Dr. Matthew Millard, The Two Ways to Prepare for War (20 Oct 2026)

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 22:30:00 GMT

Assistant Professor of National Security at the Air Force Global College

Moderator: Maj. Gen. Walter Givhan, (Ret.), ALWAC President.

231 Montgomery St, Montgomery, AL.

Reception at 5:30 pm CT, briefing at 6:15 pm, and question time till 7:30 pm.

Webinar via Zoom: login and social time, from 5:45 pm CT.

Ancient Roman writer Publius Vegetius coined the well-known expression “if you want peace, prepare for war”. In this talk, Dr. Millard will argue that there are only two ways of preparing for war: building up arms and getting allies. Dr. Millard will discuss this reality in the context of contemporary global politics and the opportunities and risks from both arms buildups and alliances. Dr. Millard’s talk will focus on the implications for potential great power conflict in Europe and the Pacific.

Dr. Matthew Millard is an Assistant Professor of National Security at the Air Force Global College and a native of Guntersville, Alabama. Dr. Millard is the former Chair of the Department of Strategy and Security Studies, one of the youngest academic department chairs in Air Force Professional Military Education history. His research primarily focuses on formal alliances, quantitative conflict processes, and quantitative analysis in the cyber domain. His recent book, “Secret Alliances: Why States Make, Keep, and End Them” is currently on sale by Edward Elgar. Dr. Millard also has forthcoming publication in the Journal of Cyber Policy and a forthcoming book, America: Faithful Ally or Fatal Friend?

Prior to joining the Air Force Global College, Dr. Millard was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Diego, and a visiting instructor at Saint Louis University. Dr. Millard was a cadet at The Citadel, obtained his master’s degree from Duke University, and his PhD from the University of Alabama. Dr. Millard is also the first faculty member in Air Force PME history to be awarded a Fulbright Scholarship by the State Department. For this Fulbright, Dr. Millard will be teaching Slovenian military, intelligence, and police officers at the University of Ljubljana’s faculty of Defence Studies and conducting research on NATO cyber security strategy with Dr. Igor Kovac, the Deputy National Security advisor to Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa. In his spare time, Dr. Millard is an avid high-altitude mountaineer and has completed successful climbs of Denali, Rainier, Mount Elbrus, Aconcagua, among others. In September 2025, Dr. Millard successfully summited Manaslu in Nepal, the eighth highest mountain on Earth at 26, 781 feet. Dr. Millard is also an avid bicyclist, having bicycled by himself across the United States from Charleston, South Carolina to San Francisco, California in 2009.

Joel Nelson, Author of Kennedy’s Only Hero (10 Nov 2026)

Tue, 10 Nov 2026 23:30:00 GMT

Joel Nelson, Author and Former Editor at Foreign Affairs

Moderator: Maj. Gen. Walter Givhan, (Ret.), ALWAC President.

231 Montgomery St, Montgomery, AL.

Reception at 5:30 pm CT, briefing at 6:15 pm, and question time till 7:30 pm.

Webinar via Zoom: login and social time, from 5:45 pm CT.

In this talk, author Joel Nelson will present his book Kennedy’s Only Hero (PublicAffairs), which details John F. Kennedy’s lifelong obsession with Winston Churchill. Nelson explains how Kennedy first became interested in Churchill in 1932, how Churchill's books persuaded Kennedy to abandon appeasement in 1939, and how Kennedy took his political positions from Churchill from that point forward. The presentation addresses core issues in 20th-century foreign policy and the Anglo-American relationship, examining how the United States engaged with the world across the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s as seen through the actions of Churchill and Kennedy.

About the Speaker
Joel Nelson is a former editor at Foreign Affairs and the author of Kennedy’s Only Hero. He studied history at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and Harvard University. His work on post-World War II international relations and grand strategy has earned advance praise from Pulitzer Prize winner Fredrik Logevall, Churchill: Walking with Destiny author Andrew Roberts, Daughters of Yalta author Catherine Katz, and Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations Max Boot.

Alabama World Affairs Council upcoming events

Dr. Matthew Millard, The Two Ways to Prepare for War (20 Oct 2026)

Joel Nelson, Author of Kennedy’s Only Hero (10 Nov 2026)