BUDADPEST (Nov. 21, 2024)  – The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies held an alumni outreach event in Budapest Nov. 19 focused on the changing faces of terrorism, current trends, and future challenges. 

More than 40 Hungarian Marshall Center alumni and invited guests were joined by both the German and U.S. Ambassadors, embassy staff, and senior leadership. The Marshall Center has held a Hungarian alumni outreach event annually for the past four years; but this was the first time the event was hosted by the German Ambassador to Hungary.

Ambassador Julia Gross opened the evening highlighting the Marshall Center’s legacy and the importance of the center’s greatest outcome—the alumni network.

 “The Marshall center is really a unique German-American partnership and one of the most renowned security and defense study institutes,” she said. “They don’t only contribute to security and defense issues but also very effectively to their outstanding alumni network.” 

These networks, the ambassador continued, are valuable because they bring together people from all corners of the world, “people who share expertise on security and defense, but also who share experiences, and in times like this, a network such as this is irreplaceable.

United States Ambassador David Pressman stressed the importance of the United States’ relationship with Germany and how both countries continue to work to strengthen security cooperation and democratic institutions across Europe and the world.

“The Marshall Center is an ideal representation of these combined efforts and it’s truly wonderful to be able to recognize some of the center’s alumni,” Ambassador Pressman said. “Since the Marshall Center’s founding, there has been no other time that highlighted so spectacularly the need for institutions to reinforce democratic principles and prepare national leaders to protect liberal democracy.”

In his first alumni event with the Marshall Center, Dr. Daniel Milton, Professor of Transnational Security Studies, joined Dr. Zoltán György Bács, Assistant Professor with the Faculty of Law Enforcement, Department of Counterterrorism, at the Ludovika University of Public Service for a panel discussion. The panel was moderated by the head of the Hungarian Marshall Center Alumni Association, Dr. Gábor Csizmazia, Research Fellow at the John Lukacs Institute for Strategy and Politics at the Ludovika University of Public Service.

During the event, Marshall Center Associate Director Sandra Oudkirk recognized the oldest and newest Hungarian alumni. Ambassador (Ret.) Ferenc Bosenbacher, became an alumnus of the first Marshall Center in-resident course in 1994 (Executive Program 1994-1). The latest addition to the Hungarian Marshall Center alumni network graduated the center’s Program on Applied Security Studies Nov. 21, bringing the total number of Hungarian alumni to 223. 

The event also included a Marshall Center and alumni programs update, a moderated question and answer session highlighting the continued need to address critical global cybersecurity and terrorism issues, and a networking reception.

“Events like this are incredibly important because they allow us to remain connected, and provide opportunities to continue learning about current security issues and challenges, and enables us to share perspectives,” said Marshall Center alumna Irina Tsertsvadze