Last fall, the Alumni Continuing Education Security Seminar (ACESS) brought together a wide range of brilliant alumni of the National Defense University (NDU) to discuss global security challenges and the enduring role of partnership. Over 130 NDU alumni from all over the world came to Washington, DC for this special occasion from September 8-12, 2025. As one of the prominent regionally focused academic institutions located on the NDU campus, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies had the honor of joining the planning and curriculum committee to design content for this flagship seminar. The program, sub-titled “Safer, Stronger, More Proposperous = Partners Together,” took place after nearly one year of meticulous preparation with faculty and staff from six colleges and four regional centers. Much to the Africa Center’s delight, the distinguished group of alumni who came to Washington included approximately twelve Africa Center alumni who have graduated from NDU. Their presence here on campus and the strategic insights that they shared during the seminar were some of the most notable highlights of the Africa Center’s alumni engagement on campus last year.
Some Africa Center alumni also have fond memories of past experiences they have had studying in the United States at professional military education institutions, often through support provided by funding sources like the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program. This support has led a select cohort of African security professionals, who were carefully selected by their own government and the U.S. Government for such opportunities, into the classrooms of the National Defense University (NDU) in Washington, DC to earn higher degrees from one of six schools: the National War College, the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, the College of International Security Affairs, the College of Information and Cyberspace, and the Joint Forces Staff College. Through experiences like these, African International Fellows study alongside American counterparts as they all learn to become senior leaders. As conveyed in its mission statement, NDU “does this by preparing them to understand, develop, and employ strategies that incorporate all elements of national power” into their work.
Celebrating the university’s ongoing relationships with its distinguished international alumni, the Alumni Continuing Education Security Seminar was carefully designed by eighteen faculty from the NDU colleges, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, and other regional studies centers to welcome these influential security sector leaders back to the NDU campus for practical discussions about shared security challenges. The seminar fostered high-level exchange about current global security issues, like irregular warfare and transnational organized crime, artificial intelligence in the security domain, the future of the defense industrial base, and multipolarity and strategic competition in the global order. Alumni also got to network with each other and with American experts seeking to learn from them by taking part in smaller group discussions (called “electives”). The themes covered a wide range of issues, from acquiring AI skills for national security work and understanding China’s economic statecraft, to improving strategic foresight in the armed forces and enhancing civil-military relations to address irregular threats. Additionally, the participants had the opportunity to attend a NDU Hall of Fame induction at the Library of Congress in honor of two former International Fellows, as well as to spend time at the Museum of the Army and historic Alexandria, Virginia.
The Africa Center took advantage of this momentous opportunity in several ways. The Africa Center’s Director of Engagement, Dr. Catherine Lena Kelly, served as a discussion group facilitator, a speaker, and an elective leader during the seminar itself, and learned an immense amount from the distinguished alumni. The Africa Center team was also honored to be able to sit down with multiple alumni to hear about their career advancements as well as notable defense and security dynamics in their countries. The organization was also pleased to pass along some of the latest Africa Center publications to alumni who wanted them for the institutions that they lead at home. Ms. Biola Shotunde, a graduate of the NDU College of International and Security Affairs (CISA) and Chief of Operations at the Financial Intelligence Unit in Nigeria, noted that “there were two important aspects of the seminar that stood out. First, it provided the learning perspectives of a global audience. This was a truly unique dynamic for me. The second highlight was the reunion with my classmates and professors, and bonding over a week through classroom and social interactions. This class experience was refreshing!” Remarking on the overall significance of the ACESS 2025 program, Ambassador Andrew Young, Director of the NDU International Student Management Office, concluded that “the contributions from alumni from around the world to ACESS 25 reinforced a truism for national security professionals confronting the world’s thorniest problems. As allies and partners, we are better together.”