APCSS Faculty

Liam A. Connel

By |2022-10-17T11:50:54-10:00August 18th, 2022|Tags: |

Commander Liam Connel joined the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS) in July 2022 following a tour as the legal advisor to the Director, Navy Staff in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. CDR Connel was born and raised in California and commissioned with the Navy as a Judge Advocate General in 2003. He served as legal assistance attorney, defense counsel, trial counsel, staff judge advocate, and officer in charge during his first three Navy tours in San Diego, California, Rota, Spain and Lemoore, California from 2004-2011. From 2011-2012 CDR Connel served at [...]

Richard R. Vuylsteke

By |2022-07-20T14:03:44-10:00July 20th, 2022|Tags: , , , |

Dr. Richard R. Vuylsteke joined the Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies as a Professor on the faculty in January 2022 after serving five years in Honolulu as President of the East-West Center. During his career, he has worked in seven different professional sectors: military, academia, think tanks, government, international journalism, editing and publishing, and business organization and not-for-profit NGO leadership. Before returning to Hawaii in 2017, he spent 30 years working in Asia, the last 18 years as President of American Chambers of Commerce, first in Taiwan and then in Hong Kong. He has wide [...]

DKI APCSS Professors Support Forum on Maritime Law Enforcement

By |2022-05-03T16:31:12-10:00April 13th, 2022|Categories: Courses, Faculty, Workshop, news, featured|

The Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS) provided subject matter expertise to the Southeast Asia Maritime Law Enforcement Initiative (SEAMLEI) Coast Guard Commander’s Forum, which took place from April 4-7 in Tumon, Guam. The U.S. and Philippine Coast Guards hosted the annual forum, which serves to enhance regional stability by promoting maritime safety, security cooperation, coordination and information sharing. This year’s forum emphasized counter drug trafficking; Illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries; and the strategic use of maritime domain awareness tools to counter these and other transnational security threats. This was the fifth time that DKI APCSS [...]

Celebrating the life of Captain (ret.) Albert Shimkus Jr.

By |2022-05-03T16:30:30-10:00April 6th, 2022|Categories: Faculty, College, news, featured|Tags: , , , |

Captain (ret.) Albert Shimkus Jr. The Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies celebrates the life of former professor and Navy Captain Albert Shimkus Jr. (April 6, 1945 - March 12, 2022). Born in Hopedale Massachusetts, he graduated from Hopedale High School in 1965 where he was a runner on the cross country team. After graduation, while the U.S. was fully engaged in the Vietnam War, he enrolled in seminary. He left the seminary and lost his 4D Deferment Status and quickly enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. In 1967, he deployed to Bien Hoa Air Force [...]

North Korea Is Becoming an Asset for China 

By |2022-02-15T08:12:41-10:00February 15th, 2022|Categories: Faculty Articles, External Publications, news, Cho|Tags: , , , , |

“North Korea Is Becoming an Asset for China” is a new article by Dr. Sungmin Cho for Foreign Affairs magazine. Co-authored with Oriana Skylar Mastro, the article discusses the latest round of missile testing by North Korea and its potential impact on US alliances with Japan and the Republic of Korea. According to the authors, "North Korea's missile tests are occurring at a time of stark, rising competition between the United States and the Pacific’s other great power: China... Pyongyang’s weapons program was long seen as a liability for Beijing, given the erratic and unpredictable behavior of North Korea’s leaders. [...]

Turkey Is Barely Keeping a Lid On the Islamic State | The National Interest

By |2022-02-11T16:04:55-10:00February 11th, 2022|Categories: Faculty Articles, External Publications, news, Mullins|Tags: , |

On February 11, 2022, the Center for National Interest published an article written by DKI APCSS professor Dr. Sam Mullins. In his article titled, “Turkey is Barely Keeping a Lid on the Islamic State,” he draws attention to the rising presence of the Islamic State in Turkey as an issue of international importance. According to Dr. Mullins, “while the West has been fixated on emerging and reemerging threats in far-off places… a much more sophisticated and immediate danger has been simmering away in Turkey.” “If you pay attention to the news and some of the reporting that comes out of [...]

South Korea’s Taiwan Conundrum

By |2022-01-05T13:14:50-10:00January 6th, 2022|Categories: Faculty Articles, External Publications, news, Cho|Tags: , |

“South Korea’s Taiwan Conundrum” is Dr. Sungmin Cho’s latest commentary for War on the Rocks. What would South Korea do if China attacked Taiwan?  According to Cho, “many people in Washington, Taipei, and Tokyo are wondering. South Korea’s position remains much more ambivalent than Japan’s. Seoul is understandably more worried about the possibility of retaliation from China, akin to Beijing’s fury over the basing of a U.S. defensive missile system in South Korea several years ago. Seoul also has a unique concern that Beijing would turn even more non-cooperative in the future process of Korean unification, if it ever occurs, as a result [...]

China and North Korea: A New Peak of Comradeship

By |2022-01-05T13:03:10-10:00January 5th, 2022|Categories: Faculty Articles, External Publications, news, Cho|Tags: , |

"China and North Korea: A New Peak of Comradeship" is Dr. Sungmin Cho’s latest commentary made at the invitation of the Italian Institute for International Political Studies. In July 2021, commemorating the 60th anniversary of mutual defense treaty, Chinese President Xi Jinping said bilateral relations between China and North Korea should “unceasingly rise to new levels” in the world “undergoing profound changes unseen in a century.” How can one explain, in Xi Jinping’s own words, China’s “unswerving support” of North Korea in 2021? What events are likely to impact China-North Korea relations in 2022? Dr.Cho offers his answers to these [...]

Myanmar’s U-turn: Implications of the Military Coup on Strategic Competition in the Indo-Pacific

By |2022-01-04T13:57:21-10:00January 4th, 2022|Categories: Faculty Articles, External Publications, Byrd, news|Tags: , , |

Dr. Miemie Winn Byrd has a new article in the Journal for Indo-Pacific Affairs titled: "Myanmar’s U-turn: Implications of the Military Coup on Strategic Competition in the Indo-Pacific. " The article discusses the current crisis in Myanmar and China’s response to it. According to the author, China views Myanmar as an important land bridge to the Indian Ocean and alternative to the Malacca Strait. Direct access to the Indian Ocean would give China an enormous commercial and geopolitical advantage over its competitors. In addition, as the last remaining democracy on mainland Southeast Asia, Myanmar is the front line for democracy [...]

Arms buildup between two Koreas heightens risk of conventional and nuclear war

By |2021-11-12T10:00:01-10:00November 12th, 2021|Categories: Faculty Articles, External Publications, Minnich, news|Tags: , , |

“Arms buildup between two Koreas heightens risk of conventional and nuclear war” is a new article written by DKI APCSS Professor Dr. James M. Minnich.  The article was published by NK Pro, a professional journal on the topic of North Korea. This in-depth review of military capabilities on the peninsula underscores obstacles to peace and catastrophic costs of war. Read the full article James M. Minnich  is a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.  The views expressed in this article are his own and do not reflect those of DKI APCSS, the U.S. Department of [...]

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