Schar School News February 2023

2022 Biodefense Grad Matthew Ferreira Wins Hopkins’ Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Fellowship

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 20:06:43 +0000

2022 Biodefense Grad Matthew Ferreira Wins Hopkins’ Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Fellowship Andrew J Schappert Wed, 02/15/2023 - 15:06

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Matthew Ferreira: ‘[T]he opportunity to meet and learn from classmates in the various biodefense, policy and government, and public administration programs was incredibly enriching and invaluable.’

Matthew Ferreira, a 2022 graduate of the Schar School’s Master’s in Biodefense program, has been selected as a 2023 Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative (ELBI) fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health and Security. The 31 fellows in the 2023 class, the program’s 10th, were chosen from some 227 applicants from around the world after a rigorous selection process.

“I am so excited to be accepted into the ELBI Fellowship program,” Ferreira said. “I am looking forward to meeting and connecting with the others in the Fellowship class as well as alumni of the program. Many of the professionals and scholars that I have had the pleasure to work with have participated in ELBI, so I’m honored to have the chance to meet and learn from this cohort of diverse and talented people in the coming year.”

His experience in the biodefense program contributed greatly to his professional growth, he said.

“The coursework has allowed me to better implement my current knowledge in the environment of government service and national security work. Additionally, the opportunity to meet and learn from classmates in the various biodefense, policy and government, and public administration programs was incredibly enriching and invaluable.”

Ferreira is the director of operations for Soteria Solutions, an Arlington, Virginia-based firm that provides innovative solutions to complex logistics problems, with a specific focus on crisis-affected areas. He previously served as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the State Department where he worked directly on international COVID-19 response operations, global health, and biodefense.

The ELBI program is an opportunity for talented career professionals to deepen their expertise, expand their network, and build their leadership skills through a series of sponsored events coordinated by the Hopkins center. The fellowship boasts more than 250 alumni who come from government, defense, private industry, science, law, public health, medicine, global health, journalism, the social sciences, and academia.

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Intelligence Q&A: The Audience Had Questions, Hayden Center Professors Had Answers

Andrew J Schappert — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 19:13:06 +0000

Intelligence Q&A: The Audience Had Questions, Hayden Center Professors Had Answers Andrew J Schappert Mon, 02/13/2023 - 14:13

Earlier this month, several Schar School of Policy and Government professors working in the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security took the stage at ��AV’s Van Metre Hall for a first-of-its-kind event: The entire program was devoted to questions from the audience. Some 165 audience members attended live, with another 300 watching via YouTube stream. (Distinguished Visiting Professor and former acting and deputy director of the CIA Michael Morell, who had been called away at the last minute, lost his internet connection early in the program.)

A Voice of America reporter interviews Michael V. Hayden ahead of the panel Q&A. Photos by John Hollis/Office of University Branding

Voice of America records Andrew McCabe before the Hayden Center’s forum.

The program was lively, informative, provocative, and, overall, a success. In less than two hours, the speakers covered countless compelling and timely topics as the audience led the direction of the conversation. What follows is a brief recap. You can see the replay here.

The first question was directed to the center’s founder and namesake, Michael V. Hayden, who was making his first on-stage appearance since suffering a stroke in 2018: “What is keeping you up at night these days?” His answer was succinct: “China, China, China.” Expressing his concerns about national security, he emphasized that the U.S. intelligence agencies need more information to accurately surmise China’s global intentions.

It has been a year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started; an audience member wondered what the future holds for that beleaguered country and the international support it desperately needs. While talking about the role of the U.S. in defending Ukraine’s independence, Hayden said “we are good but we can do better…we should do more, not eventually but now.” He also predicted this spring to be hard for the country but reassured that Ukraine will eventually win.

A Schar School Democracy Lab Learning Community student expressed his concerns about the rampant theft of technology from U.S. sources and asked about the steps the country is taking to prevent it from happening. While it’s well-known that the cybersecurity industry has been growing steadily in the last few years and specialists are making significant advances, Visiting Professor and former CIA officer David Priess replied that “innovative government and innovative private sector is not enough. We need to cooperate with international partners.” To which Hayden Center Director and former CIA Chief of Staff Larry Pfeiffer encouraged students to explore technology “and don’t be afraid of it.”

Global tension abounds, particularly in China-Taiwan relations. In answering a question about that delicate hot spot, the intelligence experts on stage agreed that after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the probability of the escalation in China and Taiwan is much lower than it was a year ago. The sentiment delivered was that the U.S. should be in no rush to interfere in a meaningful manner.

Another Democracy Lab student wondered how U.S. intelligence is countering advances in foreign surveillance technology. Distinguished Visiting Professor Andrew McCabe, former acting director of the FBI, replied that the issue, “a slow-burning and considerable threat, hasn’t received the attention it deserves over the last 10 years or so. We’re very vulnerable to the tyranny of the urgent, so we run to the latest diplomatic kerfuffle.”

In short, government intelligence agencies, he suggested, struggle to advance in the way that private sector does and communication between public and private entities needs to be refined.

Of course, there was a Chinese spy balloon question. Surprisingly, the general opinion among these former intelligence leaders was that the entire situation was not that big of a deal and that the news media exaggerated it.

Hayden, for one, said “in this situation, [President Biden] did what he was supposed to do,” in shooting down the balloon and showing his support for the decisions made by those serving in his government.

In This Story

Andrew McCabe

Michael V. Hayden

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Meet the MPA Student Who Leads FEMA’s National Exercise Division

Andrew J Schappert — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 14:29:19 +0000

Meet the MPA Student Who Leads FEMA’s National Exercise Division Andrew J Schappert Fri, 02/03/2023 - 09:29

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Shawn Lenore: ‘I think there are a lot of benefits to on-the-job training experience, but I don’t think that should substitute for continuing to do formal education.’ Photo provided.

Shawn Lenore has literally dodged a bullet. Many of them. The retired Army senior noncommissioned officer with more than 20 years of service—a good part of it serving in Iraq—eventually found calmer work after his active-duty career. The culmination being his final assignment on presidential support duty at the White House Military Office and now working within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Action seems to find him anyway: As director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Exercise Division (NED), Lenore leads the National Exercise Program (NEP), a two-year cycle of exercises across the nation that assesses, examines, and validates the nation’s core capabilities to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate hazards such as hurricanes, wildland fires, pandemics, complex coordinated terrorist attacks, cyberattacks and other disasters, through superior preparedness exercises.

Busy enough? Not for him: He’s also a student at ��AV’s Schar School of Policy and Government as a member of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program, attending classes at night.

NED, he explained, administers the NEP on behalf of the federal government and helps assists the nation in enhancing its preparedness and resilience for threats and hazards by designing and delivering exercises at federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels of government and throughout the whole community, focused on testing and validating all hazards policies, plans, and procedures.

Exercises are a key component of national preparedness as they provide the whole community with the opportunity to shape planning, assess, and validate core capabilities and address areas for improvement and, when properly leveraged, can mitigate and reduce the loss of life and property.

It’s a big job and, Lenore said, a continuation of his devotion to public service and serving others. His MPA degree, he added, will enhance his public policy and organizational leadership skills, and support his continual professional development goals.

“I will become a lot more informed from an academic and theory perspective,” he said. “I believe you should never be satisfied. I think there are a lot of benefits to on-the-job training experience, but I don’t think that should substitute for continuing to do formal education.”

His Schar School experience is already paying off.

“Last semester, I took a government contracting class as a challenge to myself and that one was very beneficial in understanding not just the theory but the real-world application on government contracting,” he said.

Lenore has a clear thirst for knowledge and need to constantly challenge himself, be it in the field or in academia. The Schar School is providing him with the right platform to maximize his professional pursuits.

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Mason Square

Schar School News February 2023

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