Dartmouth Events

SYRIA: No Good Choices

Colonel Richard H. Outzen ’89, U.S. Army, Senior Army Advisor to State, Policy Planning Staff, U.S. Department of State

Thursday, February 22, 2018
4:30pm – 6:00pm
Haldeman 41 (Kreindler Conference Hall)
Intended Audience(s): Public
Categories: Lectures & Seminars

SYRIA: NO GOOD CHOICES

Richard H. Outzen ’89, Colonel, U.S. Army, Senior Army Advisor to State, Policy Planning Staff, U.S. Department of State

Thursday February 22  |  4:30pm  |  041 Haldeman Center, free and open to all

Secretary of State Tillerson’s January 17th speech in California on ‘The Way Forward in Syria’ laid out a new and more coherent direction for U.S. policy regarding the conflict in Syria. The speech attempted to tie together divergent and even contradictory strands of policy that had marked the U.S. response to Syria since the uprising broke out six years ago. The speech also marked the culmination of nearly a year of interagency discussions and analysis over the dangers and options facing the U.S. in Syria – and which path best protects the national interest in the long run. A participant in these policy debates and decisions, Rich Outzen ’89, will discuss the speech, the Syrian crisis, and foreign-policy making more generally.

Colonel Outzen has served as Defense Attaché in Kabul, Deputy Chief of Staff for Training and Development for the United States Security Coordinator in Jerusalem, Executive Officer of the Office of Defense Cooperation in Ankara, and assistant U.S. Army Attaché in Tel Aviv.

He deployed twice in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, once in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, and once in support of Operation PROVIDE COMFORT. Colonel Outzen also has served in a variety of command and staff positions in Field Artillery and Military Intelligence units.

He has researched and published extensively on matters of policy and strategy, with a focus on the greater Middle East and Central Asia. He has helped shape interagency discussion and national policy options for transitions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority. His areas of expertise include Defense Policy and Strategy, Strategic Culture, the Middle East, NATO/Europe, and Central Asia.

He has published over a dozen articles on language, culture, strategy, and Middle Eastern affairs. Colonel Outzen is a qualified military linguist in Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew, and German, and has spent over a decade serving in U.S. military and diplomatic missions overseas. He has participated in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. His military service has also included tours in the office of the Secretary of Defense and on the Joint Staff, and service as a military attaché in Israel.

Colonel Outzen graduated cum laude with a B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1989, and holds an M.A. in National Strategic Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School as well as an M.S. in National Security Resourcing from the Eisenhower School. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the Eisenhower School, and a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Co-sponsored by the Department of History’s “Steven S. Rosenthal ’71 Fund in History” and the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding.

 

 

For more information, contact:
Sharon Tribou-St. Martin

Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.