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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.

US Starts Talks with Iran Over Hostages

Monday, February 22, 2021

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats National Preparedness

Comments: 0

WASHINGTON - White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the United States has started talks with Iran over the return of at least five American hostages whom Tehran is holding.

In an interview on CBS News' "Face the Nation" show, Sullivan said that it was a "significant priority" of President Joe Biden's administration to get the Americans "safely back home" and that it was a “complete and utter outrage” that they were being held.

"We have begun to communicate with the Iranians on this issue," Sullivan said.

"We will not accept a long-term proposition where they continue to hold Americans in an unjust and unlawful manner," he said, calling it a "humanitarian catastrophe."

Iran is holding dozens of dual nationals, including the five Americans, mostly on espionage charges.

Even with the hostage discussions, Sullivan said no talks have begun with Tehran about the U.S. rejoining the 2015 international pact to restrain Iran’s nuclear development program, which Iranian officials maintain is for peaceful purposes and not the development of nuclear weapons.

Biden said Friday that the United States was driven to “reengage in negotiations” to revive the pact that former President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018.

“We need transparency and communication to minimize the rise of strategic misunderstanding or mistakes,” Biden said at the virtual Munich Security Conference.

But Sullivan said, "Iran has not yet responded" to overtures to renew nuclear talks.

“It’s Iran that is isolated now diplomatically, not the United States, and the ball is in their court,” he said.

Earlier Sunday, however, Iran said the U.S. will not be able to rejoin the nuclear pact before it lifts economic sanctions against Tehran. Washington says Tehran must first return to compliance with the 2015 accord and cut the level of its uranium enrichment.  

The back-and-forth between Washington and Tehran came as Rafael Grossi, the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, met with Iranian officials to try to maintain his inspectors' ability to monitor Tehran's nuclear program.

After the talks, the U.N. group struck a deal to continue necessary verification and monitoring activities, but the deal also calls for less access and no more snap inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had said the cameras of the International Atomic Energy Agency would be shut off despite Grossi's visit in order to comply with a law passed by the Iranian parliament.

Photo: AP / National security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington.

Link: https://www.voanews.com/usa/us-starts-talks-iran-over-hostages

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