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National security does not involve only military forces. Throughout the years, soft power has become an increasingly useful tool for ensuring national security, via civilian-focused work such as diplomacy, humanitarian aid, and cultural touches. Is soft power effective? How can it be best deployed to ensure national security without resorting to military tactics? Join Perry World House for a conversation on the soft power mechanisms of national security.
SPEAKERS
Colonel Jody Daigle has served in the U.S. Army for over 22 years. A 2002 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he held numerous Infantry and Special Forces roles, with six combat deployments to Iraq and the Southern Philippines. His career additionally focused on the Indo-Pacific region, strengthening military capabilities through international partnerships and serving in diplomatic roles at U.S. embassies in India, China, and the Philippines. Colonel Daigle holds master’s degrees from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, specializing in strategy, leadership, and international relations.
Alexandra A.K. Meise is a visiting professor of national security studies at the US Army War College and an Associate Teaching Professor at the Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL). Her research on sovereignty, statecraft, national security, democratic participation, and human rights stands at the intersection of policy and public and private international law. To that end, her scholarship and teaching focus on the contributions of democratic institutions and economic development to rule of law and national security policy, especially in conjunction with public democratic participation and climate change’s effects on world order and governance.
Professor Meise’s work strengthening, promoting, and securing rule of law domestically and abroad has spanned five continents. She spent over a decade in legal practice preventing and resolving international disputes before assorted U.S. courts and international tribunals, including in terrorism and human rights litigation, in treaty-based international arbitrations and public international law disputes, and in designing and implementing legal reforms and human rights best practices. She has also worked for war crimes tribunals in Cambodia and Timor Leste; for the U.S. Department of State at posts in Europe; in international development in countries such as Yemen and Bosnia; and on election administration, observation, and strategy in Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.
A publicly engaged scholar and speaker, Professor Meise’s contributions have appeared in assorted media outlets such as Just Security, the New York Times, the Columbia Journal of International Affairs, The Secure Line podcast, and NBC. Before Northeastern, she held academic appointments at Georgetown University, University of Pennsylvania, and Vermont Law School.
Lieutenant Colonel Lee Turcotte is an Air Force civil engineer and explosive ordnance disposal officer with 20 years of service. He has deployed eight times, including four tours in Afghanistan, where he served on a provincial reconstruction team and led bomb squads to render safe roadside bombs. In Germany, he managed NATO infrastructure investment; at the Pentagon, he oversaw the Air Force’s European and nuclear-related construction portfolios. His most recent assignment was the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, where he assessed risk to strategic military capabilities, including the nuclear enterprise. He has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in international relations.
MODERATOR
Michael C. Horowitz is Director of Perry World House and Richard Perry Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also Senior Fellow in Innovation and Technology at the Council on Foreign Relations. From 2022 to 2024, Professor Horowitz served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Development and Emerging Capabilities. He is the author of The Diffusion of Military Power: Causes and Consequences for International Politics, and the co-author of Why Leaders Fight. He won the Karl Deutsch Award given by the International Studies Association for early career contributions to the fields of international relations and peace research. He has published in a wide array of peer reviewed journals and popular outlets. His research interests include the intersection of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics with global politics, military innovation, the role of leaders in international politics, and geopolitical forecasting methodology. Professor Horowitz worked for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. He is a life member at the Council on Foreign Relations. Professor Horowitz received his Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University and his B.A. in political science from Emory University.
