On February 3, the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado hosted a KEI University Program that featured speakers Michael Finnegan, Bill Drennan, and Nicole Finnemann and covered The U.S.-ROK alliance and the challenges it faces as well as a discussion on the Six Party Talks. The event consisted of three separate programs and matched speakers with both the faculty and cadets at the Academy.

In a morning seminar with the faculty of the Military Strategic Studies department at the Academy, the following two presentations were made followed by a robust open discussion:

"A look at North-South relations in the current and previous 2 administrations (i.e. the 'lost decade'), and how ROK Policy towards the North has affected the U.S.-ROK alliance"
William M. Drennan

"Planning for the future of North Korea: the U.S.-ROK alliance and Contingency planning"
Michael Finnegan

During an afternoon brown bag presentation open to both cadets and faculty of Political Science, Economics, and Strategic studies, Finnegan and Drennan addressed questions from the audience in an extended Q&A forum on U.S.-ROK and U.S.-DPRK relations.

The final program at the Academy placed participating cadets in the roles of China, Japan, Russia, North Korea, South Korea and the United States for a simulated Six Party Talks summit. Cadets engaged in the many challenges facing the Six Party process in a fictional scenario designed to expose students with limited to no prior knowledge of the talks to both historical and current issues facing the talks. The simulation was conducted by Nicole Finnemann of KEI, who has facilitated the simulation for over 270 students from various universities.

Nicole Finnemann is the Director of Research & Academic Affairs at the Korea Economic Institute where she is charged with matters related to North Korea and Academic outreach. Around the country, she organizes and participates in KEI's numerous annual university programs and academic symposia. In Washington, Ms. Finnemann is responsible for programming and publications related to North Korea, student-related events, and KEI's Academic Paper Series (as editor and manager). Her primary substantive areas of research are negotiation and North Korea; and she returned from her first trip to Pyongyang in April, 2008.

Outside of KEI, Ms. Finnemann has participated in referendum and peace agreement drafting for the Public International Law and Policy Group, co-founded the American University Negotiation Project, as well as LINC Negotiation Architects, a consultancy providing negotiation and mediation training materials. She has over five years of primary and secondary-level teaching and curriculum design experience. Having lived in Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, Italy, and South Korea, Ms. Finnemann speaks Spanish fluently as well as some Italian and Korean. She holds a B.A. from Kalamazoo College and an M.A. in International Conflict Resolution from the American University's School of International Service.

Michael Finnegan is a Senior Research Associate with the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). Prior to joining NBR in August 2008, he served in the United States Army, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel with over 27 years of Commissioned and Noncommissioned service. Since 1987, he served exclusively in the Asia-Pacific area. As a Foreign Area Officer specializing in the political-military affairs of Northeast Asia, he served as the Senior Country Director for Korea for the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2003 to 2007 and most recently served as a Special Assistant for Regional Strategy in the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs.

He holds an A.M. in Regional Studies East Asia from Harvard University. He has published several papers and articles on Northeast Asian security issues, including prospects for multilateral security cooperation in Northeast Asia, trilateral security relations between the U.S., Japan and PRC, regional implications of ballistic missile defense, future security strategies for Korea, and Republic of Korea Armed Forces modernization efforts. His current research efforts include issues related to the U.S.-Japan security alliance, U.S.-ROK security alliance, U.S.-ROK-Japan trilateral cooperation, and energy and environmental security in Northeast Asia, as well as questions related to constructing a peace and security regime on the Korean Peninsula and Korean unification.

Mr. Drennan is currently a consultant specializing in Korea Peninsula security and in open source intelligence. From 1998 to 2004 he was a program officer and later the deputy director of research and studies at the United States Institute of Peace, an independent federal agency focused on the prevention, management, and resolution of international conflict. He joined the Institute upon his retirement from the U.S. Air Force as a colonel in 1998. His last military assignment was as a senior military fellow at the National Defense University"s Institute for National Strategic Studies, where he concentrated on Korea and Northeast Asia security. Prior to that he was professor of national security policy at the National War College. From 1990 to 1991 he was a Military Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City. He was stationed in Korea from 1988 to 1990 as the chief of the strategy and policy division, J-5, U.S. Forces Korea.

In the mid-1980s he served as a squadron commander at Air Training Command headquarters, and later deputy commander for operations, 64th Flying Training Wing, Reese AFB, TX. From 1981 to 1984 he served in the White House as Air Force Aide to President Ronald Reagan. A command pilot, he has 3500 flying hours, including over 800 combat hours in the C-130E during the Vietnam War, taking part in every major military campaign from the 1971 ARVN invasion of Laos, through the 1972 North Vietnamese "Easter Offensive", to the 1975 evacuation of Saigon.

He is a 1968 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, has a Master of Arts degree from Georgetown University, and has done doctoral work at The Catholic University of America. He has written and spoken extensively on Korean security issues for the last twenty years.