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, thus provide a forum for addressing pressing international concerns. Held at the

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

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

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, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

. Past speakers include:

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

Joseph Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

Stephen Hadley Stephen John Hadley (born February 13, 1947) is an American attorney and senior government official who served as the 20th United States National Security Advisor from 2005 to 2009. He served under President George W. Bush during the second term ...

Madeleine Albright Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Körbelová, later Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political science, political scientist who served as the 64th United States Secretary of State, United S ...

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza "Condi" Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist serving since 2020 as the 8th director of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served ...

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 appointed by President George W. Bush and retained b ...

Wesley Clark Wesley Kanne Clark (born Wesley J. Kanne, 23 December 1944) is a retired United States Army officer. He graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at United States Military Academy, West Point and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the U ...

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 Washington ...

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

and

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

Structure

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

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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 the

Midshipmen A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afric ...

. These future officers of the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

and the

Marine Corps Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...

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

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

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 has 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 students and military cadets from across Texas and the United States gather to exchange ideas and discuss the role of the United Sta ...

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

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

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

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 - Democracies Divided: The Proliferation of Polarization * 2024 - Where Power Lies: The Development of Civil-Military Relations in a New World Order

References

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External links

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