Join moderator: Gov/Amb. James Gilmore, Board Member, Council of American Ambassadors, speaker: Linas Kojelis, Instructor, California Lutheran University, speaker: Admiral James G. Foggo, USN (ret.), Dean, Center for Maritime Strategy, and speaker: Marta Kepe, Senior Defense Analyst, RAND Corporation as they discuss the security implications in the Near-Abroad during the second panel of the 2024 Fall Conference.

Admiral James G. Foggo, U.S. Navy (ret.), is the Dean of the Center for Maritime Strategy. He is a 1981 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. ADM Foggo is also an Olmsted Scholar and Moreau Scholar, earning a Master of Public Administration at Harvard University and a Diplome d’Etudes Approfondies in Defense and Strategic Studies from the University of Strasbourg, France. He commanded the attack submarine USS Oklahoma City (SSN 723) in 1998, which was awarded the Submarine Squadron 8 Battle Efficiency “E” award and the Admiral Arleigh Burke Fleet Trophy, for being the most improved ship in the Atlantic Fleet. Following command of USS Oklahoma City, he would go on to command eight more times to include: Submarine Squadron 6 in Norfolk, Virginia; Submarine Group 8; Allied Submarines South; the U.S. 6th Fleet; Allied Striking and Support Forces NATO; Naval Forces Europe; Naval Forces Africa; and Allied Joint Forces Command (NATO), all headquartered in Naples, Italy. During these command tours, he participated in combat operations as the Operations Officer for Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn (Libya) in 2011 and Commander Naval Forces Europe for strike operations against Syrian chemical weapons sites in April 2018. Throughout his career, Foggo has been a champion of the Navy as an extended arm of diplomacy.

Ms. Marta Kepe is a Senior Defense Analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation where her work supports the U.S. Department of Defense. Ms. Kepe’s work focuses on U.S. and Allied capabilities and their sustainment, Russia, irregular warfare, and civilian-based resistance and resilience. Much of Ms. Kepe’s work relates to understanding military and grey zone threats, the intersection of military and civilian words for building resilience against external occupation and grey zone threats, and to the generation of capabilities during a military crisis or war. Her recent work includes analyzing resilience and resistance in the Baltic states and Ukraine, exploring great power competition in Africa and the global commons, and studying Allied, partner, and adversary technological strengths and capabilities. Her report on Baltic resilience preparations received RAND’s Innovation Spotlight Award in 2022. Ms. Kepe’s previously worked for RAND Europe (UK), where she researched future capability needs, military and civilian technological landscape, and multinational collaboration across military equipment life cycle. She has also worked for the Latvian Ministry of Defense and the NATO Advisory Team in Kosovo. She received her MA in Security Studies from Georgetown University. Ms. Kepe is a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council and was a 2023 Irregular Warfare Fellow at the Irregular Warfare Initiative, Modern War Institute, USMA. She has taught Nordic-Baltic Security at Georgetown University, and Nordic-Baltic issues at the School of Foreign Service. Ms. Kepe speaks Latvian, French, and Russian.

Mr. Linas Kojelis is the son of Lithuanian refugees from the Russian invasion of their homeland. He graduated from UCLA in 1976 (cum laude, highest departmental honors in History), and later from Princeton University (MPA, International Affairs, 1978). While at UCLA, he volunteered for the Reagan for President campaign, and upon completing his studies, received a position as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Richard S. Schweiker (R-PA). In 1991, he received an appointment to the Office of Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger (OASD/ISP/EUR&NATO), first as an assistant for Nordic Affairs, and later promoted to Country Director for Switzerland, Austria and Ireland. From 1993-1988 he served in the White House Office of Public Liaison, first as Associate Director for Ethnic and Minority Affairs, and from 1985 as Director of Defense & Foreign Policy in the Communications Office. In 1988 he assumed the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Refugee Admissions, with primary focus on the settlement in the U.S. of “boat people” from Vietnam and Soviet Jews. In 1990, he established the U.S.- Baltic Foundation to develop and implement democracy training programs in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In March 1990, he was a guest of the newly elected Sajudis members of the Lithuanian parliament and participated at the vote for the "Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania." Among his achievements was the initiation of the founding of schools of public administration at the University of Latvia and Kaunas Technological University (Lithuania).