Episode #52 - March 2023

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"Never again" has turned into "Again and Again", or "Never Happened". In the wake of the holocaust, the world committed to never forgetting the atrocities and never letting something like this happen again. 75 years later, the world continues to see new genocides begin and concerted efforts to deny that these atrocities ever even happened. As hate rises around the world, the conditions necessary for mass atrocities has ripened, allowing for more than ten current and ongoing genocides to flourish today. In this episode, we talk about the ways in which the world, and individual, can work to better prevent, respond to, and recover from genocides. While this area of international affairs is very difficult to deal with, that does not mean there is nothing to do. The first step is knowledge and awareness. Where countries can shroud their actions behind secrecy and a disinterested global community, this is where governments are able to act with impunity against perceived threats to their authority. Listen today to better understand the ways a genocide gets started, how the world can respond, and why these horrible atrocities continue to occur today.

 

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Michael C. Pryce is the founder and CEO of COA Consultants and COA NonProfit, both organizations dedicated to developing pragmatic planning tools to prevent or intervene in a mass atrocity. From 2007-2009, Pryce was the Professor of Conflict Resolution at the Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) of the US Army War College, and Director of the Mass Atrocity Response Operations (MARO) Project, a partnership between PKSOI and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

He used his expertise in military planning and conflict resolution to recruit and lead a group of fellow planning experts in developing the MARO Project's documents. He also coordinated the project's initial evolution throughout the Department of Defense and the US Government. He has formally presented the MARO Project to international military audiences as well as organizations such as the UN and the Pearson Peacekeeping Center in Ottawa, Canada.

From 1999 until 2007, Pryce worked in Stuttgart, Germany at the US European Command Plans Division as the lead or deputy planner in stability and combat operations. While there he helped develop plans and strategies for military cooperation with non-defense agencies of the US Government, as well as NATO and EU organizations, and was awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. He specialized in guiding small, diverse groups of executives and academics through analytical processes designed to clarify strategic and operational problems and develop feasible solutions.

He was selected to be the Lead Contingency Planner for the Joint Inter-Agency Coordination Group, Deputy Team Leader for the 2004 Olympics Planning Team and the Chief Logistics Planner for the Counter Terrorism Joint Planning Group in 2001. His tactical deployments include Kosovo (1999) and Bosnia (2000), where he worked in both US and NATO Headquarters. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Michael C. Pryce received a B.A. from Western Washington University in 1984 and an M.A. (with Merit) in War Studies from Kings College London in 2009. He is a graduate of Marine Corps Command and Staff Course and the US Army's Engineer Officer’s Advanced Course, among other specialized military courses, and recently completed the US Army’s Senior Executive Education course at the University of North Carolina.

Pryce is the principle author of the Mass Atrocities Response Operations Project's Annotated Planning Framework and its accompanying scenarios. He is also the author of Improving S/CRS Planning Framework from the Geographic Commander's Perspective, published in the Cornwallis Group XI Compilation: Analysis for Civil-Military Transitions by the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, 2007, and Mass Atrocities Response Operations: An Annotated Planning Framework, to be published in the African Security Review, November 2009.

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