The Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference (NAFAC) is an undergraduate foreign-affairs conference in the United States. NAFAC seeks to explore current, demanding issues from both a civilian and military perspective and thus to provide a forum for addressing pressing international concerns. Held at the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

in Annapolis, Maryland since 1961, NAFAC brings together Naval Academy students and their civilian and military counterparts from around the world to share ideas and concerns relating to

international affairs International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...

. Past speakers include: George H. W. Bush, Joseph Biden, Stephen Hadley,

Madeleine Albright Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic ...

, Condoleezza Rice,

Robert Gates Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) is an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was originally appointed by president George W. Bush a ...

Wesley Clark Wesley Kanne Clark (born December 23, 1944) is a retired United States Army officer. He graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where he obtained a degree ...

Charles Krauthammer Charles Krauthammer (; March 13, 1950 – June 21, 2018) was an American political columnist. A moderate liberal who turned independent conservative as a political pundit, Krauthammer won the Pulitzer Prize for his columns in ''The Washingt ...

Sheryl Sandberg Sheryl Kara Sandberg (born August 28, 1969) is an American business executive, billionaire, and philanthropist. Sandberg served as chief operating officer (COO) of Meta Platforms, a position from which she stepped down in August 2022. She is al ...

and

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

. The 2022 NAFAC Conference will take place April 11–14 at the United States Naval Academy. The theme will be announced shortly.

Structure

Each year a unique theme is chosen for NAFAC; noteworthy individuals with expertise in relevant fields are invited to address the conference delegates who represent colleges and universities from across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and around the globe. Conference attendees bring with them unique attitudes and approaches that, through discussion and interaction, are intended to enlighten the thinking of their peers. The entire conference is organized and run by

Midshipmen. These future officers of the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

and the

Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...

also serve as moderators, presenters, and as a minority percentage of delegates.

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

and the

United States Senior Military College In the United States, a senior military college (SMC) is one of six colleges that offer military Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) programs under , though many other schools offer military Reserve Officers' Training Corps under other sectio ...

s are examples of schools with annual partnerships to sponsor delegates to NAFAC. NAFAC is proud to have a reciprocal exchange partnership with the

MSC Student Conference on National Affairs The MSC Student Conference on National Affairs (MSC SCONA) is an annual conference at Texas A&M University where civilian students and military cadets from across Texas and the United States gather to exchange ideas and discuss the role of the U ...

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, which was founded in 1955. A Naval Academy Professor,

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

Colonel Rocco Paone, served as a facilitator in 1962 for MSC SCONA 8 immediately after founding NAFAC and thereby a partnership lasting into the present day.

NAFAC topics

* 1961 - Founding year * 1996 - A New Multilaterlism * 1997 - The Struggle for Democracy * 1998 - Asia Rising? * 1999 - Keeping Peace * 2000 - Civil-Military Relations * 2001 - Terrorism * 2002 - Central and Southwest Asia * 2003 - Strangers in a Common Land: Preserving Israel and Palestine * 2004 - Post-War Reconstruction: Iraq * 2005 - Power and Purpose: Defining America's Role in the World * 2006 - Africa: Turning Attention into Action * 2007 - Asia At The Crossroads * 2008 - Latin America * 2009 - Bridging the Gap: Combatting Global Poverty * 2010 - National Security Beyond the Horizon: Changing Threats in a Changing World * 2011 - People, Power, and Politics in the Internet Age * 2012 - The Eclipse of the West? * 2013 - Time of Transition * 2014 - Human Security in the Information Age * 2015 - Sustainability and Sovereignty: Global Security in a Resource-Strained World * 2016 - Women and Security: The Implications of Promoting Global Gender Equality * 2017- A New Era of Great Power Competition? * 2018 - Guarding Liberty in a World of Democratic Undoing * 2019 - Coming Apart: The Fate of the Rules-based Order * 2020 - War, Peace, and the Gray Zone * 2021 - Global Resilience after the Pandemic * 2022 - Partnership in the 21st Century * 2023 - ''Upcoming''

References

{{reflist

External links

usna.edu/NAFAC/
Official Website * https://www.facebook.com/USNAFAC/ Facebook Social Media Page Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference (NAFAC) United States Naval Academy 1961 establishments in Maryland Recurring events established in 1961 Student conferences on national affairs