February 12, 2026 Dinner Meeting

Few of us know much about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).  The country continues to receive prominent attention because of its nuclear weapons program, the country’s assistance to Russia during the war in Ukraine, its relationship to China, and the treatment of its people.  Moreover, many in Charlottesville recall the 2017 death of UVA student Otto Warmbier after his detention in North Korea.  Our speaker Markus Garluskas is well qualified to address the threat posed by this nuclear armed nation.

Markus Garlauskas is a former U.S. government senior executive, strategist, and intelligence officer, who is now a non-government thought leader on security issues in the Indo-Pacific region.  He was named by the Washingtonian Magazine as one of Washington D.C.’s 500 most influential people in 2025.

In January 2023, Garlauskas established the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative (IPSI) of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.  As…