In line with the themes of our Annual Dinner we have the oportunity to present a Trilateral Professional Development Seminar / Panel session with three of our key guests.
Mr Hideshi Tokuchi, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan
Dr Patrick Cronin, Senior Advisor, Center for A New American Security, United States
Professor Peter Leahy AC, Director, National Security Institute, Canberra University, Australia
The seminar/panel will run for 2 hours. each speaker will talk for 20-25 minutes followed by a panel session for Q&A.
Mr Hideshi Tokuchi, Senior Fellow, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies
M
r. Hideshi Tokuchi entered the Defense Agency (the predecessor of the Ministry of Defense) of Japan in 1979 and served as the nation’s first Vice-Minister of Defense for International Affairs from July 2014 until he left the Government in October 2015. In the Ministry of Defense he also had served as the Director-General of several bureaus: Operations; Personnel and Education; Finance and Equipment; and Defense Policy.
Mr. Tokuchi also had worked in Washington D.C. as a visiting fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies of US National Defense University from 1995 to 1996. He taught Japan’s national security policy as a visiting professor at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) from 2002 to 2015.
He is now a Senior Fellow of GRIPS, and a Non-Resident Fellow of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Mr. Tokuchi was born in 1955. He received his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Tokyo in 1979, and earned a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (M.A.L.D.) degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1986.
His latest paper in English is “The Defense Force of Japan Awakens to Address the Contemporary Security Environment,” in Ron Huisken, ed., CSCAP Regional Security Outlook 2017 (Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific, 2017), pp. 13-15.
Dr Patrick M. Cronin, Senior Advisor and Senior Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
Patrick M. Cronin is a Senior Advisor and Senior Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Previously, he was the Senior Director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) at the National Defense University, where he simultaneously oversaw the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs.
Dr. Cronin has a rich and diverse background in both Asian-Pacific security and U.S. defense, foreign and development policy. Prior to leading INSS, Dr. Cronin served as the Director of Studies at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). At the IISS, he also served as Editor of the Adelphi Papers and as the Executive Director of the Armed Conflict Database. Before joining IISS, Dr. Cronin was Senior Vice President and Director of Research at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
In 2001, Dr. Cronin was confirmed by the United States Senate to the third-ranking position at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). While serving as Assistant Administrator for Policy and Program Coordination, Dr. Cronin also led the interagency task force that helped design the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
From 1998 until 2001, Dr. Cronin served as Director of Research at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Prior to that, he spent seven years at the National Defense University, first arriving at INSS in 1990 as a Senior Research Professor covering Asian and long-range security issues. He was the founding Executive Editor of Joint Force Quarterly, and subsequently became both Deputy Director and Director of Research at the Institute. He received the Army's Meritorious Civilian Service Award upon his departure from NDU in 1997.
He has also been a senior analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, a U.S. Naval Reserve Intelligence officer, and an analyst with the Congressional Research Service and SRI International. He was Associate Editor of Strategic Review and worked as an undergraduate at the Miami Herald and the Fort Lauderdale News.
Dr. Cronin has taught at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program, The Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and the University of Virginia’s Woodrow Wilson Department of Government.
He read International Relations at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, where he received both his M.Phil. and D.Phil. degrees, and graduated with high honors from the University of Florida. He regularly publishes essays in leading publications and frequently conducts television and radio interviews. In addition to many CNAS reports and numerous articles, his major publications include: Global Strategic Assessment, 2009: America’s Security Role in a Changing World; Civilian Surge: Key to Complex Operations (co-editor); The Impenetrable Fog of War: Reflections on Modern Warfare and Strategic Surprise; The Evolution of Strategic Thought: Adelphi Paper Classics; and Double Trouble: Iran and North Korea as Challenges to International Security.
Professor Peter Leahy, Director, National Security Institute
Peter Leahy was appointed the foundation Director of the National Security Institute on 7 October 2008. He retired from the Army in July 2008 year after a 37 year career as a soldier. As an infantry officer the focus of his career was with soldiers in command, training and staff appointments. He was fortunate enough to command at almost every level in the Army and to serve on exchange in Hong Kong with the Gurkhas and in the United States at the Armys Command and General Staff College.
Peter concluded his career in the Army with a 6 year appointment as the Chief of Army. His period of command was marked by the continuous global deployment of Australian soldiers on high tempo complex and demanding combat operations. During his tenure as Chief of Army he was responsible for the rapid expansion and development of the Army, including the Special Forces to enable it to cope with the many changing demands of modern conflict and a changing security environment. His focus in developing the Army was to provide a hardened and networked Army with increased adaptability and flexibility and the ability to provide a broad range of domestic, expeditionary and development options to Government
