On Tuesday, April 16, 2019, the Strauss Center and Clements Center will welcome Col. Liam Collins, director of the Modern War Institute at West Point, to discuss the U.S.-Russian hybrid war in Ukraine, U.S. policy and ways to counter Russian aggression. Col. Collins has conducted multiple visits to Ukraine as the executive officer for Gen. (ret.) John Abizaid in his role as the senior defense adviser to Ukraine. He planned and executed dozens of meetings with senior Ukraine officials including their president, minister of defense and chief of defense to help reform Ukraine's defense establishment to produce a more capable force meeting Western norms and NATO standards. In the U.S., he planned and executed dozens of meetings with DoS, DoD, NSC and HASC officials, including Defense Secretary Mattis and National Security Adviser McMaster to inform and shape U.S. policy.
Col. Liam Collins is a career Special Forces officer who has served in a variety of special operations assignments and conducted multiple combat operations to Afghanistan and Iraq as well as operational deployments to Bosnia, Africa and South America. He has graduated from several military courses including Ranger School and has earned numerous military awards and decorations including two valorous awards for his actions in combat. Prior to assuming his current position as the director of the Modern War Institute at West Point, he served as the director of West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center. He has taught the courses Military Innovation, Insurgency and Counterinsurgency, Comparative Defense Politics, Research Methods in Strategic Studies, Homeland Security and Defense, Terrorism and Counterterrorism, Internal Conflict, International Relations, American Politics, and Officership. He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the United States Military Academy and a Master in Public Affairs and Ph.D. from Princeton University.