The Organizers

 

 

 

Entire site © 2010, International Strategic Studies Association.

  

The International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA) was formed in 1982, and the Defense & Foreign Affairs publications, formed in 1972, were, fro, the Association's beginnings, the publishing and distributing arm of ISSA.

ISSA, and Defense & Foreign Affairs, were established to analyze global issues from the perspective and prism of Grand Strategy, and the organizations today remain the only institutions dedicated to the development of intelligence, analysis, and philosophy based on the contextual framework of grand strategy.

The group, a worldwide non-profit, non-governmental organization, works solely with governments and analytical institutions, and is committed to a non-partisan perspective, providing intelligence, analysis, philosophical writings, and discussion for the benefit of the 170 or so governments which use the ISSA/Defense & Foreign Affairs services.

The group now includes the Global Information System (GIS), an on-line, encrypted-access intelligence service covering 255 countries and territories worldwide, for use solely by government subscribers. This current intelligence database of statistics, information, and analysis is updated throughout the year and is fed by a unique team — developed over four decades — of worldwide sources providing original, on the ground information, supplemented by a broad Open Source collection system. The GIS system not only has extensive country files, but also maintains specialist reporting on international crime, terrorism, psychological strategy, and so on, as well as comprehensive files on weapons systems, terrorist groups, leadership biographies, and so on.

The Defense & Foreign Affairs group has also, since 1976, published the Defense & Foreign Affairs Handbook, now available online at www.DFAonline.net, and also publishes in-depth single-country Handbooks, such as the unique recent Defense & Foreign Affairs Handbooks on Pakistan and Azerbaijan. The group also publishes the monthly print journal, Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy, founded in 1972 (and soon to be available on-line as well), and the Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis electronic reporting system which is part of GIS, and which provides ongoing strategic analysis for government users.

The President and Chief Analytical Officer of ISSA is Gregory Copley, who is also Editor-in-Chief of the Defense & Foreign Affairs publications, who was founder of both organizations in 1982 and 1972 respectively, along with the late Dr Stefan Possony. Copley has subsequently been decorated by a number of governments and organizations for his work, including, in 2007, being made a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to the international community through strategic analysis.

Details of ISSA and Defense & Foreign Affairs can be found, regularly updated, on www.strategicstudies.org.

ISSA and Defense & Foreign Affairs have been organizing conferences since 1974, and began the Strategy series in 1982, in Las Vegas. These policy conferences have been held for senior-level audiences, up-to and including heads of state and heads of government, in the US, UK, Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, Egypt, India, and elsewhere.

 

The group, in 2010, worked with Australian analyst and author Andrew Pickford to form ISSA Indo-Pacific Pty. Ltd., which acts as an independent analytical organization, based in Perth, Western Australia, to service the Indo-Pacific region, and which also acts as the resident executive operational center for Strategy2011 and the Annual Indo-Pacific Energy Round Tables. Andrew Pickford is Managing Director of ISSA Indo-Pacific, and is supported by a distinguished international Council of Advisors, chaired by renowned Australian business leader Craig Lawrence, AM.

Your Primary Contact Regarding Organizational Issues:

 

Pamela von Gruber, the Conference Director, leads the administrative team behind Strategy2011, and is available, with her staff, to help delegates with the registration process and to assist in facilitating travel to Perth for the event. She is a veteran of all the key ISSA/Defense & Foreign Affairs conferences around the world since 1982, and is Executive Director of ISSA as well as Publisher of the Defense & Foreign Affairs publications. She can be reached at marketing@strategicstudies.org or by telephone in Washington, DC, at +1 (703) 548-1070.