RELATED PROJECT
RELATED PROGRAM
PUBLICATION
October 28, 2010Report of the Georgetown Symposium on Religious Freedom and National Security Policy
EVENTS
May 17, 2013Markets, Justice, and the Law
April 25, 2013
Homosexuality in China: An Emergent Social and Religious Controversy
April 23, 2013
Faith Efforts Against Human Trafficking in Cambodia
April 22, 2013
Walking on Air: Alice McDermott and the Faith of the Novelist
AT THE CENTER
RELATED RESOURCES: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
October 28, 2010
Religious Freedom and National Security Policy
With the growth of religious pluralism on a global scale, freedom of religion has emerged as more than a fundamental human rights issue. It also intersects with other foreign policy challenges, including political, social, and economic development. One of the most important but most poorly understood connections is with national security.
Through the Luce/SFS Program on Religion and International Affairs, Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs held a symposium on October 28, 2010 on religious freedom and US national security policy. Questions addressed include: Why should national security specialists be concerned about religious freedom? Under what conditions might greater US support for religious liberty abroad help to reduce political instability, religious radicalism, and terrorist violence? When, where, and why might an emphasis on religious liberty provoke negative reactions abroad that undermine American political and security interests? Might a wise and prudent religious liberty policy overcome such reactions and, if so, how?
The symposium discussed these and related questions in two sessions. The first session examined the presence/absence of religious freedom in US national security policy in general, with a focus on the Obama Administration's National Security Strategy document. The second session addressed the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq.
10:30am-noon
Panel 1: Religious Freedom in US National Security Policy
Panelists:
Dr. Pauletta Otis, Professor of Security Studies, Command and Staff College, Marine Corps University
Dr. William Inboden, Distinguished Scholar, Strauss Center for International Security and Law; Assistant Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas
Dr. Eric Patterson, Assistant Director, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs; Visiting Professor of Government, Georgetown University
Ms. Jennifer Marshall, Director, Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, Moderator
Noon-1:00pm
Lunch and Keynote Address: Mr. Rashad Hussain, U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference
1:00pm-2:30pm
Panel 2: Religious Freedom and National Security in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq
Panelists:
Mr. Knox Thames, Director of Policy and Research, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Professor Andrew Natsios, Georgetown University; former USAID Administrator
Ambassador Touqir Hussain, Professor, Georgetown University; former Pakistani Ambassador to Brazil, Spain, and Japan
Dr. Rebecca Johnson, Georgetown Public Policy Institute, Moderator
The symposium discussed these and related questions in two sessions. The first session examined the presence/absence of religious freedom in US national security policy in general, with a focus on the Obama Administration's National Security Strategy document. The second session addressed the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq.
10:30am-noon
Panel 1: Religious Freedom in US National Security Policy
Panelists:
Dr. Pauletta Otis, Professor of Security Studies, Command and Staff College, Marine Corps University
Dr. William Inboden, Distinguished Scholar, Strauss Center for International Security and Law; Assistant Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas
Dr. Eric Patterson, Assistant Director, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs; Visiting Professor of Government, Georgetown University
Ms. Jennifer Marshall, Director, Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, Moderator
Noon-1:00pm
Lunch and Keynote Address: Mr. Rashad Hussain, U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference
1:00pm-2:30pm
Panel 2: Religious Freedom and National Security in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq
Panelists:
Mr. Knox Thames, Director of Policy and Research, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Professor Andrew Natsios, Georgetown University; former USAID Administrator
Ambassador Touqir Hussain, Professor, Georgetown University; former Pakistani Ambassador to Brazil, Spain, and Japan
Dr. Rebecca Johnson, Georgetown Public Policy Institute, Moderator
Featuring
Rashad Hussain
Rashad Hussain is President Obama’s new special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Hussain has also served as Deputy Associate Counsel to President Obama, focusing on national security, new media, and science and technology issues. Hussain worked with the National Security Staff in developing and pursuing the "New Beginning" that President Obama outlined in his June 2009 address in Cairo, Egypt. Before joining the White House, Mr. Hussain was a member of the legal staff for the Presidential Transition Team and previously served as a Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. Earlier in his career, Mr. Hussain was a legislative assistant on the House Judiciary Committee, where he focused on national security-related issues. Mr. Hussain received his JD from Yale Law School, where he served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal. Upon graduation, he served as a Law Clerk to Damon J. Keith on the U.S. Court of Appeals. Mr. Hussain earned his master’s degrees in Public Administration (Kennedy School of Government) and Arabic and Islamic Studies from Harvard University; he attended college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His academic writings have focused on national security, constitutional law, and civil liberties.
Participants
Touqir Hussain
Ambassador Touqir Hussain is a research fellow at George Washington University and adjunct professor at Georgetown University and University of Virginia. Hussain is a former senior diplomat from Pakistan, with expertise on issues including South...
William Inboden
William Inboden is Assistant Professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and Distinguished Scholar at the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas-Austin. He is also a Non-Resident Fellow with the German...
Rebecca Johnson
Rebecca Johnson is Assistant Professor of National Security Affairs at the Command and Staff College at Marine Corps University and Affiliated Professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute (GPPI). At GPPI Dr. Johnson teaches graduate courses...
Jennifer Marshall
The Director of Domestic Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation, Jennifer A. Marshall oversees research in education, marriage, family, religion, and civil society. Marshall directs the think tank's DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society...
Andrew Natsios
Andrew Natsios is an executive professor and Scowcroft Institute Fellow at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University for the 2012-2013 academic year. A leading practitioner in the field of development, he previously...
Pauletta Otis
Dr. Pauletta Otis is Professor of Security Studies at the Command and Staff College, Marine Corps University. She served as the Senior Research Fellow for Religion in International Affairs at Pew Forum, Washington, D.C. from 2005-2006. She has...
Eric Patterson
Eric Patterson, PhD is Senior Research Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. He also serves as Dean of the School of Government at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. His research and teaching focuses on...
Knox Thames
Knox Thames is Director of Policy and Research at the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which he joined in February 2009. He previously worked in the Office of International Religious Freedom at the U.S. Department of...