SMU’s John G. Tower Center presents Gen. Wesley K. Clark

The Program on National Security and Defense at SMU’s John G. Tower Center for Political Studies will present its inaugural event – “The Future of Conflict: Military Roles and Missions – on November 13-14 on the SMU campus.

Wesley K. Clark

General Wesley K. Clark (Ret.), former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, will deliver the keynote address at a luncheon at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14, in the Umphrey Lee Ballroom. Reservations are required, and registration begins at noon, with a $35 per person fee for the address. (SMU students, faculty and staff may attend at no charge with SMU IDs.)

The two-day program also will feature military and business leaders, policymakers, analysts and scholars, who will discuss challenges to national security. At a time when security threats have become extraordinarily complex, those challenges include a growing isolationist mood, declining defense budgets and contending approaches to the use of force.

The opening Tower Forum panel discussion – "How the Military Is Relating to the Changing Nature of Conflict" – begins at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, in the Collins Executive Education Center. Texas State Representative Dan Branch, chair of the Tower Center’s Board of Directors, will introduce the panel of Flag Officers: Major General Robert H. Scales, Jr. (Ret.); Rear Admiral William R. Burke, director of Navy Quadrennial Defense Review; Brigadier General Mark Clark, U.S. Marine Corps; Major General Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., Deputy Judge Advocate General, Headquarters U.S. Air Force; Major General David Fastabend, U.S. Army; Rear Admiral Brian Salerno, U.S. Coast Guard; and Lt. General John R. Wood, Deputy Commander, Joint Forces Command. Lee Cullum, journalist and Tower Center senior fellow, and Tower Center acting director Seyom Brown will lead the discussion.

Panel discussions November 14 at the Meadows Museum’s Smith Auditorium include "The Emergent Geopolitics of Conflict" at 9 a.m., "Technological Change and Its Military Implications" at 11 a.m., and "Military Roles and Missions" at 2:30 p.m. Reservations are required for the panel discussions, which are free of charge.

To RSVP or for more information, email tower@smu.edu or call 214-768-3954. Find a pdf of the program and reservation form online.