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Speaker: Sheldon Simon, Professor of Political Science and Southeast Asian Studies, Arizona State University
Many have argued that the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September 2001 and the bombings in
Indonesia in October 2002 (Bali) and August 2003 (Jakarta) have revamped the security situation for
America?s partners in and near Southeast Asia. Is this true? What security challenges do America?s
partners now face in the region? Are these challenges so thoroughly domestic and political in nature
that that they cannot be addressed by military force, or through military cooperation? And to the extent
that military approaches are viable, are America?s Southeast Asian and Australian partners equipped
and trained to undertake them? For example: How interoperable are the relevant Southeast Asian,
Australian, and American forces? How well does Australia in particular fit into this picture? Is Canberra
disdained by Southeast Asian governments as a ?deputy sheriff? of Uncle Sam? Should Washington
develop meetings of defense ministers into an alternative to the so far unimpressive ASEAN Regional
Forum? Or is hub-and-spokes bilateralism the better way to go? Should Washington try to upgrade its
warming security relations with Singapore into a fully fledged security treaty along U.S.-Japanese lines?
How should nontraditional security threats?not only terrorism but piracy, drugs, and people-smuggling
?be factored into these calculations?
Sheldon Simon is a leading American specialist on Southeast Asian security. The author or editor
of nine books?most recently The Many Faces of Asian Security (2001)?and more than a hundred scholarly
articles and book chapters, Professor Simon has held faculty appointments at George Washington
University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Hawaii, the University of British Columbia,
Carleton University (Ottawa), the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and the American
Graduate School of International Management. He visits Asia annually for research and is a consultant
to the U.S. Departments of State and Defense. He earned his doctorate in political science from the
University of Minnesota in 1964.
Hosted by the Southeast Asia Forum at APARC