New Brunswick, NJ – The first annual International Security Forum at Rutgers University announced today that Antoni Macierewicz, the Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Poland, will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural event on September 30, 2016 at the university's New Brunswick campus. Rutgers Law School Professor Jean-Marc Coicaud, Ph.D. and American Jewish Congress Chair Richard Gordon will also address the gathering. Jean-Marc Coicaud is a Professor of Law and Global Affairs at Rutgers Law School and has been a prominent United Nations official. He has published over 15 books, which are available in English, French, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic. Richard Gordon is a lawyer and governmental strategist who spent the last decades as a senior advisor to presidential candidates, members of the United States Cabinet, attorneys general, comptrollers, treasurers and mayors.

Minister Macierewicz is the legendary leader of the anti-communist resistance in the Polish People's Republic. He founded the Workers Defense Committee (KOR), the forerunner of Solidarity, later directing Solidarity’s Center for Social Research. He also established Głos, one of the first independent publications of the communist era. A former political prisoner, he was arrested over 20 times.

Since the fall of communism, Minister Macierewicz has served at the apex of government. He is Deputy Leader of the largest party in the parliament, Law and Justice. Minister Macierewicz has been the Minister of Internal Affairs, Head of the Military Counterintelligence Service, Secretary of State in the Ministry of National Defense, and Chairman of the Verification Commission. He has also served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for the Investigation of the Causes of the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 Crash. In 2015, Minister Macierewicz was reelected for a sixth term as a Member of the Polish Parliament.

At the nexus of global leadership and defense policy, ISF 2016 is a student-led convergence of thought leaders examining current and future strategic challenges. ISF 2016 brings together senior defense decision-makers as well as representatives of government, academia, and the nonprofit sector. ISF 2016 is organized by the Rutgers Council on Public and International Affairs, a student-run nonpartisan organization, in partnership with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, D.C.

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Justin Schulberg
Student Body President, Rutgers University
Co-chair, International Security Forum at Rutgers University
[email protected]; 732-515-5178