Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services

The Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services (ALLIES) is an undergraduate organization dedicated to promoting discourse relating to security and foreign policy affairs. Through joint education, research, and collaboration, ALLIES provides students and professionals, military and civilian alike, the opportunity to explore significant topics, events, and policy while developing lasting relationships.

Founded at Tufts University by students involved in the Institute for Global Leadership’s (IGL) EPIIC program in 2006, ALLIES has grown to encompass chapters at Tufts, Wellesley College, the University of North Georgia, the United States Naval Academy (USNA), and the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, with interested students at other civilian and military universities.

ALLIES holds weekly discussion meetings within each chapter on key political and policy issues. These include the contestations in the South China Sea, emerging threats from cybersecurity, structural processes of American politics, and the psychology of terrorism, among others. Individual ALLIES chapter also organize special speakers and events throughout the year.

Students involved in ALLIES work together to plan and execute joint programs each year, including the Civil-Military Relations Conference (CMRC), an annual academic conference that has seen such past speakers as the Hon. Michèle Flournoy, Co-Founder of the Center for a New American Security and former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy at the Department of Defense.

Each summer, ALLIES participants from military and civilian academies plan and execute a Joint Research Project (JRP) abroad, conducting academic research on security and other topics in countries ranging from Turkey to Chile, South Africa, Estonia, and India.

ALLIES students also participate in the Field Exercise in Peace and Stability Operations (FieldEx) every year. In FieldEx, students conduct a real-world kinetic simulation of a conflict scenario, featuring political leaders, negotiations, and armed conflict all taking place in real time on a paintball field. FieldEx provides real-world experience in effective statecraft and cooperation for all participants, as well as a unique opportunity to explore civil-military dynamics in a kinetic environment.

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