Before joining CSIS in June 2007, Mr. Flanagan served as Director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies and Vice President for Research at the National Defense University for seven years. He held several senior positions in the U.S. government between 1989 – 1999, including Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Central and Eastern Europe, National Security Council Staff; Associate Director and Member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff; and National Intelligence Officer for Europe. Earlier in his career, he was a Professional Staff Member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He has published numerous books and articles on international security and transatlantic affairs, most recently Strategic Challenges: America’s Global Security Agenda (2008) and Turkey’s Evolving Dynamics: Strategic Choices for U.S.-Turkey Relations (2009).
Alexander Ivanovich Nikitin
Director, Center for Euro-Atlantic Security, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Moscow
Alexander Nikitin is Professor of the Political Sciences Department in Moscow State Institute of International Relations and serves as the Director of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Security. Since 1989 he has been Director of the Center for Political and International Studies – non-governmental research institution involved in analytical work, publishing, events management and research projects. In 2004 he was elected President of the Russian Political Science Association until 2008, when was elected President Emeritus of the Association. Dr. Nikitin initiated and authored Model Law on “Parliamentary Control over State Military Organization” which was adopted by the CIS Inter-parliamentary Assembly in 2001, Model law “On Participation of a State in Peace Support Operations”, adopted in 2004, and Model law “On Counter-Acting Mercenarism”, adopted in 2005.
Amb. Miroslav Lajčák
Managing Director, Europe and Central Asia, European External Action Service; Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic (2009 – 2010)
Amb. Miroslav Lajčák has held during his career numerous significant positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as other governmental institutions. In 2005 – 2006 he was chosen to be the Personal Representative of the EU High Representative for CFSP Javier Solana to facilitate the Montenegrin dialogue. Since 2007, Mr. Lajčák worked as High Representative of International Community and EU Special Representative for Bosnia and Herzogovina and in January 2009 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic. He held this position until June 2010. By the end of 2010, he was assigned Managing Director for Russia, Eastern Neighbourhood and the Western Balkans in the European External Action Service.
Bobo Lo
Analyst and Former Deputy Head at the Australian Embassy in Moscow, London
Bobo Lo is an independent scholar and consultant. His previous positions include Director of the Russia and China Programmes at the Centre for European Reform (CER); Head of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House; and Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy in Moscow. Dr. Lo writes extensively on Russian and Chinese foreign policy, with a particular focus on Sino-Russian relations. His books include ‘Axis of Convenience: Moscow, Beijing and the New Geopolitics’, Vladimir Putin and the Evolution of Russian Foreign Policy, and Russian Foreign Policy in the Post Soviet Era: Reality, Illusion and Mythmaking.
Andrew A. Michta
Senior Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Center; M.W. Buckman Distinguished Professor of International Studies, Rhodes College, Washington, D.C.
Andrew A. Michta is the M. W. Buckman Distinguished Professor of International Studies at Rhodes College and a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. In 2005 – 2009 he was Professor of National Security Studies and Director of Studies of the Senior Executive Seminar at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany. Professor Michta is author of several books on NATO, European politics, security and transatlantic relations. He has contributed articles and book chapters on NATO enlargement, U.S. national security policy, European security, post-communist transition, and civil-military relations. He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. In June 2011 he will become a Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the director of the GMF Warsaw office.
