FAO Conference 2011 - Registration and other information

FAOs/RAOs/RAS'/PAS' (active and former) and Students interested in the political-military interface,

Please sign up for the 2011 FAO Conference here.

We have a truly 'amazing' line up of leadership from the active duty services, State Department and Department of Defense, and academia who have volunteered to share their time and experiences with us on April 7th & 8th. In addition to academic forums and keynote speeches, we have panels dedicated to service orientated questions and regional themes salient to TODAY's pol-mil specialists.

Please join us in welcoming:

Deputy Secretary of Defense for Africa, Ambassador Vicki Huddleston

Deputy Secretary of Defense for Plans, Dr. Janine Davidson

Director, Strategic Counter-Terrorism Communications, Ambassador Richard LeBaron

Former Ambassador to Georgia, Bulgaria, and Azerbaijan, Ambassador Richard Miles

Director for International Engagement, OPNAV 52, RADM Jeffrey Lemmons, USN

Former Director for Plans, Strategy & Programs, AFRICOM, MajGen H. "Buz" Altshuler, USA (Ret) Air Force Culture & Language Center, Brig Gen Gunther Mueller, USAF (Ret)

And many, many others!

Spouses are encouraged to attend ANY and ALL events they feel might interest them, but we have one panel, hosted by Dr Casey Lucius and Mrs Sharon Miles (Wife of Ambassador Richard Miles, former Ambassador to Georgia, Bulgaria, and Azerbaijan), completely dedicated to them Friday 8th April (1320-1430.)  We also hope your spouse will join you at the Embassy Style Reception, a training (and social) event designed to allow you to experience the 'work after-work' many of us will be required to do in our follow on tours in an environment where faux-pas are not likely to strain relationships.

For a full list of panels, speeches, and events please refer to the attached agenda.

If you still have questions, please feel free to contact me, LCDR Jason Neal, at (janeal@nps.edu.)

We look forward to seeing you at the conference!

Very Respectfully,

LCDR Jason Neal

March Update: Welcome to the New Board, and upcoming events

Foreign Area Officer Association of Monterey,

It is my pleasure to introduce to you the FAOAM Board.

Chairman:  Maj. Roberto Cuevas, USMC
Vice-Chair: LCDR Rich Reyes, USN
Comptroller:  LT Jerry Tzeng, USN
DLI Rep:  LT Christina Wong, USN
FAO-CAP Coordinator: Maj. Hector Lopez, USAF
Event Coordinator (or vacant post): Maj. Andrew Sanders, USA
Communications Director / Webmaster:  vacant

It has been an honor for me and the outgoing board to serve our membership over the past six months.  The FAOAM accomplished quite a few events, including Brown Bag Lunches, Quarterly Dinners,  JFSSPP events, the Africa Film Project, planning the upcoming FAO Conference, and other events that expanded the reach of the association.  As Chairman, I would especially like to thank the other board members – Jason, Christina, Erik, Rich, Kim, Gerald, Hector, Jim and Andy – for their hard work and dedication to the FAOAM.

Upcoming Events:
1. Monday, 7 March at 1200 in GL-109: Brown Bag Lunch with Anisa Mehdi, Fulbright Scholar in 2008-9 will speak on "What's a Woman Reporter to Do?  Nuances of covering Egypt and beyond"

2. Tuesday, 8 March at 1200 in n the M.E. Auditorium (the small auditorium behind Watkins): Bosnia and Herzegovina Minister of Defense.  2 members are welcome to join a special lunch with the MoD from 1100 to 1145.  If you are interested, please let me know at acoconno@nps.edu.

3. Special thanks to all LatAm FAOs that participated in the JFSSP social events and lunch with LTG Keen. It was a wonderful opportunity for FAOs to network and make connections as well as to learn from those that are currently assigned to billets within the AOR. Look forward to seeing even better participation next year.

4. Our next FAOAM social will be... Come meet the new board!

5. SAND-MIIS War and Peace Mixer on Friday, 7 April at Duffys Tavern (282 High St Monterey, CA).  The last one was a great success.  Security & Development Group (SAND-MIIS) is hosting the second of many War & Peace mixers to bring together the Security & Development communities in Monterey and at MIIS. There's a lot to learn from each other and a lot of connections to be made!  Blurred boundaries between civilian and military organizations prompt conflicts over what researchers call domain conflicts. Traditionally, development addresses civilians and security deals with combatants. In fragile states, the line between civilians and combatants is often blurred. This “domain conflict” is a critical problem in coordinating inter-organizational operations in these settings. With the goal of building “Domain Consensus” between these two fields, SAND-MIIS and Duffy’s bar host monthly War & Peace night’s in order to build informal understanding and connections between these two spheres. http://blogs.miis.edu/sand

More Brown Bag lunches are in the works, so please stay tuned to your new FAOAM Board.

Sincerely
LT Andrew O’Connor,
Chairman, FAOAM
Faoam.org

January Update

Happy New Year FAOs.  We apologize for the belated update.  The FAOAM has some events coming up soon. Others are still in the works, so be sure to check back soon.

FAOAM Social at the Trident Room: Thursday, 13 January, following the NSA meeting in King Hall (~1700).  Come meet your fellow FAOAM members.

FAO Conference: The conference will be 7-8 Apr 2011.  Initial planning is underway. Contact LCDR Jason Neal with any questions. janeal@nps.edu

Africa Films Project is still going on: Find out how easy it is for you to help the FAOAM select films for an upcoming conference at NPS on Africa.  Click here: https://sites.google.com/site/faoamonterey/africa-film-reviews

Other events are in the works.  We are scheduling Brown Bag Lunches and the Quarterly Regional Dinner.  Once the details are set, we'll let you know.