How did experiencing the 9/11 attacks influence public support for military action, perceptions of the threat posed by al-Qaeda and the Taliban and the pace and scale of the U.S. response? This event explores the policies and assumptions that emerged in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 and their legacy in shaping the decisions to intervene in Afghanistan and launching the broader War on Terror. Panelists will not only reflect on the political and strategic context of the response but also how their personal experience of the attacks affected policymakers, intelligence analysts and service members in the days, months and years that followed.
Featured speakers include Colin Jackson (U.S. Naval War College), Christian Smith and Ann White (UMD School of Public Policy) and Jaron Wharton (author). The event will be moderated by Associate Professor Alec Worsnop and is hosted by the International Policy Council and Global Policy Institute.
This hybrid event will be hosted in-person at the School of Public Policy along with a Zoom option for remote participants. To receive access to the Zoom webinar link, participants must be registered one hour prior to the event and have indicated that they plan to join remotely.
About the Speakers:
Colin Jackson serves as the co-chair of the Afghanistan War Commission. Jackson previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia from 2017-2019, overseeing all strategy, security cooperation, budget oversight, and contingency planning. He also served as the senior DOD representative to the U.S.-Taliban peace talks. From 2006-2017, he was a Professor in the Strategy Department and later Director of the Advanced Strategist Program at the Naval War College. He also taught strategy and counterinsurgency at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University. In 2011, he deployed to Afghanistan as Executive Officer for Policy Planning for the Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations USFOR-A. Since 2019, Dr. Jackson has served as the Chairman for the Strategic and Operational Research Department at the Naval War College.
Christian Smith is an MPP candidate at UMD's School of Public Policy. Previously, Smith was President of the Student Veterans of America at Fordham (SVAF) and an Infantry Squad Leader in the U.S. Marine Corps (2017-2021).
Ann White is an intelligence and cybersecurity professional with over 35 years of experience using technology and repeatable processes to scale problem solving for national security. She previously served in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as Chief of the Collection Integration Group and as the National Security Agency’s Election Security Lead. She is a senior lecturer at UMD's School of Public Policy.
Jaron Wharton spent more than 25 years as an infantry officer and most recently commanded an airborne brigade in the U.S. Army. Dr. Wharton's traditional military assignments were within the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division. He also served on the National Security Council staff as a deputy executive secretary and later as the chief of staff to the deputy national security advisor for strategy. He is a former White House Fellow, Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations, research fellow at West Point's Modern War Institute (MWI) and military fellow at both the Center for a New American Security and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is also the lead editor of Bend But Do Not Break: Shaping the Future of the All-Volunteer Force (Oxford University Press). Dr. Wharton holds several military awards and decorations including the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal with three oak leaf clusters and “valor” device, the Ranger Tab, the Combat and Expert Infantryman’s Badge, the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, and multiple foreign awards.
Alec Worsnop (moderator) is an associate professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park and Director the Military Perspectives Speaker Series. He studies insurgency, military effectiveness, and civil-military relations. His recent book, Rebels in the Field: Cadre and the Development of Insurgent Military Power (Oxford University Press), has a particular focus on Taliban's evolution as an insurgent organization in Afghanistan and also studies a number of organizations active in the conflicts in Iraq (2003-2015) and Vietnam (1945-1975). Previously, he worked for a USAID implementing partner conducting business development for assistance programs in Afghanistan and the Middle East.