My U.S. election tour assignment: Brooklyn

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- First of all, I would like to thank U.S. Department of State Foreign Press Center Director Kathy Eagen for approving my participation in the New York Foreign Press Center (NYFPC) Tour to New York City Polling Locations during the U.S. Presidential Election on November 8, 2016.
Director Eagen asked me to choose between Samuels Community Center in Harlem in Bronx and Williamsburg Community Center in Brooklyn. 
I chose the latter.
Those approved to join the two NYFPC Tour with topic: "New York Presidential Election Polling Center Observation: Harlem and Brooklyn," will have the opportunity to observe the voting process.
We can also conduct interviews with polling officials and voters on a strictly voluntary basis, according to Eagen.

LETTERS

Journalists who carry authorization letters from the Board of Elections will be free to go to any polling center in New York.
On Monday, November 7 (U.S. time),  we will have "on-the-record briefing" on  "What to expect on election day in New York -- A Primer on Exit Polling and Calling the Race" with speaker Dr. Christina Greer of Fordham University in the morning.
In the afternoon, Jefrey Pollock, founding partner and president of Global Strategy Group, will speak on the State of the Race--The Liberal Perspective.
On Tuesday, November 8 (U.S. time), "On-the-record panel with Columbia and NYU professors: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Next Administration" will be tackled.
The speakers are: 
--David L. Phillips, senior adviser to the United Nation Secretariat, who also writes frequently on ISIS, Iraq, Syria and Turkey for cnbc.com. He is director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights;
--Kimberly Marten, a former Director of Columbia University’s Harriman Institute with expertise in Russian foreign policy; patronage; corruption; U.S-Russia relations; international security;
--Christopher Sabatini, who has worked on and in Cuba since 1997 and has been working with White House advisors on policy change toward Cuba since the start of the Obama administration.  He is the senior director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas (AS/COA);
--David Denoon, professor of Politics and Economics at New York University and Director of the NYU Center on U.S.-China Relations.  He has served in the Federal Government in three positions:  Program Economist for USAID in Jakarta, Vice President of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense.

STATE OF RACE

Also to be discussed is "On-the-record Briefing: The State of the Race-The Conservative Perspective" by speaker John McLaughlin, CEO and Partner of McLaughlin and Associates.
 On Wednesday, November 9 (U.S. time), "On-the-record Panel: Post-Election Day Perspectives at Baruch College" (to be hel at 5 Lexington Ave., Entrance on E. 25th St. between Lexington & 3rd Aves, NY, NY) will have the following speakers:
--David Birdsell, dean of the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs (all election topics);
--Mitchel B. Wallerstein, president of Baruch College, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counterproliferation Policy and Senior Defense Representative for Trade Security Policy from 1993-1997;
--Thomas Main, professor whose current research is on the alt-right and is an expert on urban issues/cities; and
--Carla Robbins, clinical professor, adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, specialist in national security and diplomacy.