Government Relations Workshop:

The Executive Branch, Congress, and Oceans Policy and Budgets

9:00 AM - 4:30 PM (Room: Maryland A-C)

OCEANS 2005 MTS/IEEE provides a special opportunity for a unique insight into how Washington works. We have assembled a special day-long workshop that explores the Administration and the Congress with a focus on ocean policies, budgets, and priorities. The workshop features speakers from the government and those who work closely with the government. Many of you have asked for this for some time, and on Monday we will present a session that you do not want to miss!

Key Dates

Workshop Registration Deadline To Ensure Attendance:	2 September 2005

Workshop Sessions:	19 September 2005

Workshop Fee

Full Day:

$100 (includes lunch)

Overview of Workshop Sessions

PART I – THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH

The Executive Branch – Policy, Budget and Priorities

This session will review the setting of executive branch policies, priorities and budgets in the oceans arena. The session will identify the principal players in setting policy, provide an overview of the multi-year executive budget cycle, identify people and institutions with a role and/or influence in setting spending priorities, and describe how industry and the private sector institutions contribute to the process.

The Executive Agencies – Roles and Responsibilities

This session describes the roles and responsibilities of and relationships among the key executive branch departments and agencies engaged in oceans-related programs and activities.

Executive Round Table on Oceans Policy

This panel of senior government oceans-related program executives and seasoned outside observers will assess current thinking on oceans policy, science and programs, and the priorities likely to drive future oceans spending and activities. This session will include a discussion of current issues including t he US Commission on Ocean Policy, the Committee on Ocean Policy and US Ocean Action Plan. The session will continue over a working lunch to allow for an extended Q & A period.

PART II – THE CONGRESS

Congress – Making Laws/Passing Budgets – Theory v. Fact

Presented by two former senior staff members of Senate and House committee staffs, this session looks at how Congress sets policy and spending priorities, and describes how industry and the private sector can help shape outcomes. By examining the congressional budget process, and the role of Committees and of individual legislators in drafting laws and setting budgets, the session answers the question of who counts in congressional law-writing and budget-making – and why.

Applied Congressional Relations

This session uses a case study to illustrate how industry and other private sector bodies can influence the congressional budget process in practice.

Congressional Staff Roundtable on Oceans Policy & Priorities

This panel of senior congressional committee staff responsible for oceans policy, science and programs will examine current and emerging oceans-related issues before Congress, funding priorities and congressional thinking on the US Commission on Ocean Policy and the US Ocean Action Plan. The session includes an extended Q & A period.

Wrapup: Strategies, Opportunities, Outcomes

Building Awareness

Generating Influence Through Information

Abilities and Limitations of Influencing Government

Instructors

Alex Gliksman (primary instructor), AGI Consulting
Charles Monfort (co-instructor), MONFORT-LEWIS, LLC

Alex Gliksman is principal of AGI Consulting and a former senior staff member of the House Intelligence Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Mr. Gliksman is a specialist in national security program management and defense industrial trends in South Asia and the Pacific Rim. Mr. Gliksman is widely published and has lectured extensively on international security, technology, and intelligence. Mr. Gliksman’s clients have included the US Congress, Department of Defense, Department of State, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Northrop Grumman – TASC, Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and The Boeing Company. Mr. Gliksman has served two tours with Congress. From 1991 to 1993, he served on the professional staff of the House Intelligence Committee, where he was responsible for oversight of intelligence support to counterproliferation operations and the realignment of US intelligence assets to post-Cold War priorities. From 1982 to 1985, he directed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Arms Control, Oceans, and International Operations Subcommittee staff. From 1988 to 1991, he conducted a study of advanced technology conventional weapons and their implications for military strategy and international security, under grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Twentieth Century Fund and a NATO Advanced Research Fellowship. From 1985 to 1987, he served as Director of Strategic Defense Studies for the United Nations Association of the USA under a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Mr. Gliksman has published and lectured widely, served as a Contributing Editor of National Defense magazine and a regular contributor to the Christian Science Monitor's opinion page. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, International Herald Tribune, USA Today, Baltimore Sun, and Foreign Policy, among others, and contributed chapters to over a dozen books. He has lectured in 15 countries and appeared on National Public Radio, CNN and the BBC. He edited two volumes on technology for peacekeeping. Alex Gliksman has taught on the graduate faculty of the University of Southern California and at the University of Maryland. He studied at New York University, the University of Vienna, and pursued doctoral studies in international relations at University College London.

Charles Monfort has over twenty-five years of direct Washington experience, having held senior positions in the Legislative and Executive Branches of the U.S. government and in the non-profit community. Since October 1998, Mr. Monfort has served as president of The Monfort Group, a government affairs firm specializing in the appropriations process. He joined with Patricia Lewis to form Monfort-Lewis LLC in January 2004. Mr. Monfort served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) for Policy and Planning Coordination from December 1994 to October 1998. In this position, he was in charge of liaison with Congress, the media, and military retiree organizations, and for strategic planning and beneficiary education/marketing programs. Mr. Monfort has also worked for two Members of the U.S. House of Representatives: Martin Olav Sabo (DFL-MN), then Chairman of the House Budget Committee, from 1989 to 1984, and Morris Udall (D-AZ), then Chairman of the House Interior Committee, from 1976 to 1982. From 1982 to 1989, Mr. Monfort was Washington Director and chief lobbyist for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a national public interest group addressing the impact of advanced technology on society.