Programme of events

RUSI is the podium of choice for world leaders and senior policy makers, and is ideally placed to attract high-quality speakers and participants at its events. These vary in size and format from set-piece lectures to conferences and seminars.

Members' Event: Command in Helmand 13:00, 8 Sep 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
Rescheduled date. A lecture by Major General Gordon Messenger DSO* OBE, Strategic Communications Officer, Ministry of Defence. In his lecture, Major General Messenger will reflect on the challenges facing those leading joint operations in Southern Afghanistan at Brigade level. As a recent British Commander of Task Force Helmand on Op HERRICK 9, he will discuss how the joint approach across military, civilian, governmental and international lines is vital to the success of the mission in Afghanistan.

Members' Event: The Future of Policing 13:00, 10 Sep 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
Sir Hugh Orde OBE QPM, President, Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), will discuss the future of policing with Margaret Gilmore, Senior Research Fellow, RUSI. This meeting will incorporate discussion on the challenges of policing in the the twenty-first century; from force mergers, funding and new government policing policies to dealing with emergencies and police/industry partnerships.

Members' Event: Lord Trenchard Memorial Lecture 2010 - Air, Space and Cyber Power: Strategic Choice and Operational Necessity 13:00, 16 Sep 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
The Lord Trenchard Memorial Lecture 2010, to be given by Air Chief Marshal Simon Bryant, Commander-in-Chief Air Command, Royal Air Force, will examine air, space and cyber power in the context of operational choice and strategic necessity.

Members' Event: Take Me Back to Constantinople - How Byzantium, not Rome, can help preserve Pax Americana 12:30, 22 Sep 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A lecture by Edward Luttwak, Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (Washington, DC) and author of The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire. In this lecture, Edward Luttwak will discuss strategy, intelligence and diplomacy from an historical perspective and will draw on a number of insights the US would do well to heed if it wishes to remain a great power.

Members' Military History Lecture - Reassessing the British Army in the Second World War 12:45, 27 Sep 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A lecture by Professor Gary Sheffield, Chair of War Studies, University of Birmingham. The British army of the Second World War is beginning to undergo the same sort of academically rigorous analysis that over the last quarter century has transformed views on its predecessor of 1914-18. In his lecture, Professor Sheffield will place the experience of the British army of 1939-45 into the wider context of the war and British military history. Building upon recent scholarly research, he will reassess the British army in this conflict and examine such topics as morale, combat effectiveness and generalship.

Members' Event: Whitehall Dialogue - The Defence Vetting Agenda for the 21st Century 15:45, 6 Oct 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A presentation by Jacky Ridley, Chief Executive, Defence Vetting Agency, Ministry of Defence, UK. In her presentation, Jacky Ridley will discuss how the DVA has developed to become the single largest national security vetting organisation in the UK, providing vetting for about 150,000 applications annually. She will focus on the background to defence vetting in the context of shared services, e-transformation and future challenges in the current economic and security climate.

Members' Event: Military History Lecture - The Battle of Britain: A Reassessment 12:45, 8 Oct 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A lecture by James Holland, writer and historian of the Second World War. Seventy years after the Battle of Britain, James Holland will argue the battle is viewed predominantly through the narrow prism of the Allied experience, and particularly the perspective of RAF Fighter Command. He will make a case that not only should the battle be seen as a bigger, wider clash between Britain and Germany, but one in which the stakes were even higher than has more recently been claimed.

Members' Event: All Politics Are Global 13:00, 27 Oct 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A lecture by His Excellency Mr Louis B. Susman, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Court of St. James’s. In his lecture, Ambassador Susman will explore the use of smart power in an era of global politics, reflecting the recognition that in today’s world ‘all politics are global’.

History of Secret Service Members Lecture

Members' Event: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service, 1909-1949 13:00, 28 Oct 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
Professor Keith Jeffery will discuss his groundbreaking new book, The History of the Secret Intelligence Service, 1909-1949, which is the first ever authorised history of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) – an agency commonly known as MI6.

Members' Event: Military History Lecture - Kut 1916: Courage and Failure in Iraq 12:45, 10 Nov 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A lecture by Colonel Patrick Crowley, Assistant Director, Media and Communication, Ministry of Defence, UK and Deputy Colonel in the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. The allied campaign in Mesopotamia began in 1914 as a relatively simple operation to secure the oilfields in the Shatt-al-Arab delta and Basra area. Initially it was a great success, but as the army pressed towards Baghdad its poor logistic support, training, equipment and command left it isolated and besieged by the Turks. In his lecture, Colonel Crowley recounts this dramatic tale and its terrible aftermath. The siege of Kut is a story of blunders, sacrifice, imprisonment and escape.

Members' Event: Whitehall Dialogue - Climate Change and Environmental Security 15:45, 18 Nov 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A presentation by the Rt Hon Lord Smith of Finsbury, Chairman, Environment Agency. In his presentation, Lord Smith will examine the direct and indirect risks to our environment in the context of energy security, food security, water resources, patterns of weather and agriculture and disruptions to global markets.

Members' Event: Building National Resilience 13:00, 24 Nov 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A lecture by Sir Paul Stephenson QPM, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, UK. Sir Paul Stephenson QPM, 25th Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, will outline the challenges of building national resilience to the many and varied threats facing London and the United Kingdom, with particular reference to the 2012 London Olympics.

Members' Event: Military History Lecture - The Application of Lessons Learned from Counter-Insurgency Operations, 1919-1939 12:45, 3 Dec 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A lecture by Frederick Hogarth, Senior Visiting Fellow, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. During the inter-war years of 1919-1939, ‘air control’ inexpensively exerted benevolent discipline on tribesmen throughout much of the Middle East. In his lecture, Frederick Hogarth will reflect on why the descendants of those tribesmen in Afghanistan are now fighting against NATO, with pretty much the same weapons their ancestors bore, and are not being defeated.

Members' Event: Whitehall Dialogue - Delivering Effective Strategic Communications in the UK Ministry of Defence 15:45, 7 Dec 2010, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A presentation by Nick Gurr, Director Media and Communication, Ministry of Defence, UK. In his presentation, Nick Gurr will focus on strategic communications and how it is applied in the Ministry of Defence. He will draw on his experience of defence communications that began with Operation Desert Fox in 1998 and has continued through Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Members' Event: Common Security and Defence Policy in the Twenty-First Century 13:00, 13 Jan 2011, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
General Håkan Syrén, Chairman of the European Union Military Committee, will reflect on the significant security challenges confronting western democracies and question how the EU might respond to them.

Members' Event: Current Challenges in North-South Defence Policy 13:00, 10 Feb 2011, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A lecture by Her Excellency Ms Serena Joseph-Harris, High Commissioner of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to the Court of St James's. The northern hemisphere continues to wrestle with how to sustain a force presence in critical parts of the world, while at the same time maintain a watch on new and emerging threats in the developing world. In her lecture, High Commissioner Joseph-Harris will examine the challenges to North-South defence policy, drawing upon select case studies in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Members' Event: Faith Under Fire 13:00, 22 Feb 2011, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A lecture by the Right Reverend Dr Stephen Venner DL, Bishop to HM Forces. As religious leaders have challenged political leaders to face the moral challenges of war and peace, some have opposed wars and warfare in the name of peace; others have encouraged nations to go to war, sometimes under the banner of God himself. Either way, chaplains have stood in the name of God alongside those affected by conflicts, both combatants and victims, irrespective of the rightness of the cause. In his lecture, Bishop Stephen will explore some of these issues as they are reflected today, when war is still part of our experience, where people question any moral absolutes and faith itself is under fire.

Members' Event: Whitehall Dialogue - Olympic and Paralympic Security - London 2012 15:45, 28 Feb 2011, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A presentation by Robert Raine CBE, Director of Olympic and Paralympic Safety and Security, Home Office. In his presentation, Robert Raine will outline the contribution of the Home Office, along with its partners, to the delivery of a safe and secure Olympics. He will discuss the progress and remaining challenges of security planning, eighteen months away from the biggest sporting event in the UK’s history.

Members' Event: UK Policing and Security 13:00, 16 Mar 2011, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A lecture by Sir Hugh Orde OBE QPM, President, Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). In his lecture, Sir Hugh Orde will contend that the police service is more effective through the freedom to make professional judgments about how we keep people safe, free from political interests. He will discuss the contribution of ACPO to effective policing at local, regional and national levels; and the significance of striking a balance between robust accountability and operational independence.

Members' Event: Whitehall Dialogue - Keeping the Submarine Industry Alive 15:45, 29 Mar 2011, RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
A presentation by Tony Burbridge CBE, Future Submarines Director, BAE Systems - Submarine Solutions. Long term sustainability of the UK submarine industry will require clear direction and commitment from the government in the form of future programmes that provide a regular rhythm for design and construction activities. In his presentation, Tony Burbridge will show that without this, industry will be unable to provide and nurture the wide range of skills and capabilities that a nuclear submarine programme requires.

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Programme of events