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In this episode of At The Boundary, GNSI Senior Director Jim Cardoso sits down with former USAID Senior Foreign Service Officer Greg Howell to discuss the Global Fragility Act (GFA), its bipartisan origins, and what the proposed Global Fragility Reauthorization Act could mean for the future of U.S. engagement abroad.

Drawing on more than two decades of international development experience across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Iraq, and Afghanistan, Howell explains how the GFA sought to integrate diplomacy, defense, and development into a coordinated “3D” approach to conflict prevention and stabilization.

The episode explores why the GFA was created, U.S. efforts to counter violent extremism in West Africa, and the evolving future of foreign assistance. Howell and Cardoso also examines how prevention-focused investment and long-term strategic engagement may help reduce future conflict costs while advancing broader U.S. national security interests.

Links from this episode:

• Student Research Fellows Program

• CIA article:

• Strategy Competition article

• Wiswesser’s book

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At the Boundary  from the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida,  features global and national security issues we’ve found to be insightful, intriguing, fascinating, maybe controversial, but overall just worth talking about.

A "boundary" is a place, either literal or figurative, where two forces exist in close proximity to each other. Sometimes that boundary is in a state of harmony. More often than not, that boundary has a bit of chaos baked in. The Global and National Security Institute will live on the boundary of security policy and technology and that's where this podcast will focus.

The mission of GNSI is to provide actionable solutions to 21st-century security challenges for decision-makers at the local, state, national and global levels. We hope you enjoy At the Boundary.

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