Paul J. Sullivan
Professor of Economics, NationalDefenseUniversity
Adjunct Professor, Security Studies, GeorgetownUniversity
Adjunct Professor, Science, Technology and International Affairs,
GeorgetownUniversity
202-685-4237
571-217-6009
Education:
Certificate -- Seminar XXI (2006) MIT, International Relations
Ph.D. (1986) Yale, Economics (Highest Honors)
M.Phil. (1983) Yale, Economics of Developing Countries
M.A. (1982) Yale, Economics
B.A. Summa Cum Laude, Junior Phi Beta Kappa (1 of 5 out of a class of 780), (1979) Brandeis, Economics
Expertise:
Economics and Politics of the Middle East and various parts of Africa
International Energy Security
Piracy, Terrorism and Trade Security (Political-Economic-International Relations sides)
Resources and Conflict (Esp. in the Middle East and Africa)
Islamic Societies/ Arab Cultural Issues
US-Arab and US-Islamic Relations
International Economic Relations
Organizing international practical field study visits to energy, environment, agricultural, and other industrial, governmental, and NGO sites.
Other Skills:
Distinguished Record of Participation in High-Level Meetings and Dialogues on Various Issues
Distinguished Record of Substantial Contributions to Interdisciplinary and Multinational Projects
A Quick Study on Complex Issues
Record of Leadership on International Projects
Distinguished Record of Self-Initiated Projects and Studies
Practical Thinker on Complex and Sensitive Issues
Ability to Explain Complex Issues in Everyday Language to Non-Experts
Excellent Cross-Cultural Skills Developed over Decades of Experience
Ability to Communicate with Many Levels of Societies in the Middle East and in the West
Distinguished Record of Public Speaking to Professional and non-Professional Audiences
Distinguished Record of Significant Capacity for Hard Work, and Working on Multiple Complex and Sensitive Projects at the Same Time
Proven Record in Successfully Navigating Politically and Emotionally Charged Issues with Various Audiences and Groups
Well connected and well versed on issues related to energy and international security, the Middle East, North Africa and some parts of sub-Saharan Africa
Practical understanding of how to get things done in the developing world.
Narrative of experience:
Dr. Paul Sullivan has been a professor of economics at the NationalDefenseUniversity (NDU) since July 1999. He is an Adjunct Professor of Security Studies at GeorgetownUniversity, where he teaches classes on energy and security. He is also an Adjunct Professor in Georgetown’s Department of Science, Technology and International Affairs, where he teaches about energy security in the Middle East, and natural resources and conflict in Africa and the Middle East. While at NDU he taught a very popular elective course on the Islamic world, and has organized and participated in NDU panels and talks related to energy security, interfaith dialogue, US-Arab relations and more. His classes at Georgetown are some of the most popular classes in the departments he teaches in, and often have long waiting lists to get in.
He was Senior Fellow at the East West Institute (EWI) during 2007. As part of his responsibilities he co-lead an EWI delegation to Jordan, where he met with some present and past senior leaders of the country, including members of the Royal Family, to discuss western-Arab relations. He was also part of the first meeting of the EWI Trialogue21 with high-level delegations from China and the EU. He was a central speaker at the EWI conference on natural resources and security in Berlin, Germany in December 2006. Dr. Sullivan has also been a research fellow at the Independent Institute, for whom he has written articles on Middle Eastissues.
Dr. Sullivan has been involved in the energy work at the UNCTAD with a focus on energy issues and Africa. In December 2006 he was part of an expert meeting on energy issues in developing countries for UNCTAD in Geneva, Switzerland. In late May 2007, he was a central participant in UNCTAD’s Oil and Gas conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
He has also been part of another energy security process based in Washington that is confidential in nature. Dr. Sullivan waspart of the Energy Consensus Group of Washington, DC. He regularly briefs various groups in the Washington, DC area on various energy, Middle East and Islamic issues.
He has been lead of the Energy Industry Study, part of the Environment Industry Study, and the lead of the North Africa and Levant Regional Security Study at NDU. Dr. Sullivan had organized, set up the logistics and lead teams of 15-17 persons from ICAF on international and domestic field studies for the agribusiness, energy and the environment industry studies. Dr. Sullivan has considerable experience in setting up high-level visits to companies, universities, think tanks, government leaders and others. In the spring of 2010 he will be the economics faculty member of the Energy Industry Study team at NDU.
In the summer of 2008 he was 9 weeks in Egypt and Jordan meeting with high-level officials, members of the Jordanian Royal Family, academics, military officials, diplomats from the EU and the Arab world, business persons, and more. He also gave talks at the Institute of Diplomacy in Amman, The Arab Thought Forum (a member of the Royal Family introduced him ), The Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan, and an all-hands talk at the Jordan National Defence Academy.
In the fall of 2008he was part of a 3.5-hour debate filmed by NHK TV of Japan on oil markets, speculators, and the future of energy with energy experts from Japan, China, the UAE and Russia. Dr. Sullivan was one of the discussion leads of the breakout session“the nuclear imbalance in the Middle East” at a major UN conference on nuclear disarmament. ( ) on UN Day 2008 at the UN. In December 2008 was part of a high level meeting, which included many former and present senior officials in the US Government, on the financial crisis and green energy at the Brookings Institution.
Recently he ran a two workshops on “Energy Systems and Economic Development” for students in the Certificate Program on International Development at Georgetown University. This workshop presented the problems and possibilities found in the energy-development nexus, examples of energy systems (from oil and gas to solar towers, geothermal, ocean energy, efficiency efforts, CSP, wind power, hybrid power systems, and much more), energy-water-food connections, the resource curse, and what is needed to move alternative energy technologies forward in the developing world.
In March 2009 he gave numerous talks and briefings on energy, water, political, economic and other issues in Africa, the EU, Central Asia, and more during a visit to Naples, Italy. In April 2009 he gave two talks at Georgia Tech on energy security, leadership and systematic thinking. In early May 2009 he was a featured speaker at the St. Andrews Economic Forum on a panel looking into oil conflicts. ( He was recently a featured speaker at the Air Force Association’s Air and Space Conference where he spoke on “Energy Independence: Attainable” to about 300 Air Force officers and others. From 23-25 September 2009 he was a delegate to the Global Creative Leadership Summit. This was by invitation only, and included only 182 delegates from around the world. He was part of the panels on Africa, the Middle East and Emerging Security Threats.
He is a member of a working group looking into some strategic elements of the peace process in The Sudan at USIP. He acts in an advisor/mentor role on this project. He also took part in a negotiation simulation on the Tigris-Euphrates river basin and a brainstorming session on an energy-conflict issue in Africa for the Public Interest Policy Law Group. He is regularly in the Azeri press on issues related to Iran.
He was a member of the seminar on religion and development at Georgetown, and he was an active member of the working groups on Iraq, Iraq, Libya and "The New Marshall Plan for Water and Energy in the Developing World" at the Atlantic Council. Dr. Sullivan was an active participant in the Iraq Roundtables run by PILG, which focused on the Iraqi Constitution and other economic-legal issues. He was also part of the Fusion Group on Public Diplomacy at theState Department, and has been involved in many meetings related to strategic communications with the Arab and Muslim worlds.
During a recent visit to Egypt and Tanzania, he gave many talks in elementary schools and universities on various topics related to US relations with the regions, the importance of education, environmental issues and more. Dr. Sullivan also gave a short talk in Arabic about the Koran and the environment to a group of students and staff at a madrassa in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
He has been quite active over the years in policy debates on many issues. He is part of an ongoing dialogue on energy and environment issues at the National Journal and through Comment Visions, which is a project run by Shell Oil, EuroVision and European Voice. He will soon begin interventions on the DOD Energy Blog.
For six years before his time at NDU, Dr. Sullivan was at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, where he taught classes and researched the economics and economic history of the Middle East. He started new courses there on the economic history and economics of Israel the West Bank and Gaza, and on environmental issues in Central Asia and the Middle East. He was also involved in the Model UN as a speaker and mentor, and in international internet-based debates and negotiation sessions with the University of Texas, Austin.
While in Egypt, he was on Egyptian TV to debate with some of the most prominent people in the country. He was also on the editorial board of the Cairo Papers in Social Sciences and wrote a column for the Middle East Times. Dr. Sullivan has traveled extensively in the region. He has many high-level contacts in the region.
Before he moved to Egypt, Dr. Sullivan was a consultant to major law firms and others on energy, environment and due diligence issues, and an international energy economist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He has lectured at many universities and other venues in the US and worldwide, and was a visiting scholar at CambridgeUniversity for two summers.
Over the years, numerous media in five continents have interviewed him on a wide range of issues. Dr. Sullivan has also given over 150 public talks, many at high levels, on issues related to international energy security, economic development, international trade, US-Islamic relations, US-Arab relations, US-Egyptian relations, the economics and politics of various Arab states and Iran, Islam, nuclear power and proliferation issues, the Middle East, Pakistan, and many other topics.
Dr. Sullivan is an active member of Columbia University’s GULF2000 network. He has published on a wide variety of issues related to the economics of war and peace, the political economy of oil and gas, energy security, US-Islamic and US-Arab relations, Iraq, extremism and more.
He also has experience in Indiahaving done is Yale Ph.D. research in the country.
Dr. Sullivan is a member of the College of Fellows of the International Association of Middle Eastern Studies (IAMES), and was a member of the advisory board of the US-Egyptian Friendship Society.
He has been a long-term student of Arabic, and is quite fluent in the cultures, politics, and economics of the Middle East and North Africa. His research and travels have also brought him considerable knowledge of water, energy, land, and non-energy minerals connections with conflict and conflict resolutions.
Dr. Sullivan has been involved with many issues related to energy, US-Islamic relations, the Middle East and more at very high levels and in international environments.
He is a member of the International Association of Energy Economists, The American Solar Energy Association, The National Association of Business Economists, The Society for International Development, The Middle East Institute, The Shooting Club (Nadi Sid) of Cairo, Egypt, The World Affairs Council of Washington, The US Squash Association and The Yale Club of Washington, DC., The United Nations Association of the Capital Area, and The African Studies Association.
Dr. Sullivan is on sabbatical from NDU for 2009. His sabbatical work will focus on two books on energy security issues. One will focus on the energy security problems of a group of countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The other will focus on the overall Dr. Sullivan will also be writing a series of short articles on energy security and water security issues. His research is also focusing on US relations with various countries in the Middle East and certain strategic considerations related to them, in including a paper recently published by the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy on “President Barak Hussein Obama and the Middle East: The Peace Process, Iraq, Iran and Reasonable Expectations”. He has also written a chapter in the Global Strategic Assessment 2009 on how to improve US relations with its Middle Eastern counterparts. He has also advised The US Navy and others on energy, economic, and geopolitical issues during his sabbatical year.
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