ISF

Prompting International Understanding

PRESENT AND FUTURE SECURITY CHALLENGES: Finance, Energy, Politics

ISF 2018 facilitates wide-ranging conversations reflecting the many challenges to international security. ISF 2018 fosters an enhanced understanding between thought-leaders in North America and Europe, with emphasis on finance, energy, and politics. Moreover, the conference will mark the accomplishments of the legendary Jan Olszewski government (1991-1992), which facilitated Poland's pivot from Russian influence, political independence, and entry into NATO. Held at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, one of Poland's foremost public universities, ISF 2018 will take place on June 4.

International Security forum

At the nexus of global leadership and defense policy, the International Security Forum (ISF) is a non-profit institution committed to addressing some of the world’s most pressing strategic challenges.

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick is the Archbishop Emeritus of Washington. He has spent decades as a human rights advocate, frequently traveling worldwide to mediate conflicts, and resolve justice and peace issues. He is a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the chair of the Catholic Relief Services Foundation, and was the chancellor of the Catholic University of America. Cardinal McCarrick served on the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom and was appointed a distinguished senior scholar at the Library of Congress. He was awarded 37 honorary doctorates, as well as the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights, an honor bestowed by President Bill Clinton. 

Senator Larry Pressler served in the United States Senate for 18 years. He was the Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, as well as the Chairman of the European Subcommittee and the Chairman of the Arms Control Subcommittee. Previously, he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Senator Pressler served on the Boards of Visitors of the U.S. Military Academy and the Air Force Academy, was a U.S. Delegate to the United Nations on two occasions, and is credited with numerous major legislative accomplishments. He sought the 1980 Republican Presidential nomination. Senator Pressler has authored several books, including Neighbours in Arms: An American Senator’s Quest for Disarmament in a Nuclear Subcontinent.

Minister Antoni Macierewicz is the legendary leader of the anti-communist resistance in the Polish People's Republic. He founded the Workers Defense Committee (KOR), the forerunner of Solidarity, later directing Solidarity’s Center for Social Research. He also established Głos, one of the first independent publications of the communist era. A former political prisoner, he was arrested over 20 times. Since the fall of communism, Minister Macierewicz has served at the highest levels of government. He is Deputy Leader of the largest party in the parliament, Law and Justice. Minister Macierewicz has been the Minister of National Defense, Minister of Internal Affairs, Head of the Military Counterintelligence Service, Secretary of State in the Ministry of National Defense, and Chairman of the Verification Commission. On October 25, 2015, Minister Macierewicz was reelected for a sixth term as a Member of the Sejm, the main chamber of the Parliament of Poland. He presently heads the special governmental inquiry into the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash.

Minister Piotr Naimski is Poland's Government Plenipotentiary for Strategic Energy Infrastructure, and Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland. He previously served as the Deputy Minister of Economy and as the Head of the Office for State Protection. Active in Poland's anti-communist resistance, Minister Naimski was the co-founder of the Workers Defense Committee (KOR). In the 2011 parliamentary elections, he successfully contested for the Sejm, running from the Law and Justice list in Nowy Sącz. He was reelected in 2015. An accomplished academic, Minister Naimski has been involved at the Polish Academy of Sciences, New York University, and National Louis University, where he was the Dean of the WSB-NLU Faculty of Political Studies.

Minister Jan Parys was the Minister of National Defense of Poland during Prime Minister Jan Olszewski's government. He was thereafter appointed as the President of the Jagiellonian College, a position he retained until 2015. From 2015 to 2018, Minister Parys served on the Council of the Polish Institute of International Affairs, and as the Head of Cabinet at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has been awarded the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta, and the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity.

Minister Piotr Bączek served as the Head of Poland's Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW) from 2015 to 2018. Prior assuming leadership of the SKW, he was an key expert to the Parliamentary Committee for the Investigation of the Causes of the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 Crash. In 2006 Minister Bączek was appointed by the Prime Minister to membership on the Verification Commission, where he helped liquidate a vestige of the communist era, the Military Information Services.

Edmund Janniger is the Director of the International Security Forum, and the Deputy Chief of Staff to Minister Antoni Macierewicz. Mr. Janniger previously served in the Ministry of National Defense, where his work encompassed academic affairs and global engagement, and holds the record as the youngest sub-cabinet official in Poland’s history. During the 2015 elections, he was the Deputy Campaign Manager for Law and Justice in the 10th Electoral District. He has a proven track record directing complex political and policy-related matters. Mr. Janniger holds an adjunct appointment at Marconi University, and was elected by the full Rutgers University Senate to three terms on its Executive Committee. Mr. Janniger splits his time between the Warsaw and New York metropolitan areas, has one young Italian Mastiff, and is an avid hiker.

Chris Zawitkowski is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Polonia Institute.