University of Pittsburgh's Matthew B. Ridgway Speakers Series Presents "Strategy for a Long War" Monday, Feb. 6

PITTSBURGH-The University of Pittsburgh's Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies will present "Strategy for a Long War," 3-4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 6, in Room 3430 Posvar Hall, 230 S. Bouquet St., Oakland. Thomas G. Mahnken, a visiting fellow at the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at The Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), will deliver the free public lecture, which is part of the Matthew B. Ridgway Speakers Series.

During the 2003-04 academic year, Mahnken served as the acting director of the SAIS Strategic Studies Program. He is currently on leave of absence from the U.S. Naval War College, where he is a professor in the strategy and policy department. His primary areas of expertise are strategy, intelligence, and special operations forces. Mahnken served on the staff of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. He served in the Defense Department's Office of Net Assessment, where he conducted research into the emerging revolution in military affairs. He also served as a member of the Gulf War Air Power Survey, commissioned by the Secretary of the Air Force to examine the performance of U.S. forces during the war with Iraq. Prior to that, he served as an analyst in the Non-Proliferation Directorate of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he was responsible for enforcing U.S. missile proliferation policy.

Mahnken is the author of Uncovering Ways of War: U.S. Intelligence and Foreign Military Innovation, 1918-1941 (Cornell University Press, 2002) and The Limits of Transformation: Officer Attitudes Toward the Revolution in Military Affairs (Naval War College Press, 2003), with James R. FitzSimonds. His articles have appeared in International Security, The Washington Quarterly, and Orbis. He has written opinion pieces for The Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun and appeared on Fox News, CNN, BBC, and CBC, among other networks.

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