OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES THAT

SYDNEY FACE YOUNG WOMEN EMBARKING ON A

CHERRY’S 2018 CAREER IN FOREIGN POLICY
SENIOR
PROJECT: JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER
WOMEN IN February 3, 2018
FOREIGN 5000 Corporate Woods Virginia Beach, Virginia
POLICY 23462

8:00am-12:00pm

SPEAKERS

• RADM Cynthia M Theboud , United States

Navy, Retired;
• Dr. Cynthia Levy, Central Intelligence
FOR ADDITIONAL
Agency;
INFORMATION • Dr. Paula Pickering, College of William and
CONTACT: Mary;
SYDNEYCCHERRY@ • McKenzie Eaglen and Jessica Trisko Darden,
GMAIL.COM American Enterprise Institute (Pre-
Recorded);
• Tamara Wittes, Brookings Institute (Pre-
Recorded);
• Katherine Weymouth, Former Publisher of
the Washington Post (Pre-Recorded).

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST AND LIGHT
LUNCH PROVIDED

SPEAKERS

Cynthia Levy, Ph.D.

Levy has taught courses in political science, strategic studies, and public
administration at Norwich University Cyndi, Colorado College, Zrinyi Miklos
National Defense University in Budapest, the U.S. National Defense University in
Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey,
California, where she also served as assistant provost for external affairs. Her
career includes service as special assistant to the Secretary of Defense, as an
analyst at CIA headquarters in Langley, the Maritime Administration, and as the
Executive Assistant to the former Dep Director of the CIA, Dr. Ray Cline, while
he was the Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
(CSIS). She has also served as a Legislative Aide for Defense and Intelligence for
US Senators Orrin Hatch and John Chafee. She received an AB from Syracuse
University in Soviet and East European studies and socialist economics, and
studied for a MA in law and diplomacy at The Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy, specializing in strategic studies and international law. She then studied
for her MPA and subsequently pursued a PhD in American government and public
administration at the Maxwell School of Public Administration. While assigned by
the US Naval Postgraduate School to teach at Zrinyi Miklos National Defense
University of the Republic of Hungary, she studied for her PhD in military strategy
and philosophy. Along the way, she was awarded an Honorary PhD from Moscow
State University in Russia.

RADM Cynthia Thebaud, USN (Ret)

A Connecticut native, Rear Adm. Cynthia Thebaud graduated with distinction from the U.S.
Naval Academy in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. She also holds a Master of
Arts in Security Policy Studies from The George Washington University, is an honors graduate
of the Naval War College, and is qualified joint specialty officer.

At sea, Thebaud has served in ships in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets with deployed
operations in the Western Pacific, Arabian Gulf, Indian Ocean, Horn of Africa, Central America,
Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and Gulf of Guinea/West Africa areas of operation. Her tours
include communications officer in USS Norton Sound (AVM 1), the Aegis and Vertical Launch
Systems at-sea weapons test platform; boilers and machinery officer, deck division officer,
navigator and navigation/administration department head in USS Prairie (AD 15); engineer
officer in USS Platte (AO 186) and USS Hayler (DD 997); executive officer in USS Ticonderoga
(CG 47) and commanding officer in USS Decatur (DDG 73). In Decatur, she deployed to the
Middle East as part of the Navy’s initial Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG 1) in support of
Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. She subsequently commanded Destroyer
Squadron (DESRON) 60 where, in addition to serving as the U.S. 6th Fleet surface combatant
force commander (CTF 65), she also commanded two multi-national African Partnership
Station deployments focused on maritime security capacity-building in West and Central Africa.
Most recently, July 17, 2014, she assumed the duties of commander, Expeditionary Strike
Group 2.

Ashore, her assignments have included commander, Logistics Group Western Pacific and
commander, Task Force 73; chief operating officer, Naval Education and Training Command;
policy branch chief (N512) on the Chief of Naval Operations staff; director, Division of
Professional Development at the U.S. Naval Academy; chief, Southeast Asia Division in the Joint
Staff, Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate (J-5); Taiwan desk officer in the Joint Staff (J-5);
executive assistant/flag secretary to commander, U.S. Naval Surface Force Pacific; Surface
Warfare Junior Officer detailer; U.S. Naval Academy company officer; Naval Reserve Officer
Training Corps instructor at George Washington University; and a joint staff internship in J-
5/Policy Division.

Thebaud’s decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (two
awards), Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), Joint Service Commendation Medal, Navy
and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (five awards), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement
Medal (two awards) and various unit citations and campaign medals.

Professor Paula Pickering

Professor Pickering worked as an analyst on Eastern Europe and as a political officer in
Turkmenistan for the State Department (1990-94). She has also served as a human rights officer
for the Organization for Security in Cooperation in Europe in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1996) and
as a volunteer for the Center for Non-violent Conflict Resolution in Nis, Serbia (1995).
Professor Pickering's current research focuses on the impact of aid for democratization on local
communities in culturally diverse post-socialist Eastern Europe. She also works on cross-
regional research on the impact of efforts to improve the quality of local governance, with on-
going, collaborative projects in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Uganda. Professor Pickering is an
active member of the AidData Research Consortium. Additional research interests include
ethnic politics, particularly in the Balkans; and state-building and refugee politics in post-conflict
states in Eurasia. Through her mentorship of the award-winning international community
engagement project, The Bosnia Project, she also supports student-led, collaborative research
assessing informal educational activities that promote inter-cultural communication skills.

Select clips from interviews conducted especially for this event include:

Mackenzie Eaglen
Mackenzie Eaglen is a resident fellow in the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies at the
American Enterprise Institute, where she works on defense strategy, defense budgets, and
military readiness.

Eaglen has worked on defense issues in the House of Representatives and Senate and at the
Pentagon in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and on the Joint Staff. In 2014, Eaglen served
as a staff member of the congressionally mandated National Defense Panel, a bipartisan, blue-
ribbon commission established to assess US defense interests and strategic objectives. This
followed Eaglen’s previous work as a staff member for the 2010 congressionally mandated
bipartisan Quadrennial Defense Review Independent Panel, also established to assess the
Pentagon’s major defense strategy. Eaglen is included in Defense News “100 most influential
people in US Defense” both years the publication compiled a list. A prolific writer on defense-
related issues, she has also testified before Congress.

Jessica Trisko Darden

Jessica Trisko Darden is an Assistant Professor at American University's School of International
Service and Associate Director of Bridging the Gap. For 2017-2019, she is an inaugural Jeane
Kirkpatrick Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Her researchfocuses on international
influences on intrastate conflict and political violence, particularly within Asia. Dr. Trisko
Darden is also the lead investigator for the Women in Combat Roles (WiCR) Project, which
examines female participation in national militaries. She has published peer-reviewed articles on
alliance dynamics, political violence, and human security. From 2010 to 2012, Dr. Trisko
Darden was a Visiting Scholar with Yale University's Program on Order, Conflict and Violence.
Dr. Trisko Darden has contributed op-eds and commentary on international politics and
conflict to The Baltimore Sun, The Conversation, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Newsweek, US
News and World Report and The Washington Post. She been interviewed by BBC Radio, CNN, The
Globe and Mail, The Today Show, and The Wall Street Journal. You can watch a live interview
or read her latest piece on U.S. foreign aid policy under the Trump administration.

Dr. Trisko Darden has expertise in: U.S. foreign aid; development and security; human rights;
Asia (particularly Southeast Asia and Central Asia); and gender issues and security.

Tamara Cofman Wittes

Tamara Cofman Wittes is a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings.
Wittes served as deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs from November of
2009 to January 2012, coordinating U.S. policy on democracy and human rights in the Middle
East during the Arab uprisings. Wittes also oversaw the Middle East Partnership Initiative and
served as deputy special coordinator for Middle East transitions. Wittes joined Brookings in
December of 2003. Previously, she served as a Middle East specialist at the U.S. Institute of
Peace and director of programs at the Middle East Institute in Washington. She has also taught
courses in international relations and security studies at Georgetown University. Wittes was
one of the first recipients of the Rabin-Peres Peace Award, established by President Bill Clinton
in 1997.

Katherine Weymouth
Katharine Weymouth is former chief executive officer of The Washington Post and its
affiliated publishing businesses, a position she held from 2008 until 2014.
Weymouth joined the newspaper in 1996 as assistant counsel. After two years, she moved to
Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive (WPNI), then the online publishing subsidiary of the
Company, as associate counsel. In 2000, Weymouth returned to the Post, where she served as
the advertising department’s liaison between the newspaper and WPNI. She became director of
the advertising department’s Jobs unit in 2002 and was named director of advertising sales in
April 2004. She served as vice president of advertising for The Washington Post from January
2005 until she was named publisher in 2008.
Weymouth earned a BA magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1988 and a JD from
Stanford Law School in 1992. Following law school, she clerked on the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals for one year. She practiced law at Williams & Connolly in Washington, DC, from 1993-
1996. Weymouth is a great-granddaughter of Eugene Meyer, who bought The Washington Post
in 1933.
Featuring a concluding video from

Kimberly Kahnhauser Freeman

Kimberly Kahnhauser Freeman is Executive Director of the Women's Foreign Policy
Group. Before assuming this role in September 2017, Kim served as Associate Director of
organization where she oversaw global issues programming, membership outreach, and
mentoring activities. Prior to joining WFPG in 2006, Kim completed a Fulbright teaching
fellowship in Tirol, Austria; conducted research on DC public housing for Georgetown
University's Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service; and managed operations
for the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. She graduated from Georgetown
University’s School of Foreign Service with a degree in International Politics, during which time
she studied at the University of Vienna, the Warsaw School of Economics, and the University of
Silesia in Cieszyn, Poland. She is a founding member of Students Stopping Trafficking of People
(SSTOP). In 2011, she was selected to participate in the Young Turkey/Young America
fellowship program sponsored by the State Department and the US Embassy in Turkey.

AGENDA FOR THE DAY

8:00am-8:20am: Check in
8:20-8:30: Introduction of program
8:30-8:50: Tamara Wittes Interview
8:50-9:35: Professor Paula Pickering
9:35-9:50: Mackenzie Eaglen and Jessica Darden Interview
9:50-10:35: RADM Cynthia Thebaud
10:35-10:50: Katherine Weymouth Interview
10:50-11:35: Dr. Cynthia Levy
11:35-11:40: Conclusion from Kim Kahnhauser Freeman
11:40-12:00: Wrap up of program

During the day, participants will be able to hear directly from the
women speaking and engage with them through open
questioning. During the display of the interviews, participants are
able to watch and interact through an online platform about any
questions they still have.


ABOUT THE PROJECT

Inspired by the article above, I realized what I wanted my senior project

to be about. Having been a part of the Legal Studies Academy, I had incredible
opportunities where I learned that foreign policy was my greatest passion.
Throughout these experiences, I found that women are extremely
underrepresented in foreign policy. Women make up less than thirty percent
of senior positions across institutions like the Federal Government, military,
think tanks, and non-governmental organizations. This struck me as something
that needed to be changed. I wanted to create a project where young people
(women especially) could interact with some of the incredible women that
have been invited here today.
I focused my senior project research paper on foreign policy between
the United States and Israel as that has been the component of foreign affairs
that has always been most interesting to me. As Israel is such an important
ally to the United States, I spent the first semester exploring this relationship
and its effects on the Middle Eastern world. The relationship between the
United States and Israel will be talked about throughout the project today.
I hope that you all can learn from this day and elevate your own interests
in foreign policy. The journey getting to this day has been the most impactful
of my life and I am excited to share it all with you today. It would not have
been possible without the help of my advisor, John Sutton. I would like to
extend another thank you to Robin Mancoll, the Jewish Community Center,
and all the women speaking today. Thank you and have fun today!
- Sydney Cherry