America’s response to global instability the focus of UMaine’s Cohen Lecture Oct. 27

America’s response to global instability will be the focus of the 2015 Cohen Lecture Oct. 27 at the University of Maine, featuring three of the country’s top national security officials talking about what happens behind the scenes at the White House and Pentagon, and in Congress as decisions are made about war and peace.

Former Secretary of Defense William Cohen will be joined by Gen. Joseph Ralston, former supreme allied commander in Europe, and Ambassador Nicholas Burns, former under secretary of state for political affairs. Felicia Knight, president of the Knight Canney Group, will moderate the discussion.

The 11 a.m. event at the Collins Center for the Arts, the 10th in the William S. Cohen Lecture Series presented by UMaine’s Cohen Institute for Leadership and Public Service, is free and open to the public. To attend or request a disability accommodation, call 207.581.1153 or write umaineevents@maine.edu by Oct. 23.

The moderated discussion, “America’s Response to Global Instability,” is the third since the lecture series began in 1998. Cohen, a Bangor native who represented Maine in Congress for 24 years before joining President Clinton’s cabinet, established the series when he donated a collection of his Congressional papers to UMaine’s Fogler Library. In 2001, he also donated his papers from his tenure as secretary of defense.

Cohen is CEO and chair of the Cohen Group in Washington, D.C., which provides global business consulting. Ralston is vice chair of the Cohen Group. He served as supreme allied commander in Europe, and commander of the U.S. European Command from 2000–03. He was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1996–2000. In 2003, he completed his distinguished 37-year career in the Air Force.

As NATO commander, Ralston commanded approximately 65,000 troops from 39 NATO member nations and other countries participating in ongoing operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Burns is a senior counselor with the Cohen Group. He served as under secretary of state for political affairs from 2005–08, and was U.S. ambassador to NATO (2001–05) and U.S. ambassador to Greece (1997–2001). He retired in 2008 after 27 years in the Foreign Service.

As under secretary, he was in the third ranking position at the State Department. In that position, he shepherded successful negotiations to achieve new agreements with India in civil nuclear energy; negotiated a $30 billion long-term military assistance agreement with Israel; and served as the chief U.S. negotiator on Iran’s nuclear program.

Burns is currently the Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is also director of the Aspen Strategy Group.

Contact: Margaret Nagle, 207.581.3745