Ambassador John J. Sullivan, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and former U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation

Date: Nov 12, 2024, 3:00pm (pacific) | King Hall | SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: Russia and national security “Fireside Chat” talk and Q&A with Lt. Gen. Eric Wendt, U.S. Army (retired), NPS Professor of Practice, Defense Analysis

Ambassador Sullivan’s career spans four decades in public service in prominent diplomatic and legal positions under five U.S. presidents. His most recent position was as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation 2020-2022 (for both President Biden and President Trump) in Moscow at the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. He is author of "Midnight in Moscow: A Memoir from the Front Lines of Russia's War Against the West."

Sullivan's earlier positions included Deputy Secretary of Commerce, following his service from 2005 to 2007 as the general counsel of the department. Previously, Ambassador Sullivan was counselor to Assistant Attorney General J. Michael Luttig in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. Read more.

The Honorable Leon Edward Panetta, 23rd Secretary of Defense

Date: Oct 8, 2024, 3:00pm (pacific) | King Hall | SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: National security talk and Q&A with Lt. Gen. Eric Wendt, U.S. Army (retired), NPS Professor of Practice, Defense Analysis

Leon Edward Panetta served as the 23^rd Secretary of Defense from July 2011 to February 2013.

Before joining the Department of Defense, Mr. Panetta served as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from February 2009 to June 2011. Mr. Panetta led the agency and managed human intelligence and open source collection programs on behalf of the intelligence community.  Secretary Panetta has dedicated much of his life to public service. Before joining CIA, he spent 10 years co-directing with his wife, Sylvia, the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, based at California State University, Monterey Bay.

The Institute is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit center that seeks to instill in young men and women the virtues and values of public service. In March 2006, he was chosen as a member of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan committee established at the urging of Congress to conduct an independent assessment of the war in Iraq. Read more.

The Honorable James Mattis, 26th Secretary of Defense

Date: May 28, 2024, 3:00pm (pacific) | King Hall | SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: Fireside chat and Q&A with Lt. Gen. Eric Wendt, U.S. Army (retired), NPS Professor of Practice, Defense Analysis

A native of Richland, Washington, Secretary Mattis enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve at the age of 18. After graduating from Central Washington University in 1971, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps.

During his more than four decades in uniform, Secretary Mattis commanded Marines at all levels, from an infantry rifle platoon to a Marine Expeditionary Force. He led an infantry battalion in Iraq in 1991, an expeditionary brigade in Afghanistan after the 9/11 terror attack in 2001, a Marine Division in the initial attack and subsequent stability operations in Iraq in 2003, and led all U.S. Marine Forces in the Middle East as Commander, I Marine Expeditionary Force and U.S. Marine Forces Central Command.

During his non-combat assignments, Secretary Mattis served as Senior Military Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense; as Director, Marine Corps Manpower Plans & Policy; as Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command; and as Executive Secretary to the Secretary of Defense. Read complete bio...

In-person only

General Paul LaCamera assumed command of United Nations Command, ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command, and United States Forces Korea

Date: May 07, 2024, 3:00pm (pacific) | King Hall | SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: Fireside chat and Q&A with Lt. Gen. Eric Wendt, U.S. Army (retired), NPS Professor of Practice, Defense Analysis

General Paul LaCamera assumed command of United Nations Command, ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command, and United States Forces Korea (UNC/CFC/USFK) on July 2, 2021. A native of Westwood, MA, General LaCamera commissioned as an Infantry Officer from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1985. His education includes a Bachelor of Science from the U.S. Military Academy and a Master of Arts degree from the U.S. Naval War College.

General LaCamera most recently served as the Commanding General of the United States Army’s largest Service Component Command, U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), headquartered at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, with portions of the command forward-deployed and based throughout the Indo-Pacific. During his 38 years of service, General LaCamera had the honor to lead and serve with members of all military branches, inter-agency colleagues, and coalition partners from platoon through corps, and a combined joint task force. Read complete bio...

Internal only

Bob Stevens and Bill Swanson, former CEOs of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon companies

Date: March 26, 2024, 3:00pm (pacific) | King Hall | SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: Accelerating Innovation

Robert J. Stevens has been an independent director of Price Group since 2019 and serves as a member on the Executive Compensation and Management Development Committee and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Read complete bio...

Bill Swanson chairman and CEO of Raytheon Company (“Raytheon”). His over four-decade career at Raytheon, the final 10 years of which he served as chairman and CEO, concluded upon his retirement in 2014. Read complete bio...

Author and Political Strategist, Peter Zeihan

Date: Feb 27, 2024, 3:00pm (pacific) | King Hall | SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: Strategic Competition. A fireside chat and Q&A with Alan Howard, associate chair of the Energy Academic Group.

Peter is a New York Times bestselling author whose first three books — The Accidental Superpower, The Absent Superpower and Disunited Nations — have been recommended by Mitt Romney, Fareed Zakaria and Ian Bremmer.

Peter is also a highly sought after public speaker. With a keen eye toward what will drive tomorrow’s headlines, his irreverent approach transforms topics that are normally dense and heavy into accessible, relevant takeaways for audiences of all types. Read complete bio...

Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Michele Flournoy

Date: Nov 28, 2023, 3:00pm (pacific) | King Hall | SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: Strategic Competition. A fireside chat and Q&A with Lt. Gen. Eric Wendt, U.S. Army (retired), NPS Professor of Practice, Defense Analysis

Michèle Flournoy is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec Advisors, and former Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where she currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors.

Michèle served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from February 2009 to February 2012. She was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations. She led the development of the Department of Defense’s 2012 Strategic Guidance and represented the Department in dozens of foreign engagements, in the media and before Congress.

Prior to confirmation, Michèle co-led President Obama’s transition team at the Defense Department. Read complete bio...

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice

Date: Oct 05, 2023, 3:00pm (pacific) | King Hall | SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: Fireside chat and Q&A with Lt. Gen. Eric Wendt, U.S. Army (retired), NPS Professor of Practice, Defense Analysis

Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy, Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at Hoover, Professor of Political Science and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and a Senior Fellow on Public Policy. She is the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In addition, she is a founding partner of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm.

From January 2005 to January 2009, Rice served as the 66th Secretary of State of the United States, the second woman and first black woman to hold the post. Rice also served as President George W. Bush’s Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) from January 2001 to January 2005, the first woman to hold the position.

Rice served as Stanford University’s provost from 1993 to 1999, during which time she was the institution’s chief budget and academic officer. As Professor of Political Science, she has been on the Stanford faculty since 1981 and has won two of the university’s highest teaching honors.

From February 1989 through March 1991, Rice served on President George H.W. Bush’s National Security Council staff. She served as Director, then Senior Director, of Soviet and East European Affairs, as well as Special Assistant to the President for National Security. In 1986, while an International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, Rice also served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Rice earned her bachelor’s degree in political science, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver; her master’s in the same subject from the University of Notre Dame; and her Ph.D., likewise in political science, from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver.

Rice is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded over fifteen honorary doctorates. Read complete bio...

GEN Bryan P. Fenton Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)

Date: May 30, 2023, 3:00pm (pacific) | King Hall | SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: SOF Today and In The Future: Space/Cyber and More…

General Fenton holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from University of Notre Dame, and a Master’s Degree from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.  He attended Negotiation/Leadership Training at Harvard University and served as the 2009 Army Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

General Bryan P. Fenton currently serves as the 13th Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base, FL.  

Prior to assuming command of USSOCOM, General Fenton served as the Commander of Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, NC.

General Fenton’s other assignments as a general officer include:  Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense; Deputy Commander, Indo-Pacific Command; Commander, Special Operations Command Pacific; Assistant Chief of Staff G-3, U.S. Army Pacific; Deputy Commanding General – Operations, 25th Infantry Division; and Deputy Director of Strategy, Plans and, Policy, Department of the Army.  Read complete bio...

Internal only

GEN Paul M. Nakasone Commander, U.S. Cyber Command and Director, National Security Agency/Chief, Central Security Service

Date: April 25, 2022, 3:00pm (pacific) | King Hall | SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: Cyber Today and in the Future

A native of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, GEN Nakasone is a graduate of Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, where he received his commission through the Reserve Officers' Training Corps.

GEN Nakasone is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College, the Command and General Staff College, and Defense Intelligence College. He holds graduate degrees from the U.S. Army War College, the National Defense Intelligence College, and the University of Southern California.

GEN Nakasone's awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal (with oak leaf cluster), the Defense Superior Service Medal (with three oak leaf clusters), Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal (with oak leaf cluster), Army Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal (with oak leaf cluster), Army Achievement Medal (with four oak leaf clusters), Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Iraq Campaign Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Combat Action Badge, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge. 

GEN Nakasone has commanded a company, battalion, and brigade, and served as the senior intelligence officer at the battalion, division and corps levels and  has also served on two occasions as a staff officer on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  He assumed his present duties as Commander, U.S. Cyber Command and Director, National Security Agency/Chief, Central Security Service in May 2018.  Read complete bio...

Internal only

The Honorable Dr. Robert Gates, former U.S. Secretary of Defense (December 2006 to July 2011)

Date: November 29, 2022, 3:00pm (pacific) | King Hall | SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: National Security

Dr. Robert M. Gates served as U.S. Secretary of Defense from December 2006 to July 2011.  Dr. Gates was the only Secretary of Defense in U.S. history to be asked to remain in that office by a newly elected President. President Barack Obama was the eighth president Dr. Gates served.

Before becoming the Secretary of Defense, Dr. Gates was the President of Texas A&M University, the nation's seventh largest university. Prior to assuming the Texas A&M presidency, on August 1, 2002, he served as Interim Dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M from 1999 to 2001.

Secretary Gates joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1966 and spent nearly 27 years as an intelligence professional. During that period, he spent nearly nine years at the National Security Council, The White House, serving four presidents of both political parties.

Dr. Gates served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1991 until 1993. He is the only career officer in CIA's history to rise from entry-level employee to Director. He served as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence from 1986 until 1989 and as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser at the White House from January 20, 1989, until November 6, 1991, for President George H.W. Bush.  Read complete bio...

Internal only | more here 

The Honorable Carlos Del Toro, 78th Secretary of the Navy

August 18, 2022  |  1015 a.m. (pacific)  |  King Hall |  SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: Lifelong Learning Is Our Greatest Competitive Advantage

The Honorable Carlos Del Toro was sworn in as the 78th Secretary of the Navy August 9, 2021. As Secretary, he is responsible for over 900,000 Sailors, Marines, reservists, and civilian personnel and an annual budget exceeding $210 Billion. His priorities include securing the training and equipment successful naval operations demand and addressing the most pressing challenges confronting the US Navy and Marine Corps – China’s naval ambitions, climate instability, Covid’s ongoing impact, and strengthening a naval culture of inclusiveness and respect.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Del Toro immigrated to the U.S. with his family as refugees in 1962. Raised in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City, he attended public schools and received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering. Secretary Del Toro was commissioned as a Surface Warfare Officer upon his graduation in 1983.

Secretary Del Toro is a 1989 graduate of NPS’ Space Systems Engineering program. Read complete bio...

Learn more:  SECNAV Emphasizes Lifelong Learning as a ‘Strategic Imperative’ During NPS Guest Lecture

Watch video: https://youtu.be/FF5fvHbZxpk

Rear Admiral Douglas Small, Commander Information Warfare Systems Command

July 14, 2022  |  3:30 p.m. (pacific)  |  King Hall |  SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: Project Overmatch

Rear Adm. Doug Small is a native of Birchwood, Wisconsin. He is a 1988 graduate of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Physics. He also holds a doctorate degree in physics from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
Small’s operational tours included mechanical division officer and main propulsion assistant on USS Camden (AOE 2), in which he deployed in support of Operation Desert Storm, as well as combat systems officer (plankowner) on USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7). During Operation Iraqi Freedom he served as the first technical director of Joint Crew Composite Squadron (JCCS) 1, assembled by the Navy to assist with defeating then-prevalent radio-controlled improvised explosive devices (IED).

An engineering duty officer since 1997, Small had a number of tours in acquisition, starting at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division and then the Missile Defense Agency. Moving to the Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS), Small was the electronic warfare assistant and then the major program manager for above water sensors (PEO IWS 2), overseeing the development of improvements for the Navy in electronic warfare and radar. Following this tour he served as the executive assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition. Read complete bio...

Classified, Internal only.

Mr. Jason Zander, Executive Vice President at Microsoft

June 6, 2022  |  3:00 p.m. (pacific)  |  King Hall |  SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL) | NPS Livestream

Lecture Topic: “Fifth Domain Competition: A conversation with Microsoft Executive Vice President” … NPS President Vice Adm. Ann Rondeau (ret) USN will host a fireside chat with Mr. Zander on the strategic challenges in cyberspace for our nation and national defense.

Jason Zander is the executive vice president of the Strategic Missions and Technologies division at Microsoft. In this role, he leads the engineering and sales field organizations incubating technical products and driving scientific discovery to create solutions with transformative potential for the future of cloud computing and continued company growth across telecommunications, Azure Space & Missions Engineering, quantum computing, and Microsoft Federal Sales and Delivery.  

Mr. Zander led Microsoft Azure to become a global leader in hyperscale public and sovereign cloud computing, which now serves more than 95% of the Fortune 500. Under his leadership, Azure grew to millions of compute cores with exabytes of storage, while extending customer connectivity on and off the planet to an expanding data center footprint—constituting billions of dollars of capital investments—through a global fiber network and worldwide satellite connectivity. Mr. Zander continues to deliver technical innovation and holds nearly a dozen patents. 

Mr. Zander also serves as the Chief Technology Advisor of Titletown Tech in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a partnership between the Green Bay Packers and Microsoft, to build and fund early-stage, high-growth business in the region, and formerly served as a board member of Athenea Health, a leading provider of network-enabled services and mobile apps for medical groups and healthcare systems. Mr. Zander holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Minnesota State University and lives in the Seattle area with his family. 

Learn more about:  "Naval Postgraduate School Collaborates With Microsoft To Bring Emerging Technologies To The Fleet”

Watch the lecture: https://youtu.be/lnZlCbikFR0

Rear Admiral Blake L. Converse, Deputy Commander, US Pacific Fleet

Mar 29, 2022  |  3:00 p.m. (pacific)  |  King Hall |  SECNAV Guest Lecture (SGL)

Lecture Topic: The Theory of the Fight: U.S. Pacific Fleet and Indo-Pacific Security

Rear Admiral Blake Converse is a native of Pennsylvania and graduated from Penn State University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He also holds Master of Science degrees in Space Systems Engineering and Applied Physics from the Naval Postgraduate School.

His career as a nuclear submarine warfare officer includes assignments aboard USS Lapon (SSN 661), USS Olympia (SSN 717), and USS Minneapolis-St.-Paul (SSN 708) as the executive officer. Command assignments include Commanding Officer, USS Louisiana (SSBN 743) from February 2006 to February 2009 and Commander, Submarine Squadron 6 from October 2012 to August 2014.

Ashore, he served as the Radiological Controls Officer on the staff of Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet Submarine Force; as a Special Assistant to the Commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command; as a Deputy Commander of Submarine Squadron 17; as the Prospective Commanding Officer Course Instructor at Naval Reactors headquarters; and as Chief of Staff to Commander, U.S. Submarine Force. Read complete bio...

Classified, Internal only.