FIRESIDE CHATS
The National Security Studies Fellows connects students to secruity professionals with current or recent experience in national security. These distinguished guests visit campus, network with our students, and provide insight to classroom study. The invaluable conversations that take place between our students and our guests prepare our students for their exciting careers in the security industry after graduation.
Ultimately, the goal of bringing these nationally recognized security professionals to campus is to enhance the academic experiences of our students majoring in cybersecurity, national security, and political science. One of the hallmarks of these excellent academic programs are the students’ access to notable experts in security and/ or public service.
Dan Coats, former director of national intelligence and U.S. senator, will visit AU Tuesday, December 5. While on campus, Coats will join President John Pistole in York Performance Hall at 5 p.m. for a fireside chat. The event is open to the public. Read more here.
Previous Guests
David Pekoske
David Pekoske was first confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Transportation Security Administration’s seventh administrator in August 2017 and was reconfirmed for a second term in September 2022. Pekoske leads a workforce of over 60,000 employees and is responsible for security operations at nearly 430 airports throughout the United States. During his tenure as TSA Administrator, Pekoske also served at the Department of Homeland Security as Acting Secretary, and as the Senior Official Performing the Duties of Deputy Secretary.
April 11, 2023
Christopher Wray
Christopher Wray became the eighth Director of the FBI on August 2, 2017. He was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2003 to be the assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s criminal division, supervising major national and international criminal investigations and prosecutions. He also oversaw the counterterrorism section and the counterintelligence and export control section, which were part of the criminal division throughout his tenure. At the time of his nomination to be FBI Director, Wray was chair of King & Spalding LLP’s Special Matters and Government Investigations Practice Group.
March 29, 2023
Kevin McAleenan
Prior to his role as CEO of Pangiam, Kevin McAleenan spent decades managing multi‐thousand, cross-functional teams for U.S national security agencies around the world. Most recently Kevin served as the Acting Secretary of the US. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from April 7, 2019 to October 11, 2019. In this role he managed over 240,000 employees and components of multiple security agencies including the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast Guard, and more.
October 20, 2021
John H. Hill
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Hill is responsible for the Office of Partnership and Engagement (OPE). OPE serves as the Office of the Secretary’s outreach to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, state and local law enforcement, private sector, and academic engagement. Previously, he was the Executive Director of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
Chris Inglis
Inglis is currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Cyber Studies at the U.S. Naval Academy. He previously served for 28 years at the National Security Agency (NSA) as a computer scientist and operational manager, retiring in 2014 as the Agency’s deputy director and senior civilian leader. In this role, he acted as the NSA’s chief operating officer responsible for guiding and directing strategies, operations, and policy.
Chuck Rosenberg
Rosenberg was appointed Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2015 by Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Prior to joining DEA, Rosenberg served as the chief of staff and senior counselor to FBI Director Comey. He also served as the U.S. Attorney General for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Southern District of Texas and served in several senior posts at the Department of Justice.
October 17, 2019
John Ashcroft
In 1973, Ashcroft served as Missouri Auditor, followed by two terms as Missouri Attorney General. In 1984, he was elected governor of Missouri, and he was re-elected in 1988. During his tenure as governor, he promoted fiscally and socially conservative policies. In 1994, he was elected to the U.S. Senate and served from 1995-2001. Subsequently, he was nominated by President Bush as U.S. attorney general [2001-2005].
Kelly Ayotte
Kelly Ann Ayotte served as Attorney General for New Hampshire from 2004-2009. She is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senator from 2011-2017.
Dr. Michele L. Malvesti
Former senior director for Combating Terrorism Strategy (2002-2007), Malvesti currently serves as professor of practice in International Security Studies at Tufts University. During her time in government, she served more than five years on the National Security Council staff. In this role she advised the President’s National Security Advisor and Homeland Security Advisor on counterterrorism policy and strategy.
The Honorable Gen. James Clapper (Ret).
As the former US director of intelligence, Clapper led the United States Intelligence Community and was named the first civilian director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) two days after 9/11, where he served for almost five years. Clapper also previously served as undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.
Matthew G. Olsen
Matt Olsen was a prosecutor and the former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center from 2011-2014. Olsen served in leadership positions in the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia, and the National Security Agency. He co-founded IronNet Cybersecurity, and is a lecturer at Harvard Law School, his alma mater.
John Brennan
Brennan was director of CIA from 2013-2017 and assistant to the president for Homeland Security. During his first stint at CIA (1980-2005), he was the daily intelligence briefer to President Bill Clinton, chief of station in the Middle East, deputy executive director, and the first director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Holder served as the 82nd attorney general of the United States from 2009-2015. He previously served as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and as United States attorney for D.C. Later, he was deputy attorney general of the United States and worked at the law firm Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C, where he is again practicing.
Michael A. Mason
As the former Executive Assistant Director with the FBI, Mason was in charge of the bureau’s criminal, cyber, response and services branch. He was also responsible for the Office of International Operations and the Critical Incident Response Group. Mason currently serves as the Chief Secruity Officer for Verizon Communications, providing strategy for enterprise-wide security, physical security, cybersecurity, legal compliance and law enforcement matters.
March 30, 2017
Robert Mueller
As the former director of the FBI from 2001-2013, Mueller was responsible for providing leadership for cases, staffing, and operations, which included serving during 9/11. He served as a career prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice. Mueller is currently a partner at WilmerHale, a Washington, D.C. based law firm focusing on investigations, crisis management, privacy, and cybersecurity work.
David R. Shedd
Former U.S. intelligence officer, Shedd’s final post was as the acting Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Shedd served from 2007-2010 as the Deputy Director of National Intelligence (DNI). He is a former Central Intelligence Agency operative.
Alice Hill
Hill has served as Senior Director for Resilience Policy at the National Security Council, Senior Counselor to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, as a federal prosecutor, and judge and supervising judge within the Los Angeles Superior Court. Hill is an American policy-maker and academic, currently she is a senior fellow for climate change policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Chief Justice Loretta Rush
Chief Justice Rush became Indiana’s 108th Supreme Court Justice in 2012 after being appointed by Governor Mitch Daniels. The Judicial Nominating Commission named her Chief Justice in 2014. Chief Justice Rush is a member of local, state, and national bar associations andserves on the Conference of Chief Justices Board of Directors and is co-chair of the National Judicial Opioid Task Force.
Dr. Paul Stockton
Dr. Paul N. Stockton is the Managing Director of Sonecon, LLC, a District of Columbia-based advisory firm. From 2009-2013, Dr. Stockton served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense. He was responsible for Defense Critical Infrastructure Protection, Western Hemisphere security policy, domestic crisis management, continuity of operations planning, and a range of other responsibilities.
September 6, 2016
Chuck Rosenberg
Rosenberg was appointed Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2015 by Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Prior to joining DEA, Rosenberg served as the chief of staff and senior counselor to FBI Director Comey. He also served as the U.S. Attorney General for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Southern District of Texas and served in several senior posts at the Department of Justice.
August 24, 2016
Alejandro Mayorkas
Alejandro N. Mayorkas is a Cuban-American lawyer who served as the Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security from 2013-2016. He is a partner in the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr. Mayorkas practices in the areas of civil and criminal litigation, internal investigations, cybersecurity, crisis management and strategic counseling.
April 13, 2016
Dan Coats
Coats is an American politician and former diplomat. He served as the Director of National Intelligence from 2017-2019 and as a US Senator from Indiana from 1989-1999 and again from 2011-2017. Additionally, Coats has served on the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, as a US Ambassador to Germany, and as a member of the House of Representatives.
February 17, 2016
Pete Hoekstra
Hoekstra is a Dutch-American politician serving as the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands since 2018. He previously served as the U.S. Representative for Michigan’s 2nd congressional district and was the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee from 2004-2007.
January 13, 2016
Fran Quigley
Fran Quigley is a clinical professor of law, teaching in the Health and Human Rights Clinic at IU McKinney School of Law. Professor Quigley is the author of several academic journal articles on social justice and human rights, multiple mass media articles and columns, and four books, including most recently Prescription for the People: An Activist’s Guide to Making Medicine Affordable for All (Cornell University Press, 2017). Quigley has served as the first Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Julia Carson and as the executive director of ACLU of Indiana. He edits the weekly newsletter Faith in Healthcare.
Melvin Carraway
Carraway served as Deputy Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration from 2014-2015. Carraway was the first African-American superintendent of the Indiana State Police and the second African-American in the United States to head a statewide law enforcement agency.
April 7, 2015
Jay Hein
Hein is a former Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, and Deputy Assistant to U.S President George W. Bush. As director of the OFBCI, he was charged with the mission of expanding and strengthening the influence of faith based organizations in providing social welfare services. Hein serves as the president and founder of the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research, a non-profit Indianapolis, Indiana based think tank.
March 24, 2015
Congresswoman Susan W. Brooks
Brooks is an American prosecutor and politician. She is the U.S. Representative for Indiana’s 5th congressional district. Brooks previously served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana from 2001-2007.