Great Power Competition

GPC7 Agenda

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7th Great Power Competition Conference
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Marshall Student Center
March 8-9, 2023
Tampa, Florida

 

DAY 1

 
8:00am - 8:55am Check-in and Registration
8:55am - 9:00am Conference and Day 1 Overview
Lieutenant Colonel Javier Torres, Branch Chief, J25 Partner Engagements, USCENTCOM
9:00am - 9:10am Welcome Remarks
Rear Admiral Nicholas Homan, Director of Intelligence, USCENTCOM
9:10am - 9:20am Keynote Introduction
General (Ret) Frank McKenzie, Executive Director, Global and National Security Institute and former commander, USCENTCOM
9:20am - 10:20am
  
Keynote Address and Q&A
Brigadier General (Ret) Peter Zwack, Global Fellow at The Kennan Institute and former Senior Defense Official/Attaché Moscow
10:20am - 10:40am Plenary Speaker
Gregory Ryckman, Deputy Director for Global Integration, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
10:40am - 11:00am Break
11:00am - 12:30pm
 
Panel 1: War in Ukraine - Russian Hybrid Warfare, Lessons Learned and Future of Russian Way of War
Panelists:
 MODERATOR: Jeff Aiton, J2 Strategic Competition Director, CENTCOM
• Dr. Nathan Barrick, Deputy Chief of Strategy and Analysis, SOCOM
• Colonel (Ret) Tom Wilhelm, Director U.S. Army Foreign Military Studies Officer
• Brigadier General (Ret) Peter Zwack, Global Fellow at The Kennan Institute and former Senior Defense Official/Attaché Moscow
• Dr. Maria Snegovaya, Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
12:30pm - 2:00pm BREAK FOR LUNCH (on your own)
2:00pm - 3:30pm
 
Panel 2: Strategic Competition – Russia's Future Strategy and Friction Points
Panelists:
• Moderator: Mike Cleary, Strategic Competition Director, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
• Dr. Maria Snegovaya, Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
• Michael DeMattia, Lead Analyst, Office of Strategic Competition, CENTCOM
• Dr. Nathan Barrick, Deputy Chief of Strategy and Analysis, USSOCOM
• Brigadier General (Ret) Peter Zwack, Global Fellow at The Kennan Institute and former Senior Defense Official/Attaché Moscow
• Dr. Yoshiko Herrera, Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison
3:30pm - 3:45pm BREAK
3:45pm - 4:35pm Closing Remarks from Directors of Military Intelligence:
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyz Republic
- Pakistan
- Tajikistan
- Uzbekistan
4:35pm - 4:50pm Conference Closing Remarks,
Rear Admiral Nicholas Homan, Director of Intelligence, USCENTCOM
 

DAY 2

 
8:00am - 9:00am Check In and Registration
9:00am - 9:05am Conference Introduction and Day 1 Preview 
Dr. Adib Farhadi, Conference Emcee
9:05am - 9:07am Welcome Video Remarks
Florida Senator, Rick Scott
9:07am - 9:12am Opening Remarks
Rhea Law, President, ¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵ
9:12am -9:30am Welcome Remarks
David Lamm, Acting Director, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA)
9:30am - 10:00am Keynote Remarks & Q&A
General (Ret) Frank McKenzie,  Executive Director, GNSI and former commander, U.S. Central Command
10:00am - 10:30am Morning Break
10:30am - 12:30pm

Panel #1: Understanding China's Grand Strategy

• What are China's long-term objectives as a global power?

• How do the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia fit into Chinese strategic goals?

• How does China view its competition with the United States and Russia for influence? How is the war in Ukraine affecting China's relationship with Russia and calculations for the region?

• Does China want to play the role of regional security guarantor? To what extent are Middle East countries increasing reliance on China's Foreign Military Sales (FMS)?  

• How does China balance its relations with regional states, especially on both sides of the Arabian Gulf?


Panelists:
• Moderator:  Todd Veazie, Director of Strategic Multilayer Assessment, The Joint Staff, Pentagon
• Major General Kevin Leahy, Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command Central
• Dr. Hal Brands, Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
• Dan Blumenthal, Director of Asia Studies, American Enterprise Institute
• Dr. June Teufel Dreyer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami

12:30pm - 2:00pm  LUNCH
2:00pm - 2:30pm
 
Plenary Speaker
Lieutenant General Dimitri Henry, Director for Intelligence, Joint Staff (J2)
2:30pm - 4:30pm
 

Panel #2: Implications of China's Belt and Road Geoeconomics for U.S. National Security

China's Belt and Road Initiative has been Beijing's most powerful tool of influence in recent history. This panel will examine how China employs its economic investment leverage to cultivate influence and potentially coerce and control other states. This session will explore the trajectory of the BRI and the potential for China to use these infrastructure projects to support future military aims. The panel will also examine the implications of China's dependence on and increased access to petroleum and critical minerals in the region. 

Panel Discussion Questions:
• What is the role of BRI in China's grand strategy? 

• Assessing the geoeconomic and geopolitical implications of the BRI. 

• What should the U.S. do to counter the influence that China has developed in the Central Region through its BRI?

• How does China's preferential access to critical minerals in the region, primarily through its BRI, threaten U.S. interests? 

Panelists:
• Moderator: Quinton DuBose, Strategic Competition Program, J2, U.S. Central Command
•  Major General Sean Salene, Director, Strategy, Plans and Policy, U.S. Central Command
• Dr. Dawn Murphy, Professor of International Security Studies, U.S. Air War College
• Grant Rumley, Goldberger Fellow with The Washington Institute's Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East
• Dr. Lawrence Reardon, Professor of Political Science at the University of New Hampshire

4:30pm End of Day Two
 

DAY 3

 
8:00am - 9:00am Check-In and Registration
9:00am -9:05am Conference Day 1 Recap and Day 2 Preview 
Dr. Adib Farhadi, Conference Emcee
9:05am - 9:10am Welcome Video Remarks
Congresswoman Kathy Castor, FL #14
Congresswoman Laurel Lee, FL #15
9:10am - 9:30am Opening Remarks
Dr. Eric Eisenberg, Senior Vice President University - Community Partnerships, USF
9:30am - 10:00am Plenary Remarks
Major General David Doyle, Chief of Staff, U.S. Central Command
10:00am - 10:30am 

Break

10:30am - 12:30pm
 

Panel #3: China's Shaping of International Norms and Regional Security Environment


China seeks to reshape the regional security environment and revise the international rules-based order to its advantage. This panel looks at the ideological underpinnings and long-term objectives of China’s military modernization. The panel will examine the central role information operations and media narratives play in China's diplomatic and security strategies. It will also explore how China uses lawfare and manipulation of multinational bodies to undermine international norms.  

• How could Chinese military modernization change the character of future competition of conflict in Asia?

• How can states in the Central Region recognize and counter Chinese disinformation and political influence campaigns?

• What are the key opportunities and challenges to establish more cooperation among partners in the Central Region to maintain international norms?

• How can the United States work with its partners in the Central Region to ensure freedom of navigation in the Indian Ocean Basin, establish rules of engagement with growing PLA forces in the region and counter Chinese disinformation and political influence campaigns?

Panelists:
Moderator: Matthew McInnis, Senior Fellow Institute for the Study of War
• Daniel Tobin, Deputy Director of China Studies, National Intelligence University
• Emily de la Bruyere, Senior Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracy
• Dean Cheng, Senior Research Fellow, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies
• Peter Mattis, Special Competitive Studies Project, U.S. Naval Institute

12:30pm - 12:35pm
 
Featured Speaker, Dr. Randy Larsen, Associate Dean, Office of Research and Scholarship, University of South Florida
12:35pm - 2:00pm LUNCH
2:00pm - 4:00pm  Breakout Sessions
  Breakout Session #1
(INVITATION ONLY / not live streamed)
China's Belt and Road Initiative Projects in Central Asia and Pakistand (Room 4200)
  Breakout Session #2
(INVITATION ONLY / not live streamed)
Future Scenarios for Strategic Competition with China (Room 3707)
 

Breakout Session #3
(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC / not live streamed)
TikTok is now #1 on the U.S. Most Wanted List. Why the push is on to ban China’s most dangerous startup from the United States. 
(OVAL THEATER - ROOM 2500)

Session Lead: Tom Waters, Assistant Director of Startups for the University of South Florida.  He was previously an undercover officer on the CIA’s Economic and Trade Security team; his memoir is #2 on the Agency’s list of recommended reading for new employees.  

4:00pm End of Day Three and Conference