AAPA Briefed by Terrorism Expert Bauer
There is no way to fully counter terrorism, and there are no "lone wolves," AAPA members learned during a lively discussion on Feb. 23 with French criminologist and security and terrorism expert Alain Bauer. All the terrorists who have been identified so far have been "connected" in some way, and most of their funding is coming from their own, often criminal, activities, he said. "The expression…
Thumbs Up For AAPA Happy Hour
Our second AAPA happy hour on February 6 was as big of a success as the first, with over 25 members gathering in the vaulted basement of the Cordonnerie, a bar in the 2nd. True, the space was a bit musky, and the ceiling a tad low, but all-in-all it was a great time and the beer certainly was cheap. We'll probably try out a few more locales before settling in on a permanent home. If anyone has a…
ENA Head Aims To Reform Selection Process
Achieving greater social diversity among the high-powered students at the Ecole Nationale de l'Administration is one of the challenges facing the prestigious school for France's elite managers and civil servants, AAPA members and their guests were told on Jan. 28 by ENA's director, Nathalie Loiseau. Mme Loiseau acknowledged that ENA's recruiting process tends to reproduce privilege. "It…
France Confirms Crackdown Policies on Terror Networks, Radicalisation
France is preparing tough, judicial measures to deal with terrorists, dangerous “jihadists” and those who justify “Jihad,” French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira told two dozen AAPA members over breakfast on January 27. Speaking three weeks after the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris, Mme Taubira told us that the government won’t compromise in its efforts to clamp down on people who…
CNIL Chief Briefs AAPA On Digital Europe, Privacy and Security
How best to defend individual freedom, privacy and “the right to be forgotten” in a context of increased focus on public security and the fight against terrorism were the core topics when more than 20 AAPA members met on Jan. 21 with Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, President of France’s Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL). Speaking at the CNIL’s Parisian headquarters,…
New Year's Greetings from the AAPA
Paris, January 5, 2015. As we head into what promises to be another exciting and active year at the AAPA, I wanted to communicate my hopes and tentative plans with you for the coming period. With a new, dynamic team all ready to work, I am eager to undertake the tasks the membership set out for the committee at our AGM on Dec. 17. Foremost among these will be creating a better sense of…
AAPA’s AGM Sets a Road Map for the Future
Making the AAPA more socially relevant to its members was the main theme of our 2014 Annual General Meeting, held on Dec. 17 once again chez John Morris, our doyen member. Opening the meeting, President John Keating reported to some 30 participants that the AAPA had had another successful year, noting that membership had expanded, we remain in robust financial shape, and our activities are…
French Finance Minister Urges UK to Stay in EU
Britain and the European Union as a whole would lose out if the U.K. were to opt to leave the EU, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin has warned. “If the UK forfeits its place in the EU, then Europe would be weakened and the UK would also be worse off. It has to stay in,” he told over 20 AAPA members over breakfast at the Finance Ministry on Nov. 20. “But the British will…
AAPA Member Marcia Lord Dies
Determined, intelligent, lively, curious, outspoken, kind and generous are only a few of the adjectives to describe AAPA member Marcia Lord who passed away October 22 at the Hopital Pompidou in Paris, reports Harriet Welty Rochefort, her friend of 47 years. A Chicago native, Marcia graduated from Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism where she was a Phi Beta Kappa and after moving…
France's top rabbi alarmed by anti-Semitic attacks
After a summer heated by protests over the Israeli offensive in Gaza and the growing clout of militant Islam, France's chief rabbi is raising the alarm over rising anti-Semitism in the country - and the public silence that is greeting it. "What has stuck us is the sense of indifference on the part of society," Grand Rabbi Haim Korsia told AAPA members on Sept. 16 in wide-ranging…