Exploring Careers in Global Security

Exploring Careers in Global Security is a collaborative series developed by the Center for Careers and Internships and Middlebury in DC with content contribution from members of the Middlebury Professional Network and Middlebury students.

As the relative power of the United States’ global competitors increases, key aspects of global security rest increasingly on the capacity of great powers—China, the EU, India, Japan, Russia, and the United States— to cooperate in tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Among these are climate change, cyber security, illicit trafficking, pandemics, proliferation, and terrorism. This series includes interviews with many professionals who will share their vantage points on the current state of global security challenges, their paths from campus to career, and career advice they would have for students interested in this career space.

Episode 8: Multi-Lateral Institutions in Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation

Guest Speaker: Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova ‘07 MIIS, Director, IONP, Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation

Interviewer: Eleanor Krabill ‘21 MA Nonproliferation and terrorism Studies, MIIS

Video: 47 minutes

Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova ‘07 MIIS, is the Director, (IONP) of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation. Ms. Mukhatzhanova’s work is focused on multilateral regimes and institutions in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. She also leads the VCDNP’s training courses for diplomats and practitioners. She served as an expert on the delegation of Kazakhstan to the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference and the delegation of Chile to the 2015 NPT Review Conference. She also advised the delegation of Chile to the negotiations of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017. She was previously Senior Research Associate and NPT Project Manager at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS). She has taught workshops and courses on Iran’s nuclear program and on nuclear proliferation trends and trigger events at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey. Prior to joining CNS, she was a Media and Outreach Specialist at the UN Development Programme in Kazakhstan.  Ms. Mukhatzhanova received her MA in International Policy Studies, with distinction, from the Monterey Institute of International Studies (2007) and her BA in Journalism/Mass Communication, Cum Laude, from the American University in Bulgaria (2001).

Episode 7: Animal Disease as a Global Threat

Guest Speaker: Emerson Tuttle ‘09, Regional Science Manager, Defense Threat Reduction Agency

Interviewer: Anja Stadelmann ‘21

Video: 38 minutes

Emerson Tuttle ‘09 majored in Biology while at Middlebury. He is currently Regional Science Manager with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, focusing on animal borne disease. Emerson has a DVM, International Veterinary Medicine from Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine and an MA in International Relations from the Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Episode 6: Global Security - An International Development Perspective

Guest Speaker: Amy McQuade ‘04, Foreign Service Officer USAID

Interviewer: Sophie Bardetti ‘22

Video: 33 minutes

Amy McQuade ‘04 is an experienced Foreign Service Officer with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) who has represented the United States Government at the forefront of foreign policy and global security objectives. During the span of her career, she has served as a diplomat in four continents, including Haiti, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, and Lebanon. Prior to joining USAID, Amy practiced law in the D.C. Superior Court and the D.C. Court of Appeals. She also served as a legal clerk at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague, the Netherlands. Amy holds a Juris Doctor and a Master’s of Art degree in International Development from American University in Washington, D.C. Amy attended Middlebury College in Vermont graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies/Political Science and Italian.  In her spare time, Amy volunteers for the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project as a Screening Attorney and studies her third romance language, Romanian.

Episode 5: Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Extremism

Guest Speaker: Alex Newhouse ‘17 and MIIS ‘18, Research Lead, CTEC

Interviewer: Tony Sjodin ‘23

Video: 30 minutes

Alex Newhouse ‘17 is the Research Lead at CTEC, where he focuses on right-wing extremism, religious fundamentalism, online extremism and terrorism, and terrorist propaganda. In particular, he collects and leverages large-scale social data to understand how the communities, relationships, and language of extremists evolve. Previously, he was an independent researcher and data analyst for CTEC. He also worked at Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation) on the data governance team, working on data privacy compliance issues. Before that, he spent time fighting credit card and payments fraud on PlayStation’s fraud management team. Prior to PlayStation, Alex spent time at Uber, analyzing and contributing to its responses to natural disasters and terrorist attacks. He also has experience as a journalist. Alex has an MA in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies from the Middlebury Institute, a BA in Political Science and English from Middlebury College, and is currently earning an MS in Analytics from Georgia Tech.

Connect with Alex on Midd2Midd.

Episode 4: Nuclear Energy and Global Security

Guest Speaker: David Peranteau MIIS ‘09, Team Leader for Support Programme Coordination, IAEA

Interviewer: Eli Horton ‘22

Video: 31 minutes

David Peranteau MIIS ‘09 is the Team Leader for Member State Support Programme Coordination in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Department of Safeguards. In this role, he helps to manage the Agency’s relationships with Member State donors that provide additional support for the Agency’s nuclear verification mission. David has a BA in Government with a focus on international relations from Dartmouth College. He has an MA in International Policy Studies and a certificate in Nonproliferation Studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Prior to joining the IAEA in 2014, he worked as a contractor for the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration in the Office of Nonproliferation and International Security, helping to coordinate US R&D support to the IAEA’s Department of Safeguards. During graduate school, he pursued internships and fellowships with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the IAEA, the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and CSIS. He lives in Vienna, Austria with his wife (also a Dartmouth graduate) and two children. His French, acquired mostly in college and graduate school, remains far better than his German.

Episode 3: The Pandemic and the Need for Collaboration

Guest Speaker: Pam Berenbaum, Director, Global Health Program, Middlebury College

Interviewer: Sophie Bardetti ‘22

Video: 41 minutes

Pam Berenbaum is Director of the Global Health Program, Professor of the Practice of Global Health, and a member of the leadership team for the Engaged Learning Centers. She has taught at Middlebury since 2010, teaching courses on global health, public health policy, and disaster public health. Pam holds a Master of Science in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. She has worked in many sectors, including government, academic, consulting, and non-profit. For ten years, she was an infectious disease epidemiologist in the Epidemiology Field Unit at the Vermont Department of Health, where she specialized in syndromic surveillance, bioterrorism, and all-hazards emergency preparedness, collaborating with personnel from other state agencies as well as the CDC.

Episode 2: China’s Rise: Technology, Energy, Regional, Trade, Security, Strategic Implications

Guest Speaker: Brian Harding ‘03, Senior Expert Southeast Asia, U.S. Institute for Peace

Interviewer: Wiatt Hinton ‘21

Video: 25 minutes

Brian Harding ‘03 joined the U.S. Institute of Peace in May 2020 as a senior expert on Southeast Asia. He comes to USIP with more than 15 years of experience in Southeast Asian affairs in government, think tanks, and the private sector. Prior to joining USIP, Harding was deputy director of the Southeast Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he managed a range of projects focused on Southeast Asia’s political economy and U.S.-Southeast Asia relations. Previously, he was director for East and Southeast Asia policy at the Center for American Progress, where he led an expansion of the their work on Southeast Asia and Japan. From 2009 to 2013, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon as country director for Asian and Pacific security affairs. There, he managed defense relations with major U.S. partners in Southeast Asia and Oceania and played an instrumental role in several high-profile defense policy initiatives, including agreements to station U.S. Marines in Darwin, Australia, and littoral combat ships in Singapore. In the private sector, Harding has advised many of the world’s most prominent companies and financial institutions on political risk and leadership dynamics in Southeast Asia, including in roles at Eurasia Group and Monitor 360. Harding holds degrees from Middlebury College and The George Washington University and has studied at universities in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and Kyoto, Japan. In Southeast Asia, he has also been a Fulbright research fellow in Indonesia and taught English in Nong Khai, Thailand.

Episode 1: Alliances and the Future of American Leadership

Guest Speaker: David Wisner ’04, Deputy Director for Press & Strategic Communications for Near Eastern Affairs Bureau, U.S. Department of State

Interviewer: Drew Platt ‘21

Video: 27 minutes

David Wisner ‘04 is currently the Deputy Director for Press and Strategic Communications and the Spokesperson for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. David previously ran the political and  economic section at the U.S. Embassy in Algeria, was the Tunisia Desk Officer at the State Department, and was a Staff Assistant to two Assistant Secretaries of State for Near Eastern Affairs. He was also a Special Assistant to Counselor Kristie Kenney covering the Middle East and Africa. David has also served at our Embassies in Khartoum, Sudan, and Bangui, Central African Republic as well. David speaks Arabic and French. He is a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont and the Taft School in Connecticut.