On 15 May 2024, fifteen U.S. Army War College students and accompanying faculty attended a two-hour seminar hosted by the Near East South Asia (NESA) Center for Strategic Studies. The students and faculty were in Washington, D.C. as part of the Army War College’s annual Strategic Staff Ride, which brings the entire student body to the national capital region to engage policy, strategy, and security experts in person on a variety of contemporary challenges and issues.

The seminar opened with a survey of the NESA Center’s roles and missions, current views of the strategic environment in the NESA region, and highlights of recent NESA programs. After a short question and answer session, the students then engaged Dr. Mahsa Rouhi, from the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), in a focused discussion of pending leadership transitions in Iran and their implications for the regional strategic balance. Associate Dean Richard Wiersema led the seminar for the NESA Center.

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