Logo

American Security Council Foundation

Back to main site

Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Kim Jong Un gives younger sister more responsibilities, including overseeing relations with US, South Korea: report

Friday, August 21, 2020

Categories: ASCF News National Preparedness Energy Independence

Comments: 0

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has given his little sister Kim Yo-Jong more responsibilities, including overseeing the country's often testy relationship with the United States and South Korea, according to reports from a Seoul spy agency.

While Kim still maintains "absolute authority," he has delegated more responsibilities to his sister and a handful of other aides in an effort to reduce his stress levels, the National Intelligence Service claimed.

Kim Yo-Jong, who is in her early 30s, will now be "steering overall state affairs," the NIS added.

The claims of added responsibilities were purportedly made during a closed-door briefing on Thursday to South Korea's National Assembly. Lawmakers then discussed the findings with journalists, the BBC reported, adding the claims weren't 100% certain and that South Korea's spy agency has been wrong about its neighbor in the past.

NIS claimed the younger sibling is now "the de-facto number two leader," but stressed that Kim had "not selected a successor."

Yo-Jong is the only one of Kim's siblings that is considered a close and powerful ally. She was born in 1987. She and her brother lived and studied together in Bern, Switzerland.

Yo-Jong grabbed international headlines in 2018 when she became the first member of the Kim dynasty to visit South Korea as part of the delegation to the Winter Olympics, where North Korea and South Korea competed as a joint team.

She's also been present alongside her brother at high-profile international meetings, including ones with China's Xi Jinping and President Trump.

In June, she bashed South Korea and threatened military action following a decline in relations. She also took aim at the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong, a border town, promising a "tragic scene" after she accused the South of not doing its part to stop an anti-North Korean leaflet campaign. Activists often float balloons into North Korea that carry pamphlets that criticize the leadership. Yo-Jong called the defectors who aided the leaflet campaign "human scum" and "mongrel dogs."

In April, after Jong Un had disappeared from the public eye, rumors circulated that she might replace him as leader of the country. He has since resurfaced.

Photo and Link: https://www.foxnews.com/world/kim-jong-un-gives-kid-sister-more-responsibilities-including-overseeing-relations-with-us-south-korea-report

Comments RSS feed for comments on this page

There are no comments yet. Be the first to add a comment by using the form below.