Distinguished Speaker Series – Ethics of War

You are invited to a Distinguished Speaker Series dinner event on April 2, 2025, at the Riverfront Community Center in downtown Leavenworth, Kansas (123 S. Esplanade St.). A reception begins at 5:30 p.m., the buffet dinner starts at 6 p.m. and the presentation will begin at 7 p.m.

Our current world is filled with friction within and between countries. There are conflicts on every continent on Earth besides Australia and Antarctica. The success of our nation is reliant upon our ability to train well-formed, ethical leaders to navigate the complexities of this dynamic environment. In this installment of our Distinguished Speaker Series Paul Miller, Ph.D., the CGSC Foundation’s General Hugh Shelton Distinguished Visiting Chair of Ethics, is joined by Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Derek M. Pottinger, instructor of ethics and world religions at CGSC, in a discussion of Miller’s latest book, Ethics of War: A Short Companion. In the book, Miller discusses just war tradition and the contemporary challenges of the changing shape of modern warfare and offers insight on how to counsel soldiers, elected officials, and citizens in response.. Dr. Miller’s presentation comes on the heels of the CGSC Military Ethics Symposium conducted April 1-2.

Tickets are $35/person in advance or $40/person at the door.

Registration is closed.

Dr. Paul David Miller, Ph.D., is a scholar and public servant devoted to ordered liberty at home and abroad. He is a political theorist and political scientist focusing on international affairs, the American experiment, and America’s role in the world. He is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He serves as co-chair of the Global Politics and Security concentration in the Master of Science in Foreign Service program. He is also a non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

As a practitioner, Dr. Miller served as Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan on the National Security Council staff; worked as an intelligence analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency; and served as a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army.

His most recent book, The Religion of American Greatness: What’s Wrong With Christian Nationalism, was published by IVP Academic in 2022. He is also the author of Just War and Ordered Liberty (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and American Power and Liberal Order (Georgetown University Press, 2016). Miller taught at The University of Texas at Austin and the National Defense University and worked at the RAND Corporation prior to his arrival at Georgetown.

Miller’s writing has also appeared in Foreign Affairs, Survival, The Dispatch, Presidential Studies Quarterly, The Journal of Strategic Studies, Orbis, The American Interest, The National Interest, The World Affairs Journal, Small Wars and Insurgencies, and elsewhere. Miller holds a doctorate in international relations and a bachelor’s in government from Georgetown University, and a master in public policy from Harvard University.

Miller is a contributing editor of Providence: A Journal of Christianity and American Foreign Policy, a research fellow at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and a visiting professor with AEI’s Initiative on Faith and Public Life.

Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Derek M. Pottinger is an ethics and world religions instructor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He has served 19 years as an active duty Army chaplain. Since 2006, he’s served as battalion chaplain for infantry, support, combined arms, and engineer battalions (including two deployments to Iraq 2007-2009 and 2010-2011); brigade chaplain for 3rd Recruiting Brigade (2014-2015); the ethics instructor/curriculum writer at the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence’s Field Artillery School (2016-2020); group chaplain for the 10th Support Group, Okinawa, Japan (2020-2022); and garrison chaplain, Fort Riley, Kansas (2022-2024). Pottinger holds a Master of Theology in ethics and public policy from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity in General Ministries from Lincoln Christian University, and a master’s in theology and a bachelor’s in Christian ministries from Cincinnati Christian University. He is endorsed by the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ’s Chaplaincy Endorsement Commission.

The CGSC Foundation through its Simons Center conducts the Distinguished Speaker Series (DSS) program to offer extracurricular, educational lectures intended to help enrich the Command and General Staff School curriculum and provide opportunities for outreach to the public. Topics covered in the Distinguished Speaker Series of lectures span the gamut of leadership and ethics, organizational effectiveness, collaboration, as well as current events and issues in business, government and the military.  

~ Thank you to our 2025 DSS Sponsors ~

Pritzker Military Foundation

Col. (Ret.) Tim and Karen Carlin
(The Tim and Karen Carlin Family Foundation)

First Command

Questions about registration? – Contact Laurie Morgado, lmorgado@cgscf.org or call 913-651-0624.

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