DMNSF – May 22, 2025

How ought we judge international politics? From the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the targeted assassination of Qasem Soleimani to weaponizing AI and drone technology, the current and future challenges we face require discernment and virtue.

In this meeting of the Des Moines National Security Forum, U.S. Air Force Col. Paul Vicars, Ph.D., explains the tensions and offers insights on ways to think about them.

Col. R. Paul Vicars, Ph.D., is an entrepreneur and assistant professor at the Air War College (AWC) with duties supporting the U.S. Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

After earning a doctorate in political science at Baylor University, Vicars served as chair of the Department of International Security Studies at the AWC. Previously he served as the project lead for the U.S. Air Force Air Education and Training Command’s Pilot Training Next initiative at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas, where he was responsible for exploring the potential of current and emerging technologies in the context of U.S. Air Force flight training.

Vicars was commissioned in 1999 at Air Force ROTC Detachment 157, Embry-Riddle University, Daytona Beach, Florida. He has flown the F-16 in South Korea, as a Forward Air Controller (Airborne) in Alaska, as well as in support of Operation Noble Eagle in Guam. He has also served in the Combined Forces Command joint operations center in Kabul, Afghanistan. He served on the U.S. Pacific Command joint staff, as well as in joint education at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Vicars’ research interests include military ethics and strategy.

Questions about registration? – Contact Stephenie Cole, scole@cgscf.org or call 913-651-0624.

For questions about the DMNSF contact Lt. Col. (Ret.) John Nelson, Simons Center Director, at john.nelson@cgscf.org.

Registration is closed.

The Des Moines National Security Forum is an exclusive professional information sharing and networking event exclusively for members of the forum and select invitees of the CGSC Foundation’s Simons Center and Brownells, the co-hosts of the Forum.

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