaché in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is an Army Air Defense Artilleryman by basic branch and a Russian/Soviet/Eurasian foreign area officer. COL White has served in air defense units in CONUS and Korea through battalion command in the 4th Infantry Division. His other foreign postings were as a Strategic Intel Officer at HQ US Army Europe, in Heidelberg Germany, and as an Arms Control Inspection Team Chief conducting inspections and escorting foreign inspectors under the provisions of the CFE, INF and START inspection regimes. He deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 1995 where his battalion built and operated detainee camps for Cuban migrants for six months. This was followed by a seven month deployment to Zakho, Iraq in 1996 to serve as the commander of the Coalition Military Coordination Center, where he led patrols to insure the viability of the Kurdish-occupied security zone in the northern portion of the country. COL White has served as the Chief of Staff of the On-Site Inspection Agency, as Army Attaché in Moscow and as the Chief of the Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia Division of the Joint Staff J5. He has an MA in Russian/Soviet Area Studies from Georgetown University, speaks, reads and writes Russian, is a 1997 graduate of the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania and completed the Senior Executive Studies Program at Harvard in 2000. Colonel White serves at the National War College as a member of the military faculty in the Department of National Security Strategy.

Moderator Bio

Jennifer M. Brinkerhoff is an Assistant Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs at the George Washington University. Professor Brinkerhoff's teaching and research interests include inter-organizational relations, development management, non-governmental organizations, and community development in both the U.S. and overseas. She has published one book, Partnership for International Development: Rhetoric or Results?, over 15 peer-reviewed articles, and co-edited two journal symposia, one of which won the Independent Sector's 2002 Virginia A. Hodgkinson Research Prize for "outstanding published research that furthers our understanding of philanthropy, voluntary action, nonprofits, and civil society in either the United States or abroad." Professor Brinkerhoff has done extensive consulting work on partnership, civil society, development management, and training methodologies for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Bank, including regional and country-specific work in Africa, China, Mongolia, and the former Soviet Union.