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231:'s Senior Foreign Policy Advisor in 1987. In that role, she was appointed to the bipartisan Senate Arms Control Observer Group, monitoring U.S. arms negotiations and treaty compliance. For six years, Sewall advised Mitchell and drafted legislation to halt U.S. nuclear testing, halt U.S. support for Cambodian rebels, oppose chemical weapons use in Iraq, and reform the
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As a professor, Sewall taught classes on the tension between values and interests in US foreign policy and on the use of force for almost a decade. She is best known for her research on minimizing the effects of war upon civilian populations and her work with military actors to put these ideas into
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An early strategic review process produced a joint J mission and three key priorities that guided Sewall's tenure: preventing the spread of violent extremism, preventing mass atrocities, and advancing the rule of law and anticorruption. She is credited with spearheading the Obama
Administration's
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Sewall also conceived and led the first major field study on civilian casualty mitigation, which she conducted in
Afghanistan with an inter-service team of researchers over 2008–2009. The Joint Civilian Casualty Study, as the unclassified version is known, documented the viability of enhancing
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Sewall also strengthened the State
Department's ability to understand and prevent conflict, particularly mass killings of civilians. She worked to elevate corruption as a U.S. foreign policy priority and security issue. Sewall's personal diplomatic engagement focused on preventing conflict,
476:. The policy harnessed non-military foreign assistance to prevent radicalization of vulnerable communities and elevated the role of civil society in prevention efforts. Sewall also consistently emphasized the importance of governance and human rights in the counterterrorism battle. The
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and served as a national surrogate during the 2008 campaign. She helped lead his pre-election transition effort and following the election directed the reviews of all national security, foreign policy, intelligence and development agencies before returning to
Harvard.
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In 1993, Sewall moved to the
Pentagon, serving as the inaugural Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Peacekeeping and Peace Enforcement Policy. She built the peacekeeping office mission, staff, and operations to provide equipment and services to the
456:(known bureaucratically as "J") and she was confirmed on February 11, 2014. Sewall was responsible for integrating a reconfigured team of 5 bureaus and 3 offices with widely disparate missions, some 2,000 employees, and over $ 5 billion annual budget.
214:. In partnership with U.S. military leaders, she helped revise U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine, led groundbreaking field assessments of U.S. civilian casualty mitigation efforts, and created new operational concepts for halting mass atrocities.
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Sewall became interested in anti-satellite weapons during a
Washington internship, turning this topic into her undergraduate honors thesis at Harvard. She did graduate work on strategic and international studies at
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Sewall subsequently launched the MARO Project, a partnership with the U.S. Army
Peacekeeping Institute, to develop an operational concept for intervening to halt mass atrocities.
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373:. She led Defense Department policy during the expansion of UN peacekeeping in Haiti, Somalia, and Bosnia. Under her leadership, the Peacekeeping Office also absorbed all
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190:, a strategic investor for the national security community. A national security expert whose career spans government service and academia, she most recently served as
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206:, she built and led organizations that integrated security and human rights in their policy and operational work. She spent ten years as a professor at Harvard's
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to revise U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine, making humanitarian issues central to the project, and writing an influential introduction to Field Manual FM 3-24.
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terrorism, and atrocities in countries such as
Nigeria, Guatemala, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, East Africa, Bangladesh, and Kazakhstan.
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2015 Countering
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mission effectiveness while reducing civilian harm and provided recommendations for institutionalizing civilian protection.
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In 2000, Sewall transitioned to academia, where she helped shape the field of civilian security. Sewall joined
Harvard's
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Fred Kaplan, The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War, Simon and Schuster 2013
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ultimately adopted this comprehensive, rights-based approach, which it calls preventing violent extremism (PVE).
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from 2007 to 2015. While in college, she competed on Harvard's women's lacrosse team.
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Spencer Ackerman, Army Writes New Manual on Preventing Civilian Deaths, Wired 6-14-11
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George F. Will, Letting Soldiers do the Thinking, September 9, 2007 Washington Post
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Nathan Hodge, Making Plans to Stop Mass Murder, May 10, 2011 Wall Street Journal
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at the Strong Cities Network International Visitors Leadership Program in 2016
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Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights
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Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights
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Undersecretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights
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Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights
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655:"Senate Confirmas Obama Nominees at State and Veterans Administration"
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675:"Denver Dialogues on Peace & Security - Featuring Sarah Sewall"
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615:"Mass Atrocity Response Operations: A Military Planning Handbook"
186:(born August 21, 1961) is Executive Vice President for Policy at
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from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially
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Sewall was an early foreign policy advisor to then-candidate
703:"Obama Administration Should Match Words with Deeds on CVE"
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since 1994. They have four daughters. Conroy served in the
737:"Charting the U.S. Atrocities Prevention Board's Progress"
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Mass Atrocity Response Operations (MARO) Project homepage
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for three years. She was also the Minerva Chair at the
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Statesman: George Mitchell and the Art of the Possible
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424:Obama Campaign, transition, and State Department
751:"Corruption: A 21st-Century Security Challenge"
549:Rosenberg, Barry (2003). "Peace and Conflict".
723:"Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism"
55:February 20, 2014 – January 20, 2017
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416:, was incorporated into U.S. Army doctrine.
414:The MARO Handbook: A Military Planning Guide
946:21st-century American women civil servants
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377:(DOD) humanitarian policy and activities.
280:about living persons that is unsourced or
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351:Learn how and when to remove this message
941:United States Under Secretaries of State
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452:President Obama nominated Sewall to be
498:Massachusetts House of Representatives
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916:Spouses of Massachusetts politicians
395:Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
393:, Sewall served as director of the
375:United States Department of Defense
212:Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
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689:"Talking Loud and Saying Nothing"
381:Harvard and military partnerships
906:Clinton administration personnel
641:"Who is on Agency Review Teams?"
405:practice. She collaborated with
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926:21st-century American diplomats
574:Harvard Kennedy School Magazine
921:Obama administration personnel
911:Harvard Kennedy School faculty
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901:Alumni of New College, Oxford
538:. Camden, ME: DownEast Books.
463:Sewall introducing Secretary
936:United States Special Envoys
387:Kennedy School of Government
258:biography of a living person
208:Kennedy School of Government
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285:must be removed immediately
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896:American Rhodes Scholars
849:Special Coordinator for
534:Rooks, Douglas (2016).
891:Harvard College alumni
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407:General David Petraeus
399:U.S. Naval War College
272:Please help by adding
781:Sewall's faculty page
765:"Ivy Women in Sports"
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438:Newport, Rhode Island
432:Sewall presenting at
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364:Department of Defense
233:War Powers Resolution
278:Contentious material
198:abroad. At both the
711:. November 9, 2015.
660:The Washington Post
225:New College, Oxford
163:New College, Oxford
886:People from Boston
803:Political offices
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256:This section of a
229:George J. Mitchell
154:Harvard University
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835:Diplomatic posts
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570:"In the Trenches"
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83:Succeeded by
64:Barack Obama
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22:Sarah Sewall
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876:1961 births
843:Maria Otero
811:Maria Otero
791:Appearances
218:Early years
76:Maria Otero
71:Preceded by
870:Categories
855:2014–2017
822:2014–2017
504:References
465:John Kerry
311:newspapers
144:Tom Conroy
134:Democratic
109:1961-08-21
401:in 2012.
263:citations
150:Education
88:Uzra Zeya
60:President
51:In office
708:HuffPost
521:In-Q-Tel
341:May 2024
289:libelous
200:Pentagon
188:In-Q-Tel
440:in 2014
325:scholar
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