Jennifer Bucholtz served on active duty in the U.S. Army from 2000-2005 as a Counterintelligence Agent. She was assigned to several duty stations including Fort Carson, CO, Wonju, South Korea and Fort Meade, MD. Jennifer deployed to Egypt and Iraq while on active duty. After separating from the military, she continued to work for the Department of Defense in various counterintelligence roles around the world. She spent fourteen months in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2011. Her daily duties involved extensive face-to-face contact with local Afghan men.

These experiences with the local populace serve as the basis for her book, There is no Goat. The book explores topics from the Afghan point of view including politics, Osama bin Laden, the Afghan military, and the role of women in their culture.

Jennifer holds a Master of Science in Forensic Sciences and a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice. She currently teaches courses in both of these disciplines for American Military University. She also volunteers with a veteran-based non-profit organization called Team Rubicon and devotes time to researching Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) in military members

On September 10, President Obama said, “This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL, wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground.” As the president’s words indicate, precise application of air power is crucial to this plan.  Even as the President was calling the nation to arms, his team at the Pentagon was sending Congress a plan for retiring the most versatile spy plane in the joint fleet. That plane is the U-2, and although it traces its history back to the Cold War, recent upgrades have made it far more useful than any alternative currently available. There are only 33 of the planes in the active fleet, and they can’t fly all the time.  So the notion that the Air Force might begin retiring them within 12 months is hard to fathom.

Lt. Col. Norman A. Scott, USAF-Ret, a highly regarded technical intelligence specialist, will provide an illustrated briefing of the history and evolution of the U-2, its capabilities and limitations, current national security and domestic missions, on-board sensors, plus a typical mission scenario, all in part to demonstrate why the aircraft is needed in an age of satellites and drones. Lt. Col. Scott completed a 20-year Air Force career assisting with the evolution of the U-2 and later settled in Silicon Valley to apply his capabilities and experience to advanced national security and commercial projects. After the acquistion of ARGO Systems by Boeing in 1987, he held the position of President of ARGO Systems. Following retirement from Boeing he continued to work as a consultant on space systems and was involved in classified and otherwise highly sensitive research and development of electronic systems and subsystems.

David Sloss is a Professor of Law at Santa Clara University School of Law, where he served as the Director of the Center for Global Law and Policy. He has published numerous articles on the history of U.S. foreign affairs law and the judicial enforcement of treaties in domestic courts. He received his B.A. from Hampshire College, his M.P.P. from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and his J.D. from Stanford Law School.  Before he was a law professor, he spent nine years in the U.S. government, where he worked on East-West arms control negotiations and nuclear proliferation issues.

Professor Sloss is currently working on his new book The Power of Ideas: International human rights and constitutional tranformations. While most experts agree that international human rights law has had little impact on the evolution of constitutional law in the U.S., Professor Sloss disagrees. In fact, international human rights norms had a profound impact on the development of constitutional law in the U.S. between about 1945 and 1970. He will describe how in 1950 in Fujii v. California, an intermediate appellate court in California ruled in favor of the Japanese plaintiff, holding that California’s so-called “Alien Land Law” was invalid because it conflicted with the human rights provisions of the U.N. Charter. The California Supreme Court later agreed that the Alien Land Law was invalid, but based its decision on the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. In effect, the court incorporated the U.N. Charter’s anti-discrimination principle into the Equal Protection Clause.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un flexed his military muscles again last weekend as his army launched a “rocket-firing drill” to simulate a strike on “the US imperialist aggressor forces’ military bases in South Korea.” The launch was intended to mark the July 27 anniversary of the ceasefire agreement at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Kim has steadily been ratcheting up tensions with his neighbors, leading to perceptions in Washington that he is both erratic and weak. Come hear Philip Yun give us his perception of what is going on in North Korea these days.

Philip Yun is a former high-level diplomat who has also worked extensively in academia, business, nonprofits and government. Prior to joining Ploughshares Fund, he was a Pantech Scholar in Korean Studies at Stanford University, co-editing a book in 2006 entitled North Korea: 2005 and Beyond. He met Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, in October, 2000, as a part of the delegation that travelled to North Korea with Secretary of State Madeline Albright, and was a member of a working group that managed U.S. policy toward North Korea under President Clinton. Mr. Yun also was a senior advisor to the first U.S. Coordinator for North Korea Policy, former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry. His writings and commentary have appeared on The Hill, ForeignPolicy.com, AP TV, Fox News and the Los Angeles Times among others. He is on the Council on Foreign Relations and was a Fullbright Scholar to Korea

Eric Morley is a co-founder and principal of The Morley Bros., a Silicon Valley real estate company located in downtown Los Gatos. The company specializes in urban infill development and investment and has played a leading role in many of the region's largest, most complex and high profile residential, commercial, corporate campus and mixed-use projects. Eric has been part of the Apple Campus 2 development team, advised the company on the public approval and development process, and continues during construction of the new campus.

Come hear Eric speak about the plan for Apple Campus 2. He will discuss designing a landscape for an iconic building of singular size and design, designing with the environment in mind, and planning for 7,000 trees and a landscape design of meadows and oak woodlands to create an ecologically rich oak savanna and forest reminiscent of the early Santa Clara Valley.

It is said that greatness springs from tragedy. For proof of this, look no further than San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel. The Beaux Arts-style property, designed by celebrated architect Julia Morgan, was about to open when the 1906 earthquake struck. The fires that followed the quake claimed much of the property. One year to the day after the disaster, it opened its doors to celebrate the rebirth of the city.

Known for turning moments into memories for leisure and business travelers alike, this luxury San Francisco hotel has been host to some of the most influential meetings and events, breathtaking weddings and personalized special occasions of the century. Its Venetian Room is perhaps most famous as the place where Tony Bennett first sang “I left My Heart in San Francisco.”

You need to know a couple of things about Ken Becker. He grew up in the Bay Area, he loves San Francisco and its history, and his mother always said, “Ken, I always know where you are. You have the biggest mouth and loudest voice of any kid in the neighborhood.”

In 2006, Ken found the perfect job for someone who loves San Francisco history and has a big mouth and loud voice. He joined San Francisco City Guides as a volunteer walking tour guide. His favorite tours are of Nob Hill, home of the Nabobs, and the Fairmont Hotel, the Grande Dame of Nob Hill.

Author of four books, Robin had a long career in television news. After earning her Master’s Degree from UCLA, she worked as an anchor and reporter at KGW-TV, in Oregon; KRON-TV, in San Francisco; WJLA-TV, in Washington D.C.; WESH-TV, in Orlando, and covered the nation for Group W-TV. In 2009 she returned to California. Her latest book tells how the Santa Clara Valley became the largest and richest orchard in the world, until it was gradually transformed into Silicon Valley.

“The former television reporter turned author chronicles the incredible history of California apricots and how their trees increased from 3 million in 1914 to more than 7 million in 1926. It grew to 160,000 tons of apricots harvested annually. Santa Clara Valley became the largest commercial concentration of apricot trees in the World…. Thank you, Robin Chapman, for your well-written, definitive guide that brings me ‘home’ to the wonderful valley that was the World's Largest Apricot Producer ..." C. MacDonald, SeeCalifornia.com.

George holds a Marine Botany degree from UC Berkeley and a PhD in Marine Biology from UCLA. He had a short postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station and then worked for three years as a Marine Biology Professor at Flinders University of South Australia. He returned to the US in 1996 to his current position at MBARI. He has served on the National Ocean Studies Board for the past six years and also sits on a number of local, regional, and national boards.

He is interested in the open ocean and deep sea communities with particular emphasis on invertebrates. Specific areas of interest include: Ecology and biogeography of open ocean and deep sea organisms; Functional morphology, natural history, and behavior of pelagic and benthic organisms; Systematics and evolution of ctenophores and cnidarians (molecular phylogeny). 

MBARI was founded in 1987 by David Packard, and is primarily funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. MBARI's campus in Moss Landing is located near the center of Monterey Bay, at the head of the Monterey Canyon. Monterey Bay is one of the most biologically diverse bodies of waters in the world, and the underlying submarine canyon is one of the deepest underwater canyons along the continental United States. With this 4,000-meter-deep submarine canyon only a few ship-hours from their base of operations, institute scientists enjoy an advantageous proximity to this natural, deep-sea "laboratory". Part of David Packard's charge for MBARI was to "Take risks. Ask big questions. Don't be afraid to make mistakes; if you don't make mistakes, you're not reaching far enough."

Are you passionate about a volunteer activity that has played a key role in your retirement years? Or about a favorite creative pastime? If so, have you found ways to combine your multiple interests with synergistic results? Judy Kramer has! An accomplished photographer, Judy has also undertaken a leadership role in eliminating a devastating health scourge. And her talk before Branch 35 will describe how her two passions have come together in especially meaningful ways.

Every nine minutes in the developing world, a newborn baby dies of tetanus, a deadly disease virtually unseen in the developed world. Kiwanis International and UNICEF have joined forces to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus in an initiative called The Eliminate Project. In September 2012, Judy, who is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Palo Alto, spent seven days in the West African country of Guinea with a Kiwanis/UNICEF delegation, observing and photographing the Eliminate Project in action.

An award-winning photographer, Judy combined her skills with a camera with her determination to share with the world the importance of conquering tetanus through a global child survival movement championed by Kiwanis and UNICEF. Her diverse background also includes dual degrees in mathematics, teaching at the high school level, and collaborating on a public television documentary emphasizing peace and diplomacy.

Judy Kramer’s multiple passions will be on display at our February meeting, a treat for both eye and heart.

We frequently hear of the use of SWAT Teams these days as part of law enforcement. How did these organizations originate? Nick will tell us with a Power Point presentation on “The History of SWAT.”Nick retired in June, 2011, as Senior Captain at Hillsborough PD and Senior SWAT and Sniper Team Commander of North Central Regional SWAT, the largest regional SWAT Team in the state. He is currently serving as Adjunct Professor of Administration of Justice at Skyline College.