meet the Capstone faculty - Elliott School of International Affairs

Jillian Burns: Transnational Security
Jillian Burns joined the Foreign Service in 1993 and spent most
of her career as a political officer working on the Middle East,
particularly on Iran. Prior to retiring in November 2014, she
served as the Director of the Near East Affairs Office in the
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL). She
served as Consul and Senior Civilian Representative in Herat,
Afghanistan from September 2012 – September 2013. For the
first half of 2012, Ms. Burns did a detail assignment outside of
the State Department, during which time she was the first
National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for Iran at the National
Intelligence Council (NIC), which falls under the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
From 2008-2011, Ms. Burns worked in the Office of Policy
Planning, where she was responsible for issues relating to Iran and also served six months as
Acting Director of the Iran office in the Bureau of Near East Affairs (NEA). Ms. Burns previously
served in the U.S. Consulate in Dubai, first as head of the political/economic section and Iran
watcher, then as the first director of the Iran Regional Presence Office, opened in 2006. Prior
to that, she served in NEA on the Syria desk and on the Iran desk and worked as a Watch Officer
and Senior Watch Officer in the State Department Operations Center. She served as a Political
Officer and a Consular Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Jordan and started her Foreign Service
career as a consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in Poland.
Ms. Burns received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Davidson College and her Master of Arts
in Journalism & Mass Communication from the University of Georgia. Prior to joining the
Foreign Service, she taught communications at Georgia Southern University.
Michele Clark: Global Gender Issues
Michele Clark is an internationally recognized expert on
combating trafficking in human beings. She is currently an
adjunct professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs.
In 2011, she received the Morton A. Bender Teaching Award
for Outstanding Teaching. Previously, she served as the
Director of the Anti-Trafficking Unit at the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, and in Vienna, Austria,
where she was responsible for assisting 56 member countries
in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Before moving
to Vienna, she was the Co-Director of the Protection Project at
Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International
Studies, a human rights organization dedicated to eliminating human trafficking. She is also the
co-founder and CEO of Third Space Creative, an education technology company with a social
conscience specializing in developing innovative web-based solutions to meet global training
and education needs.
Benjamin Friedman: Defense Analysis
Benjamin H. Friedman is a research fellow in defense and
homeland security studies at the Cato Institute. His areas of
expertise include counter-terrorism, homeland security and
defense politics. He is the author of dozens of op-eds and
journal articles and co-editor of two books, including
Terrorizing Ourselves: Why U.S. Counterterrorism Policy Is
Failing and How to Fix It, and U.S. Military Innovation since
the Cold War: Creation Without Destruction. He is a graduate
of Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. candidate in Political
Science and an affiliate of the Security Studies Program at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Gavin Helf: International Development
Gavin Helf is currently a Senior Democracy and Governance
Advisor at USAID in the Asia/ Middle East bureaus covering
Central and South Asia. He has been closely involved in the
USAID response to the 2010 Revolution in Kyrgyzstan. Gavin
worked at USAID/Iraq, managing and helping design and
procure much of the COIN and democracy and governance
portfolio there. He studied, lived and worked in the USSR and
its successor states, and was a democracy and governance
advisor at USAID/Armenia. Prior, Gavin was Director of Grant
Programs for the Eurasia Foundation and was the Central Asia
Regional Director for the International Research & Exchanges
Board based in Almaty. Gavin has taught Russian and Soviet
foreign policy and comparative politics at Notre Dame, Cornell
and Moscow's International University and worked for Radio
Liberty as a Soviet area research specialist in the late 1980s. He received in Ph.D. in political
science from UC Berkeley in 1994.
Mark R. Jacobson: Transnational Security
Dr. Mark R. Jacobson is the Special Assistant to the Secretary of the
United States Navy, Ray Mabus. In this role, Jacobson serves as a
coordinator and guide on sensitive issues and matters of direct interest
and concern to the SECNAV. A member of the Navy’s Senior Executive
Service since 2014, Jacobson’s role includes working with senior Navy
leadership as a liaison within DoD and to outside groups such as
Congress, the media, and other external audiences such as industry,
Military Service Organizations, academia, and think-tanks.
Previously, Jacobson taught at The George Washington University’s Elliot
School of International Affairs and was a Senior Transatlantic Fellow at
The German Marshall Fund of the United States. He has served in
executive positions in government on several occasions, most recently in Kabul, Afghanistan from 2009-2011
as the Deputy Political Advisor to the ISAF Commander General Stanley McChrystal and later as the first
Deputy NATO Senior Civilian Representative, Afghanistan (DSCR-A). In this capacity Jacobson was also a
principal foreign policy advisor to COMISAF General David Petraeus and worked closely with the international
community to find solutions to diplomatic crises that could derail the comprehensive campaign in support of
the Government of Afghanistan. Jacobson also served on the staff of the Senate Armed Services from 20072009 and from 2003-2005 taught courses on U.S. counterterrorism policy while the Visiting Scholar for
International Security and Public Policy at the Mershon Center. Jacobson began his government service in
1998 as a Presidential Management Fellow, serving in various civilian roles at the Office of the Secretary of
Defense and the Joint Staff to include at the Joint Staff Current Operations Directorate (J-33) Special
Operations Division and as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense (Policy). As a result of his
efforts during this time, he was nominated and became a finalist for the Partnership for Public Service’s first
Service to America Award in 2002. Jacobson is also ardent supporter of the next generation of public policy
professionals and is actively involved in non-profit and university mentoring programs.
Jacobson’s 20 years of military service includes eight years enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve as a
Psychological Operations Specialist. In 2001 he was commissioned as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy
Reserve. He is trained as a Defense attaché and strategic debriefer and has mobilized in support of NATO and
U.S. military operations including mobilizations for Operation Joint Endeavor (1996) and Operation Enduring
Freedom in Afghanistan (2006) where he conducted a variety of U.S. and NATO Special Operations missions.
Jacobson is a frequent public speaker and has testified before Congress and his commentary appears in
national and international print media such as Foreign Policy and The Daily Beast. His regular television and
radio appearances include CNN’s Crossfire, and The Situation Room, MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, Up with
Steve Kornacki, and Hardball, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, FOX’s Kelly Files and The O’Reilly Factor.
Jacobson is a life-Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Senior Advisor to the Truman National
Security Project. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Jacobson holds a B.A. in history a Masters from the
Department of War Studies at King’s College, London and earned his Ph.D. in Military History and Strategic
Studies from The Ohio State University.
Marcus D. King: Energy and Environment
Marcus D. King is John O. Rankin Associate Professor of
International Affairs and Director of the Elliott School's Master
of Arts in International Affairs Program. King previously served
as the Elliott School’s Director of Research and Associate
Research Professor. Dr. King joined the Elliott School from the
CNA Corporation (Center for Naval Analyses), where he served
as Project Director and Research Analyst on topics including
global climate change and national security, state stability,
adaptation to climate change, and Defense Department energy
policy. Previously, Dr. King served as a globalization planning
fellow and special assistant in Georgetown University's Office of
the President, as the research director of the Sustainable
Energy Institute, and as a consultant focused on nuclear energy
policy, nonproliferation and climate change. During the Clinton
Administration, Dr. King held Presidential appointments in the Office of the Secretary of
Defense where he represented the United States in multilateral environmental negotiations
including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and was awarded the Secretary of
Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service; and the Office of the Secretary of Energy where
he represented the United States in negotiations with the Russian Federation and directly
supported the Deputy Secretary.
Christopher A. Kojm: U.S. Foreign Policy & Global Interests
Christopher A. Kojm re-joined the Elliott School in Fall 2014 as
Visiting Professor of the Practice of International Affairs after
serving as Chairman of the National Intelligence Council from
2009 to 2014. He was previously the Elliott School’s director of
the mid-career MIPP program from 2008 to 2009 as well as the
director of the U.S. Foreign Policy Summer Program (USFPSP)
from 2007 to 2008. He also taught at Princeton’s Woodrow
Wilson School (2004-07) and at Georgetown University (2005).
In government, Chris served as a staffer on the House Foreign
Affairs Committee from 1984-98 under Rep. Lee H. Hamilton,
as a deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of
Intelligence and Research (1998-2003), and as deputy director of the 9/11 Commission (200304). He was also president of the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, the Commission’s follow-on
public education organization (2004-05). He also served as a Senior Advisor to the Iraq Study
Group (2006). He received a master’s degree in Public Affairs from Princeton’s Woodrow
Wilson School in 1979.
Rollie Lal: International Political Economy
Rollie Lal is a consultant researching the international economy
and energy markets, and provides international security
expertise to U.S. government agencies on organized crime,
religious extremism, China, South Asia, and other areas.
Previously Dr. Lal was Associate Professor at the U.S.
Department of Defense’s Asia Pacific Center for Security
Studies, a program for military and civilian senior officials from
38 countries. She taught courses on a variety of topics including
socio-economics, the private sector, organized crime, national identity, and good governance.
Prior to that, Dr. Lal was Assistant Professor at the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School in
Gent, Belgium and St. Petersburg, Russia, where she taught MBA courses on international
business management and risk analysis courses on doing business in China, India, Russia, the
US, and the EU. From 2002-06 Dr. Lal was a political scientist at RAND, where she performed
research and analysis on a wide spectrum of economic and security issues in South and East
Asia, North Africa, and Iran. She is the author of books on international security and economics,
including Understanding China and India, Central Asia and Its Asian Neighbors, Iran's Political,
Demographic, and Economic Vulnerabilities, and The Muslim World After 9/11. She served as a
correspondent for the Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun in the 1990s, and has
published articles in other newspapers including The Financial Times and The New York
Times. Dr. Lal received her Ph.D. in International Relations and her M.A. in Strategic Studies and
International Economics from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International
Studies.
Larry Niksch: Asian Security
Larry Niksch was born in Gary, Indiana. He received his B.A.
degree from Butler University with a history major. At Butler,
he became a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity. He received a
Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown
University and a Ph.D degree in history from Georgetown
University.Dr. Niksch retired from the Congressional Research
Service in February 2010 after more than 43 years as a
Specialist in Asian Affairs. At CRS, he provided information and
conducted research for Members of Congress and congressional committees on security and
political issues related to U.S. relations with the countries of East Asia and the Western Pacific.
During that time and afterwards, he has authored many private papers and articles on these
issues and participated in numerous conferences in the United States, East Asia, and Europe. In
1986, he served as a U.S. presidential election observer in the Philippines during the Philippine
presidential election of that year.
With his retirement, Dr. Niksch has been named a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies and is involved in CSIS’s Asia programs. Dr. Niksch also is a fellow
with the Institute for Corean-American Studies (ICAS). He has taught East Asian History at
George Washington University and taught a graduate course in East Asian Security during the
2014-2015 academic year.
Dr. Niksch is married to Mary Anne Niksch, who teaches piano. Their daughter, Alisa Niksch, is
a practicing physician.
Rebecca Patterson: Transnational Security
Rebecca Patterson, PhD, is an advisor in the Office of
Peacekeeping, Sanctions, and Counterterrorism in the Bureau of
International Organization Affairs at the State Department. An
active duty LTC in the U.S. Army, her military specialty is
Strategic Plans and Policy. Prior to her assignment at the State
Department, she served as an Associate Professor and Associate
Dean of Curriculum and Faculty Development at the National
Defense University (NDU). From 2011-2012, Dr. Patterson was
a Strategic Advisor in the Commander’s Initiatives Group,
Headquarters, International Security Assistance Force,
Afghanistan. From 2010-2011, she was a Council on Foreign
Relations International Affairs Fellow. During this fellowship, she split her time between the
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group.
Patterson’s recently published book is titled The Challenges of Nation-Building: Implementing
Effective Innovation in the U.S. Army from World War II to the Iraq War (Rowman & Littlefield).
Her previous military assignments include: Deputy, Director's Initiatives Group, Department of
the Army Office of Business Transformation (2010), Staff Officer, Department of the Army
Office of Institutional Adaptation (2009), economic advisor to the 1st Armored Division (MNDN) while deployed to Iraq (2008), command of an Army mechanized engineer unit in South
Korea (2001-2003), platoon leader and executive officer at Fort Lewis, Washington where she
supervised construction projects in Thailand (1997), Texas (1998) where she worked with Joint
Task Force and the United States Border Patrol, and New York (1999) where she worked with
the New York Police Department, and the Corps of Engineers.
She holds a PhD from The George Washington University in National Security Policy, a M.S. in
Engineering Management from University of Missouri-Rolla; and a B.S. in Economics
from the United States Military Academy at West Point. She is a term member of the
Council on Foreign Relations and an Aspen Institute Scholar.
Mara Rudman: U.S. Foreign Policy & Global Interests
A founder and principal at Quorum Strategies, Mara Rudman has
years of experience in government and the private sector. She
serves concurrently as a Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow
with the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National
Defense University. She recently taught a national security
seminar at Dartmouth College. Previously, she served as
Assistant Administrator for the Middle East at the U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID). Prior to this
appointment by President Obama, Rudman was a deputy envoy
and chief of staff for the Office of the Special Envoy for Middle
East Peace at the State Department. She also served as Deputy Assistant to the President and
Executive Secretary to the National Security Council under President Obama from January
through May 2009. In President Clinton’s administration, Rudman served at the National
Security Council as Deputy Assistant the President for National Security Affairs and Chief of
Staff, among other positions, where she coordinated and directed activities within the National
Security Council and among the various federal departments and agencies with defense and
foreign policy responsibilities, and in that capacity, played a role on Middle East peace efforts.
In addition, she has been a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, focusing on
national security issues, with a particular focus on the Middle East. Rudman also has worked as
a vice president and general counsel for The Cohen Group, a Washington-based consultancy
founded by former Secretary of Defense William Cohen. Earlier in her career, Ms. Rudman was
chief counsel to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, working for Chairman Lee Hamilton.
Prior to her committee positions, Rudman was a litigation associate at Hogan & Hartson. Before
her time at Hogan, Rudman clerked for the Honorable Stanley Marcus, now of the Eleventh
Circuit, in the Southern District of Florida. Rudman served on the board of advisors of the
Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College, the Middle East
Investment Initiative, and as a member of the Aspen Institute Middle East Strategy Group. She
is also an Aspen Institute Crown Fellow. She has been a frequent media commentator,
appearing on CNN, FOX, BBC, NPR, and in print media. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree
from Dartmouth College summa cum laude and her Juris Doctorate cum laude from Harvard
Law School.
Kim Thachuk: Transnational Security
Dr. Thachuk is a senior analyst focusing on transnational issues
in the Intelligence Community. Among other positions, she
served as the National Counterintelligence Officer for
Transnational Issues at the Office of the National
Counterintelligence Executive. For over a decade she was a
senior research professor and policy analyst directing projects
on transnational threats in the Department of Defense. She has
been an educator in the post-secondary academic system for
over 25 years serving as a professor in universities ranging from
the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University,
both in Canada, to the National Defense University, the
Interamerican Defense College, the George Washington
University, and George Mason University in the Washington
D.C. area where she directed and taught in the Transnational
Threats Concentrations. Her research focuses on transnational threats to national security,
including organized crime and terrorism, human, drug, and arms trafficking, and environmental
and health threats. She has published various scholarly articles, as well as a book
entitled, Transnational Threats: Smuggling and Trafficking in Arms, Drugs and Human
Life (Praeger, 2007).
Lynne Weil: Communications and Public Diplomacy
Lynne Weil is a seasoned international affairs and
communications professional. Arriving in Washington just
before 9/11, her public service path has taken her from press
secretary of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to
communications director for the House Foreign Affairs
Committee -- for a total of nearly nine years on Capitol Hill -- to
the Executive Branch, where she spent two years working in
public diplomacy with the Department of State and two as
Director of Communications and External Affairs for the
Broadcasting Board of Governors. She left the BBG in 2014 to
become Public Affairs Director for the U.S. Global Leadership
Coalition, a non-profit that educates Americans on the
importance of diplomacy and development and advocates for
more robust federal funding. Before entering public service, Ms.
Weil was a journalist for domestic and international media,
including NPR, The New York Times and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). In nearly
nine years as a foreign correspondent, she lived in Germany and Italy and traveled throughout
Europe. Ms. Weil earned a Master’s in Public Policy at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson
School of Public and International Affairs and a Bachelor’s degree in Communications Studies at
the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Lawrence Woocher: Conflict Prevention
Lawrence Woocher is Atrocity Prevention Fellow working with the
Human Rights Division of USAID’s Center of Excellence on Democracy,
Human Rights, and Governance. He is contributing to USAID’s work
on the comprehensive U.S. government strategy to prevent and
respond to mass atrocities, announced by President Obama in April
2012. Lawrence has been working on early warning, conflict
prevention, and the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities for
more than a decade. Prior to his Democracy Fellowship, he was
Research Director of the Political Instability Task Force at Science
Applications International Corporation (SAIC). From 2006-2011, he was a
Senior Program Officer at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). While at USIP, he was a
member of the executive committee and lead expert on early warning for the Genocide
Prevention Task Force, co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former
Secretary of Defense William Cohen. Before joining USIP, Lawrence was a Research Fellow at
Columbia University’s Center for International Conflict Resolution and, concurrently, a
consultant on early warning to the Office of the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on
the Prevention of Genocide. Lawrence has an MA in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy
School and a BA in Neuroscience from Brown University.