|
In his remarks at the UA Quest Roundtable V Patron Dinner in September 2004, Representative Curt Weldon suggested that a regularly scheduled set of discussions which would track the progress of Ukraine's professed "Euro-Atlantic" ambitions specifically in the realm of "security affairs" was needed. He further suggested that the forums concentrate on two core tasks: (1) examining/evaluating Ukraine's attempts to deepen "strategic" bilateral ties with the United States and (2) monitoring the pace of Ukraine's NATO accession process. He promised to sponsor all such discussions and to provide the venues for the said gatherings on Capitol Hill.
CUSUR, newly formed at the time, and the American Foreign Policy Council, a long time sponsoring organization of the UA Quest Series, took Rep. Weldon at his word and placed upon themselves the responsibility of setting in motion a "dialogue series" for senior-level representatives from each nation's respective military establishments to exchange views on a wide range of defense related issues. The dialogues, planned as annual events, would be geared to review joint operations by US and Ukrainian armed forces from the Balkans to Iraq as well as examine other areas of bilateral "strategic" interest, including what Rep. Weldon fondly hoped would be US-Ukraine cooperation on Missile Defense. And, as envisioned by the good Congressman, the discussions would monitor the pace of Ukraine's NATO accession process.
The US-Ukrainian Security Dialogue Series has now run two major events on Capitol Hill:
Speakers have included: US Representative Curt Weldon (Vice Chair/HR Homeland Security Committee), UA Ambassador to the US Oleh Shamshur, Dr. Jennifer Moroney (RAND), Cooperative Threat Reduction Director James Reid (Dept. of Defense), Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Kramer, US Dept. of State Ukraine Political Officer Dr. Paul Carter, Maj. Gen. Leonid Holopatyuk (UA MOD), General Designer Dmitry Kiva (Antonov), Dr. Yuri Alekseyev (UA National Space Agency), Dr. Celeste Wallander (Georgetown University), Deputy [& UA Astronaut] Leonid Kadenyuk (Rada National Security & Defense Committee), Principal Director for Eurasia Scott Schless (US Department of Defense), Maj. Gen. Serhiy Bezlushchenko (UA MOD), Ukraine Desk Officer CDR David Fisher (Joint Staff/J-5, U.S. Department of Defense), Amb. Steve Pifer (Center for Strategic and International Studies)
|
