Advance technologies in Communications (Starlink) and Aerospace (hypersonic missiles, drones) and their resulting challenges for contemporary warfare, security, and Diplomacy

What are the relevance and effects of cutting-edge aerospace and communications technology on contemporary warfare; the conduct and practice of public, private, and crisis diplomacy; deterrence; and (perhaps most importantly) power-projection?  This seminar will consider - among other technologies - Starlink internet, hypersonic missiles, and drones in the current strategic and tactical tool kit.

Speakers include Roohi Dalal, Dr. Markus Schiller, and Lt Col Michael P. Kreuzer, Ph.D.; GDSC Seminar chaired by Prof. Wolfgang Danspeckgruber.

Roohi Dalal is a doctoral student in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University, where she works on cosmology and science policy, particularly questions concerning the sustainable use of outer space. She studies - among other topics - the effects of space debris on nuclear strategic stability, and is a member of the policy subcommittee of the AAS Committee on Light Pollution, Radio Interference and Space Debris where she is involved in discussions and initiatives related to the impacts of satellite constellations on ground-based astronomical observations. She previously earned a B.S in Astrophysics and History from Caltech.

Lt Col Michael P. Kreuzer, Ph.D.  is Chair of the Department of International Security at the Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base Alabama. In this capacity he is responsible for curriculum and faculty development for the Air Force’s premier Intermediate Development Education program and the education of over 500 field grade officers annually. He is a veteran of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, having distinguished himself as the Senior Intelligence Air Advisor and Deputy Director of ISR for Combined Joint Task Force - Operation INHERENT RESOLVE, as director of Counter-IED Special Programs, Multi-National Division North, Iraq; and as the Kapisa Provincial Reconstruction Team S2 and TF Lafayette Fusion Cell Liaison Officer in Afghanistan. In these capacities, he has led combat operations at the operational level as a Division ISR Battle Captain in Iraq, as Convoy Commander for over 40 provincial reconstruction missions in Afghanistan, and as a Mission Operations Commander for ISR against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. He holds a PhD in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University as well as Master’s Degrees from the University of Alaska Anchorage in Public Administration and American Military University in Strategic Intelligence.

Dr.-Ing. Markus Schiller holds degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the Technical University Munich and received a doctorate in astronautics in 2008, also from the TU Munich. Between 2006 and 2015, he was employed at the security and space consulting firm Schmucker Technologie in Munich. In 2010/2011, he opted out for a fellowship at The RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California, where he wrote a detailed report assessing North Korea’s missile program. In 2015, he started his own consulting firm, ST Analytics, focusing on space technology, security and threats, and – of course – rockets and missiles, including microlaunchers and other space applications in addition to offering expert opinions on new space start-ups. Since 2015, he also teaches a course on missiles at the Bundeswehr University in Munich. Schiller is an expert member in the newly established Hypersonics working group of the German Federal Aerospace Industry Association (BDLI) and supports Munich based consulting firm AMDC in the fields of missile threats and missile defense.