Korea expert to address NPC at American Legion Post 20, April 28

National security and Korea expert Ambassador Joseph R. DeTrani, who recently joined the National Press Club, will address a luncheon meeting of the Club's American Legion Post 20 at noon on Friday, April 28, in the McClendon Room.

The speaker portion of the meeting is open to all Club members.

With tension on the Korean Peninsula at perhaps its highest since the truce that divided Korea in 1953, DeTrani will provide his analysis of the crisis after having served at the State Department as Special Envoy for Six-Party Talks with North Korea, U.S. Representative to the Korea Energy Development Organization and Intelligence Community Mission Manager for North Korea.

DeTrani is the President of Daniel Morgan Academy, a Washington D.C. national security graduate school. He previously served as president of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, where he currently serves on the board of advisors, and as Senior Advisor to the Director of National Intelligence and Director of the National Counter Proliferation Center. He had a distinguished career with the Central Intelligence Agency serving as a member of the Senior Executive Service, Director of East Asia Operations, Director for European Operations, Director of the Office of Technical Services, Director of Public Affairs, Director of the Crime and Narcotics Center and Executive Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence William Casey.

DeTrani served in the U.S. Air Force and is a graduate of New York University. He received a certificate in Chinese from the State Department Foreign Language School in Taiwan and attended Harvard’s International Security Program for executives. He has published numerous articles dealing with North Korea, China, Iran, cyber espionage and non-proliferation issues.

It will be DeTrani's second address to Post 20, where he spoke on security issues in April, 2016. That led to accepting an invitation to join the Club. Post 20 is one of the Legion's oldest Posts having been founded at the urging of Brig. Gen. John Pershing, leader of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I and a member of the Club.