State Department ambassador to discuss chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological national security at Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
MANHATTAN — A U.S. Department of State official involved with international efforts to reduce infectious disease threats around the world will address her work in a lecture at Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.
Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins will present "Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Terrorism — Efforts to Reduce the Threat" at noon Wednesday, May 4, in the Mara Conference Center on the fourth floor of Trotter Hall. The lecture is free and the public is invited.
As an ambassador, Jenkins is responsible for leading the Global Health Security Agenda next generation leaders and nongovernmental group. The Global Health Security Agenda is a large international multi-sectoral initiative dedicated to reducing infectious disease threats around the world. It engages partners in the security, animal and human health, development, and law enforcement sectors. Jenkins leads U.S. government outreach to domestic and international nongovernmental organizations.
Jenkins was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009 to serve at the coordinator of threat reduction programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. She promotes the coordination of Department of State Cooperative Threat Reduction and U.S. government programs in chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological security. She also works closely with international partners in coordinating global chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological security programs and funding to help ensure a coordinated approach when governments implement these programs internationally.
Jenkins is also the U.S. Representative to the G-7 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction-Global Partnership and chaired the Global Partnership in 2012 during the U.S. leadership of the G-8. She is the Department of State lead on the Nuclear Security Summit, and she coordinates the Department of State's activities related to the four-year effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material.
On her visit to Kansas State University, she will tour the Biosecurity Research Institute and meet with faculty and administrators from the Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases, or CEEZAD, and join veterinary medical faculty for discussions about antimicrobial resistance and the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility.
Jenkins also has served as the program officer for U.S. foreign and security policy at the Ford Foundation. Her responsibilities included strengthening public engagement in U.S. foreign and security policy formulation and debates, as well as funding programs and international engagements in the areas of peacekeeping, women in conflict and natural resource conflicts. Before joining the foundation, Jenkins served as counsel on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, more commonly known as the 9-11 Commission. She was the lead commission staff member on counterterrorism policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and on U.S. military plans targeting al-Qaida prior to 9-11.
Jenkins has a doctorate in international relations from the University of Virginia; a Master of Laws in international and comparative law from the Georgetown University Law Center; a Master of Public Administration from the State University of New York at Albany, as well as a Juris Doctor from Albany Law School; and a bachelor's from Amherst College. She also attended the Hague Academy for International Law.
