Speaker biographies
Commodore Uday Bhaskar (Retired) is currently the convenor of the India International Centre (IIC) Study Group and a contributing editor to South Asia Monitor. Previously, he served with the Indian Navy for thirty-seven years, retiring in 2007. He was also a member-secretary of the government of India’s Task Force on Global Strategic Developments. Commodore Bhaskar’s articles have appeared in U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, and the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, as well as in books published by the U.S. Naval War College and Royal Navy Defence Studies, among others. Commodore Bhaskar has also edited a number of books, including India’s Security and Foreign Policy Challenges and Indo-German Dialogue: Quest for International Peace and Security. He is a regular contributor to many leading Indian dailies and has also been published in newspapers in Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States. Commodore Bhaskar is a guest lecturer at many universities in India, the United States, and France, and he has participated in seminars abroad, including the India-U.S. Strategic Symposia held with the National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies since 1991. Commodore Bhaskar is the founder editor of the naval journal Quarterdeck, a former editor of Strategic Analysis, and an editorial board member of Contemporary Security Policy and the Indian Foreign Affairs Journal. He is a life member of the United Service Institute and a member of the IIC executive committee. He is also on the advisory committee of the India Habitat Centre.
Stephen P. Cohen joined the Brookings Institution as senior fellow in foreign policy studies in 1998 after a career as a professor of political science and history at the University of Illinois. In 2004, he was named by the World Affairs Councils of America as one of America’s five hundred most influential people. Mr. Cohen is the author, coauthor, or editor of over twelve books, mostly on South Asian security issues, the most recent being Four Crises and a Peace Process: American Engagement in South Asia (2007), The Idea of Pakistan (2004), and an edited volume published by the National Academy of Science that explores the application of technology to the prediction, prevention, and amelioration of terrorist acts. He is currently working on a book on the future of the Indian military. In 2008, Mr. Cohen was a visiting professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School in Singapore, and he has also taught in Japan (Keio University) and India (Andhra University). He has consulted for numerous foundations and government agencies and was a member of the U.S. Department of State’s policy planning staff in 1985–87. Mr. Cohen is currently a member of the National Academy of Science’s Committee on International Security and Arms Control and is the founder of several arms control and security-related institutions in the United States and South Asia.
Christopher Griffin is a research fellow in Asian studies at AEI. Before joining AEI in January 2005, he was a research assistant in the strategic studies department at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Since May 2006, Mr. Griffin has been an associate editor of Armed Forces Journal, for which he writes on defense-industrial issues and military blogs.
M. R. Sivaraman is a former permanent secretary minister of finance of the Government of India (1993–96). He joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1962, where he served in many positions, including permanent secretary, ministry of finance, of the state government of Madhya Pradesh (1982–87), joint permanent secretary and additional permanent secretary in the Ministry of Commerce of the government of India (1987–90), and director general of civil aviation (1990–93). Mr. Sivaraman was the executive director representing India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan for the IMF (1996–99), an adviser to the government of Bangladesh on taxation reforms (1999–2001), and an expert adviser to the Committee on Counter Terrorism of the United Nations Security Council (2001–03). Mr. Sivaraman has lectured on economic issues and terrorism financing at many universities around the world and is the author of numerous publications on taxation, monetary and fiscal issues, international economics, corporate management, and leadership. He is a fellow of the Aeronautical Society of India, chairman of the board of governors of the Lawrence School, and chairman of the boards of several Indian companies.
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