Dr. Friedbert Pflüger, whose resume includes serving as a German Defence Minister and foreign policy adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel, spoke at ICSR on 27 March as part of the ICSR Seminar Series. Dr. Pflüger’s talk sought to evaluate the development of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy profile as his administration continues to deal with global security threats, with Pflüger emphasising the many areas of continuity between the current and former administration’s policies. Pfluger concluded that, while many of Obama’s approaches to issues like terrorism and national security are quite similar to the recent policies of the Bush administration, the significant change in tone and style of the new administration should not be viewed as superficial or unimportant to the prospects of success of the President. The talk was followed by an informative question/answer session.