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Consulting |
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Consulting |
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Management |
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National |
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Civil-Military Relations in Policy and Practice as well as Peace Operations related Civil-Military Training and Education; Foreign Policy; National Strategy; His current projects include a revision of the Peace Operations Training Institute’s UN-CIMIC course, a UN training program in UN-CIMIC for peacekeepers, as well as the Africa Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes handbook on African CIMIC, leveraging his extensive work in development of CIMIC capabilities in numerous Security Assistance countries. For the Alliance for Peacebuilding, he is helping to institute an enduring dialogue between the peace and security communities on foreign policy and national strategy. |
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Senior Fellow, Alliance for Peacebuilding since July 2012; Project on National Security Reform, Senior Associate May 2010 - January 2012; Consortium for Complex Operations: Associate member since May 2008; The Civil Affairs Association: Lifetime member since April 1994, Member of Board of Directors since 2007; The Cornwallis Group: Contributing member since 2002, Executive Director since 2008; Reserve Officers Association/Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers: Member since January 1994; United Nations Association of the United States of America: Sponsor and on the Speaker’s Bureau since March 1998; Co-Chair, Peace and Security Committee, National Capital Area since March 2013; Academic Council on the United Nations System: Member 2001-2002; American Institute for Contemporary German Studies: Association 1993-2004; The American Council on Germany/Atlantik Brücke: Member and sponsor 1994-2006; Association of the United States Army, 1978-87: Participated in three conferences on U.S. Army public affairs policy and military doctrine; Freundschaft in Freiheit/Friendship in Freedom: Association 1991-95; German-American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. (Philadelphia Chapter): 1993-95; German-American Institute, Nürnberg and Heidelberg, Germany, 1985-93: Participated in and spoke at over 30 conferences, seminars, and meetings on German-American issues; initiated, co-organized, and provided photographs for a special exhibit, "Nürnberg Through American Eyes," February-March 1989; German-American Studies Association: 1993-95; presented paper at October 1993 annual conference, Bethesda, Maryland; Toastmasters International, Nürnberg, Germany, 1988-89, Heidelberg, Germany 1989-93, Wilmington, Delaware, 1993-95, New York, NY, 2002-04: Completion of Basic and Advanced Communication & Leadership Programs; Club Vice-President for Public Relations and Club President (Heidelberg); Continental European Toastmaster of the Year, 1992, Chairman, Continental European Publicity Committee, 1992-93, Continental European Parliamentary Procedures Speech Contest Champion, 1993, Delaware Speakers' Bureau, 1993-96 |
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Senior Fellow with the Alliance for Peacebuilding and a civil-military strategic analyst with Wikistrat, he was recently a Senior Associate with the Project on National Security Reform as well as Country Project Manager in Liberia for DoD’s Defense Institutional Reform Initiative working in Africa on defense ministerial capacity development in order to promote civilian oversight of the military. A retired U.S. Army (Reserve) Civil Affairs (CA) officer, he has three decades of civil-military experience at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels in joint, interagency, and multinational settings across the full range of operations, among them command of the first CA battalion to deploy to Iraq in support of Army, Marine and British forces, as the KFOR Civil-Military Liaison Officer to the UN Mission in Kosovo, and in the Balkans in the mid-1990s. Col. (ret.) Holshek was Senior U.S. Military Observer and Chief of Civil-Military Coordination (CIMIC) for nearly two years in the UN Mission in Liberia, where he broke new ground in applying CIMIC concepts central to the development of UN civil-military policy and training. In his final tour as Military Representative at the U.S. Agency for International Development for USEUCOM/SHAPE, he helped link security and development at the national strategic level in an interagency setting as well as stand up the National Response Center for the Haiti earthquake. Over the years, he had significant input to the development of civil-military peace and stability policy and doctrine for the U.S. Army, DoD, NATO, and the UN, among them the Capstone Concept for Joint Operations and the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. He is a rare American who has served with the UN in military and civilian capacities (as a civilian, with the UN as a Logistics Officer with the UN Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia and with UNMIK as the Political Reporting Officer). He spent 16 years in Europe on both civilian and military assignments, among them as a civilian International Relations Analyst at the U.S. Army Europe in the critical years from 1989-1993. In more recent years, he has been a consultant associated with DynCorp International, Creative Associates, the Institute for Defense Analyses, and the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Civil-Military Relations. |
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Bachelor’s Degrees - George Washington University in International Affairs, German, and History; Master’s Degree, International Relations - Boston University; Master’s in Strategic Studies - Resident U.S. Army War College |
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American Iron |
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Riding his Motorcycle; Walking; Traveling |
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Various blogs for the Huffington Post, starting with “America and the Long Goodbye”, 6 December 2010; “Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Civil-Military Coordination in the 21st Century”, in a forthcoming volume of papers from the 23-24 February 2012 Kennesaw State University – U.S. Army Strategic Studies Institute symposium, Conflict Management and Peacebuilding: Pillars of a New American Grand Strategy; “The Whole of National Security Cooperation”, The Officer, May-June 2012; “From Afghanistan to Africa: Civil-Military Teaming in a Whole New World”, in a forthcoming book, tentatively titled The Role of Civil-Military Teams in Managing Conflict and Supporting Peace: Learning from the Past and Planning for the Future, National Defense University Center for Complex Operations; “Lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan – Looking from Outside the Box”, Conflict Management and "Whole of Government": Useful Tools for U.S. National Security Strategy?, U.S. Army Strategic Studies Institute, April 2012; America’s First Quarter Millennium: Envisioning a Transformed National Security System in 2026, edited for the Project on National Security Reform and presented at the National Defense University, 9 November 2011; “Civil-Military Coordination and Transition Management: The UNMIL Experience, Conflict Trends, Issue 3/2011, September 2011; “Transformation Catalyst: The Reserves’ ability to engage society’s capabilities prime it to transform the national security system”, with James R. Locher III, The Officer, March-April 2011; “U.S. Military Observers and Comprehensive Engagement, Small Wars Journal, 10 February 2011; “Going Far Softly”, The Officer, May 2009, and “Military Observers and Peacekeeping: Strategic Scouts and Strategic Enablers”, Journal of International Peace Operations, November-December 2009; “National Security Reform and the Role of the Private Sector, Journal of International Peace Operations, November-December 2010; “Two Wheels and Two Questions – A journey through America in search of personal and national identity”, blog publication for the Project on National Security Reform; “Wallets on the Ground: Civil-Military Leveraging of Market Forces”, Journal of International Peace Operations, March-April 2008, 20-21; “Civil-Military Power and the Future of Civil Affairs”, Reserve Officer Association National Security Report, The Officer, May 2007, 45-48. The full version, based on an Army War College strategic research project, appeared as “The Scroll and the Sword: Synergizing Civil-Military Power”, Cornwallis Group XI: Analysis for Civil-Military Transitions, George Mason University–Pearson Peacekeeping Center, Nova Scotia, 2007; “Civil-Military Cooperation in Humanitarian Relief Operations: Looking Beyond the ‘Latest and Greatest’”, The Pulse of Humanitarian Assistance, Fordham University, 2007; |
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Who’s Who of International Professionals, 1999; U.S. Army Civilian Performance Award, 1989 and 1993; Schoenfeld Prize for Outstanding Performance in German Studies, May 1982: George Washington University; Dean's List: 1979 and 1980, New Mexico Military Institute (also appeared on Commandant's List)1982 and 1983: George Washington University; Phi Theta Kappa, May 1979: Inducted at New Mexico Military Institute, Roswell, NM; Congressional Medal of Merit, June 1978: Presented by Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-NY) at high school graduation ceremony for outstanding community service while maintaining a high academic record; Who's Who Among American High School Students, 1978; National Honor Society, 1978;Congressional Nominee to the United States Military Academy, 1978: Nomination as alternate candidate from Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-NY), currently Chairman of the House International Relations Committee; New York State Boy's State, June 1977: Represented local chapter of the American Legion; served as newspaper Manager and Editor-in-Chief; elected "city councilman."; Military Awards: Legion of Merit, 2010; Bronze Star, 2004; Department of Defense Meritorious Service Medal, 2000 and 2009; U.S. Army Meritorious Service Medal, 2000 and 2009; United Nations Medal, 1996, 2000, and 2009; NATO Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal (for Operations Joint Endeavor and Joint Guardian), 1996 and 2000; Department of Defense Joint Service Achievement Ribbon, 1993; U.S. Army Commendation Medal, 1987, 1995, 1997, 2000, and 2006; U.S. Army Achievement Medal, 1987 |
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