Re-Thinking the Middle East, AI, National Security and More. 2024 St. Petersburg Conference on World Affairs

Text the ATB Team! We'd love to hear from you!

What began in 2013 as a "Wouldn't it be great if –" idea between Professor Thomas Smith, PhD of the University of South Florida and former US Ambassador Douglas McElhaney has now blossomed into one of the Tampa Bay region's must-see events.

This week's episode features a conversation with Smith, who is now the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, and Campus Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at USF St. Petersburg.  Smith goes behind-the-scenes of the St. Petersburg Conference on World Affairs and even tells us about the time the event unwittingly featured an honest-to-goodness Russian spy.

This year's event is themed "Re-Thinking." It will explore new ideas and possibilities with that theme in a wide spectrum of interests and industries: national security, artificial intelligence, the Middle East, the Sahel Region in Africa, arts and music, European monarchies and many more.

SPCWA is scheduled for February 5-7 at the USF St. Petersburg campus and will feature a keynote address  from retired U.S. ambassador Barbara Stevenson.

==========

At the Boundary from the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida, features global and national security issues we’ve found to be insightful, intriguing, fascinating, maybe controversial, but overall just worth talking about.

A "boundary" is a place, either literal or figurative, where two forces exist in close proximity to each other. Sometimes that boundary is in a state of harmony. More often than not, that boundary has a bit of chaos baked in. The Global and National Security Institute will live on the boundary of security policy and technology and that's where this podcast will focus.

The mission of GNSI is to provide actionable solutions to 21st-century security challenges for decision-makers at the local, state, national and global levels. We hope you enjoy At the Boundary.

Look for our other publications and products on our website publications page.