Award for Heroism recipient to form polar security center
May 3, 2012
USAID Award for Heroism recipient Harry Bader has returned home to put his international
experience to work in the polar regions.
Bader received the 2011 heroism award for his work in Afghanistan as the co-leader
of a joint military/civilian counterinsurgency cell. He returned to UAF in January
to help establish an academic and research program focused on security in the polar
regions. Bader will work to develop a program that integrates academic, civilian and
military entities in efforts to promote the use of science in security planning and
operations. The program will address strategic interests in the Arctic and Antarctic,
as well as the natural resources that deliver essential ecological, social and economic
services.
UAF’s location and research and academic programs make it the ideal place to tackle
the complicated security issues that spring up with changes in the polar regions,
said UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers. “Bader’s expertise provides the catalyst to develop
a center that will serve Alaska and the nation.”
Mark Myers, UAF vice chancellor for research, added, “Bader’s work on arctic environmental
security will be transformational and is destined to have a lasting impact on the
circumpolar North.”
Bader first joined UAF’s faculty in 1990. From 2009-2011, he served with the U.S.
Agency for International Development’s Office of Civilian Response in eastern Afghanistan,
where he was the co-leader of the Natural Resources Counterinsurgency Cell. The cell
worked to deny the enemy access to human and financial capital derived from the exploitation
of natural resources.
The U.S. State Department’s USAID Award for Heroism is given to one USAID employee
each year for individual acts of valor and courage under dangerous circumstances at
great risk to personal safety. It is one of the highest civilian awards granted by
the U.S. government. This year’s citation reads that Bader, as a member of the Civilian
Response Corps, “…distinguished himself while embedded with U.S. military forces in
Afghanistan, serving a unique and critical role to counterinsurgency operations while
under enemy fire.”
Bader received his J.D. at Harvard University Law School and is now finishing a doctorate
degree in forestry from the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.