War

Upcoming events at Berkeley Risk and Security Lab

March 20, 2026

The Berkeley Risk and Security Lab has several events coming up that may be of interest to members of the IIS community:

BRSL Webinar: Military AI Governance

Date: April 2, 2026

Time: 10:00 – 11:00 am PT

Location: Zoom

Register to attend.

The U.S. War on Iran has drawn widespread attention to the influence of AI and data science tools on military choices previously left to human judgement. At...

Flash Panel on the U.S.-Iran Conflict

March 16, 2026

March 18, 2026 | 3:30 - 5 PM | 223 Philosophy Hall

The War Everyone Should Have Seen Coming

REGISTER

Panelists:

Professor Sahar Razavi - Associate Professor of Political Science, Director of the Iranian and Middle Eastern Studies Center, and Faculty Scholar at the SWANA Center, Sacramento State University.

Professor Razavi earned her PhD in Political Science at...

Nathaniel Fick: The Making of an Officer

Nathaniel Fick
2010

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Nathaniel Fick for a discussion of his best selling book One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer. Drawing on his wartime experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, Fick reflects on the nature of war and the role of the marines in post 911 conflicts. He focuses on military training and leadership with special attention to reconciling tactical and strategic imperatives, ethical issues in counterinsurgency missions, and deployment of military force as a complement to the full utilization of all aspects of American power.

KEYWORDS: Iraq...

Michael Walzer: Political Theory and Social Criticism

Michael Walzer
2013

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, who reflects on his intellectual journey. Topics covered include: the influence of his parents; his Jewish upbringing; his education at Brandeis; Harvard, and Cambridge; his tenure at Dissent and the impact of the protest movements of the 1960's. Walzer compares the work of a political theorist and that of a social critic. He analyzes humanitarian intervention and drone warfare in the context of just war theory. He also discusses the aftermath of the...

Michael B. Oren: War in History and in Fiction

Michael B. Oren
2005

Host Harry Kreisler welcomes historian and novelist Michael Oren for a discussion of the search for truth in his historical studies and in his novels. He reflects on the skills and temperament required to do history and fiction focusing on his study of the six day war in the Middle East and his novel Reunion.KEYWORDS: Nuclear Weapons, National Laboratories.

KEYWORDS: Israel, Six Day War.

Max Boot: Revolutions in Military Affairs and the War on Terror

Max Boot
2006

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes military analyst Max Boot for a discussion of his new book, War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History 1500 to Today. He offers his reflections on the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War and the 2006 Lebanon War in light of his historical analysis. He also evaluates the successes and failures of the Bush Administration.

KEYWORDS: Technology, Iraq, Nimitz Lecturers.

Lt.Col. John A. Nagl: Counterinsurgency

Lt.Col. John A. Nagl
2015

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Dr. John A. Nagl for a discussion of his life as a scholar/soldier in the U.S. military. After recalling the highlights of his career, Dr. Nagl, focusing on the problem of counterinsurgency, analyzes the army’s failings as a learning organization. He discusses the trajectory of military thinking after the Vietnam War and the long struggle to recognize the unconventional ways of warfare conducted by insurgents and terrorists. He describes how a group of innovators in the military came to draft the US Army/Marine Corp Counterinsurgency Field Manual...

William Pfaff: The End of the Cold War

William Pfaff
1990

UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler welcomes author and columnist William Pfaff for a discussion of U.S. foreign policy, U.S.- European relations and the end of the Cold War. Pfaff reflects on his intellectual odyssey and comments on the role of the press in shaping U.S.opinion toward world politics.

KEYWORDS: American Century.

William Haglund: Voices from the Grave

William Haglund
2000

Forensic Scientist William Haglund joins host Harry Kreisler for a discussion of how his work as a coroner in murder investigations led to his involvement in the use of forensic science in human rights investigation in Bosnia, Central America and Nigeria.

KEYWORDS: Forensic Science, Anthropologists.

Victor Davis Hanson: Iraq and the Lessons of the Peloponnesian War

Victor Davis Hanson
2006

Conversations Host Harry Kreisler welcomes historian and classicist Victor Davis Hanson for a discussion of the Peloponnesian War and its lessons for today. He compares that conflict with the war in Iraq. He talks about imperial ambition, the conflict between civilizations, and military power as an instrument to achieve democratization in the struggle between modernity and tradition.

KEYWORDS: Iraq, Nimitz Lecturers.