Professor Alex Bick had a bird's-eye view of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2021 as a White House adviser at the time.  He joined our faculty last year and this fall, he's teaching a new course that traces the evolution of the war to examine core problems in national security, foreign policy, and strategic decision making. 

Jim Gilmore was the featured speaker at Batten Hour on September 11, the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. when he was Virginia's governor, and reflected on America’s readiness for potential future attacks, the war in Ukraine and the ongoing threat of authoritarianism globally.

General Saltzman, the chief of space operations for the Space Force, addressed students at the invitation of the National Security Policy Center at UVA’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.

Russia’s president is threatening to use “all the powers and means at our disposal” in its fight against Ukraine. Nuclear weapons expert and Batten School professor Todd Sechser weighs in on the possibilities.

Maggie Sparling spent part of her spring in Fiji, working on national security and having experts listen to her insights. Sparling, who graduated this spring with majors in history and economics, is in the public policy master’s program at Batten.

General Nakasone will deliver the commencement address during the school’s first in-person Academic Regalia Ceremony since 2019, set to take place at James Monroe’s Highland on Saturday, May 21, at 5:30 p.m.

Batten School professors Philip Potter and Allan Stam note that the conflict in Ukraine has bolstered the NATO alliance, which may give China pause if it’s thinking of moving on Taiwan. 

We find that when groups share an ideology, and especially a religion, they are more likely to sustain material cooperation in the face of state repression.

In a new article for the online national security magazine War on the Rocks, Batten's Philip Potter, George W. Foresman and University of Pennsylvania's Michael Horowitz write that, given the rapid change of pace and recent developments in space, technical and operational standards and norms of behavior will be necessary to maintain a secure and sustainable domain.

Thanks to two University of Virginia alumni, Batten students with an interest in national security have a new pathway to success through the Duke-Richards National Security Fellowship. Batten students Kevin Heaney (MPP ’22) and Sydney Pulliam (BA ’22) are the first recipients of the fellowship.