2025 ACNSL Annual National Security Book Award
The American College of National Security Leaders announces the launch of an annual book award to encourage the documentation and discussion of the interrelationship of diplomacy and military power in the practice of National Security.
The awardee will be announced on the 4th of July 2025 and will receive the sum of $2,000. In addition, the author and his/her work will be listed as the winner on the ACNSL website, and the award will be publicized on social media.
To be considered, nominations must be submitted via email at info@acnsl.net no later than 31 March 2025. The following are the criteria for the book award:
The book must be written by an American citizen or American citizens.
The book must be published in the United States.
Author must provide five copies of their book.
The book must be published within the twelve months preceding 01 September of the award year. Books from prior years are not eligible.
The book subject or focus must fit within the thematic scope as described below:
Scope: This award is to encourage the documentation and discussion of the interrelationship of diplomacy and military power in the practice of National Security. The emphasis desired is the manner in which U.S. foreign policy is developed and carried out, rather than theory or studies. Biographies, autobiographies, and personal memoirs that relate to these practices and processes are welcome. We are particularly interested in books that focus on opportunities, difficulties, and limitations.
For additional information, please email ACNSL at info@acnsl.net.
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American College of National Security Leaders
ACNSL is a nonpartisan voice of experience on national security issues. Our Fellows are retired admirals, generals, ambassadors, and senior government executives with decades of experience in national security, diplomacy, and defense. Together, we are committed to strengthening the security of the United States by informing the debate, advising decision-makers, and educating the public.
For more information, contact:
Dianna Carson, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired)
ACNSL Chief of Staff
Jamie Barnett, Rear Admiral, USN (Retired)
Chair of the Board, American College of the National Security Leaders
2024 Inaugural ACNSL Book Award
Africa, You Have a Friend in Washington: An American Diplomat’s Adventures South of the Sahara
Authored by: Ambassador Herman J Cohen
Published by: New Academia Publishing/VELLUM
In his 38-year career as an American diplomat, the author experienced many encounters with African leaders, which he describes in this memoir. Following his youthful attraction to international service and early postings to Paris and the world of cultural exchange, he specialized in the emerging nations of Africa. He recounts growing a new embassy in Uganda, fighting white supremacy in Southern Rhodesia, the end of colonialism in Zambia, coping with chaos in Zaire, serving in Paris under Kissinger’s scrutiny, and becoming ambassador to Senegal and The Gambia. Stateside assignments included the intelligence community, personnel management, the National Security Council under President Reagan, heading the Africa Bureau under President George H. W. Bush, followed by the World Bank’s Global Coalition for Africa, and, in retirement, heading his own international consulting firm.
About the Author
HERMAN J. "HANK" COHEN, a 38-year Foreign Service officer who retired with the top rank of Career Ambassador, took a special interest in the economics of developing nations and specialized in U.S. relations with sub-Saharan Africa. Overseas posts included Paris, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Zaire, and, as ambassador, Senegal. At home he served as assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, the president's special assistant on Africa, deputy head of State's Intelligence and Research Bureau, World Bank senior adviser on Africa, president of Cohen and Woods international consulting firm, and adjunct professor at SAIS. He is the author of Intervening in Africa: Superpower Peacemaking in a Troubled Continent (2000), The Mind of the African Strongman: Conversations with Dictators, Statesmen, and Father Figures (2015), and U.S. Policy Toward Africa: Eight Decades of Realpolitik (2020).