Timothy Hoyt to discuss Syrian crisis in Pell Center lecture

With Congressional hearings underway, and a vote expected next week in Congress, Timothy Hoyt, professor of strategy and policy at the U.S. Naval War College, will present “Attack on Syria? A Conversation About the Strategy and Politics of the Crisis in the Middle East” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5 in the DiStefano Lecture Hall.

Hoyt’s lecture is sponsored by the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy. To reserve a seat, contact the Pell Center at (401) 341-2927 or pellcenter@salve.edu.

Chemical weapons were used to attack civilians in the suburbs of Damascus, Syria, on Aug. 21. It was not the first time chemical weapons had been used in the Syrian civil war, but for the administration of President Barack Obama, their use was the crossing of the “red line” the president had warned would provoke an armed American response. Failing to win support in the United Nations or from America’s closest ally, the United Kingdom, Obama last week announced he would seek Congressional authorization for the use of force in Syria.

Hoyt is the John Nicholas Brown Chair of Counterterrorism Studies at the U.S. Naval War College, where he has taught for 10 years. He earned his undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College and his Ph.D. in international relations and strategic studies from Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in 1997.

Before joining the Naval War College, Hoyt taught at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He is the author of “Military Industries and Regional Defense Policy: India, Iraq and Israel,” and more than 40 articles and chapters on international security and military affairs. Hoyt is currently working on a multi-volume study of the strategy of the Irish Republican Army from 1913-2005, a series of projects examining U.S. relations with India and Pakistan, and analyses of irregular warfare and terrorism in South Asia.