At the Global Strategic Review 2007: The Role of NATO in Meeting Global Challenges, Vice Admiral Kevin J. Cosgriff discusses Managing Regional Flashpoints; Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering discusses Does the United Nations have a Role in Iraq?; and Professor Seyed G Safavi discusses Regional Security: A View from Tehran. Mr David Ignatius chairs the discussion.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) brought together over three hundred senior government officials, leading researchers, and many of the Institute's influential members from around the world to discuss and address some of the world's most critical issues at the 5th IISS Global Strategic Review (GSR) held in Geneva.
Bio
Kevin J. Cosgriff
Vice Admiral Kevin J. Cosgriff graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y., and began active duty with the Navy directly thereafter. He was among the first to receive a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence from the Defense Intelligence College. He also earned the Naval War College Foundation Award for Outstanding Performance. He is an alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar XXI Program.
At sea Vice Adm. Cosgriff was a "plank owner" aboard USS Wabash (AOR 5). He served in the guided missile destroyer USS Sampson, was engineer officer of USS Fanning (FF 1076) and material officer at Commander, Destroyer Group 13. His executive officer tour was in USS Arthur W. Radford (DD 968). He commanded USS Robert G Bradley (FFG 49) and Destroyer Squadron 32. He also commanded Cruiser Destroyer Group 8/Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group.
Ashore, Vice Adm. Cosgriff was an analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency/National Military Intelligence Center. He was Executive Assistant to Navy's Director of Strategy and Policy and later served as Assistant Director for House Liaison in the Office of Legislative Affairs. He was the Deputy Director of the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel and also served as Executive Assistant and Naval Aide to the Under Secretary of the Navy.
Vice Adm. Cosgriff was Director, White House Situation Room and Director of Systems and Technical Planning for the National Security Council. He served as Director, Office of Program Appraisal in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy and was Director for Warfare Analysis Integration for the Chief of Naval Operations. Most recently he was the Deputy Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Va.
David R. Ignatius
Washington Post columnist associate editor David Ignatius has had a distinguished and wide-ranging career in the news business, serving at various times as a reporter, foreign correspondent, editor and columnist. He has written widely for magazines and published several novels.
Ignatius' twice-weekly column on global politics, economics and international affairs debuted on the Washington Post op-ed page in January 1999. He continued to write weekly after becoming executive editor of the Paris-based International Herald Tribune in September 2000. When the Post sold its interest in the IHT in January 2003, Ignatius resumed writing twice a week for the op-ed page and was syndicated worldwide by the Washington Post Writers Group. His column won the 2000 Gerald Loeb Award for Commentary and a 2004 Edward Weintal Prize.
Prior to becoming a columnist, Ignatius served as the Post's assistant managing editor in charge of business news, foreign editor, and editor of the "Outlook" section. Before joining the Post in 1986, Ignatius spent 10 years as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and was an editor at The Washington Monthly. He has published articles in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, Talk Magazine and The Washington Monthly. Ignatius has written seven novels, including 2007's Body of Lies, which was adapted into a Warner Bros. film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.
Raised in Washington, D.C., Ignatius attended Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1973. He received a Frank Knox Fellowship from Harvard and studied at King’s College, Cambridge University, where he received a diploma in economics.
Amb Thomas R Pickering
Thomas Pickering has had a diplomatic career spanning five decades.
He has served as U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation, India, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Pickering held the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the U.S. Foreign Service.
Seyyed G. Safavi
Dr Seyyed G Safavi is a PhD and Post Doctorate from SOAS, University of London, on 'the Study of Religions' (2003). He has published books in both English and Persian on Islamic philosophy, comparative philosophy, Sufism and Rumi's thoughts. He was Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies London and is currently Director of London Academy of Iranian Studies, a research fellow at University of London and editor in chief of the Transcendent Philosophy Journal. Along with Dr G. King at SOAS, he is currently producing a film on Rumi and Mathnawi's stories, and Shi'ite arts in Iran. His two most recent books are Rumi Teaching and Rumi Spiritual Shiism.
member. 
