The Honorable Denise Natali is the Director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. She previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations. Dr. Natali has extensive on the ground experience in conflict and border zones to include Peshawar, Pakistan as director of cross-border operations, northern Iraq in support of Operation Provide Comfort II, Dean of students at the American University of Iraq-Sulaimania, and in research capacities in the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iran, and Syria. An award-winning author, Dr. Natali has numerous publications including, The Kurdish Quasi-State and The Kurds and the State: Evolving National Identity in Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. Dr. Natali received a Ph.D. in political science at the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of International Affairs at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. She also studied at L’Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris, the University of Tehran, Iran (Deh Khoda Language Program), and Tel Aviv University. Dr. Natali is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and speaks French and conversational Kurdish and Farsi.