Albert "Al" Santoli is an American writer and Founder as well as President of the

Asia America Initiative Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Afr ...

. He served in combat as a rifleman for the 25th Infantry Division during the Vietnam War. He is currently an adjunct professor of the Institute of World Politics and teaches a course entitled "Counterterrorism through Cultural Engagement and Development."

National security, human rights and refugee issues

Santoli is an expert on national security, international relations, human rights, religious liberty, and refugee issues, especially regarding East, Central and Southeast Asia. He served as an adviser to members of the U.S. Congress, policymakers in Washington, D.C. and non-governmental organizations (NGO)s.

Philippines humanitarian and anti-poverty assistance

Santoli has been an advocate for humanitarian assistance to the people of the Philippines and has written about their plight, including the effect of poverty, corruption, insurgencies,

counterterrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that Government, governments, law enforcement, business, and Intelligence agency, intellig ...

, and catastrophic typhoon damage. In 2013, Santoli was officially recognized with one of the Philippines' most prestigious awards, the "Order of the Golden Heart," for his humanitarian relief efforts.

Veterans issues

During May 2014, Santoli was invited to provide keynote remarks at the

Laos Memorial The Hmong and Lao Memorial, or Lao Veterans of America Monument, is a granite monument, bronze plaque and living memorial (that includes an Atlas Cedar tree) in Arlington National Cemetery in the US. Dedicated in May 1997, it is located in Sectio ...

in Arlington National Cemetery to honor his fellow veterans of the Vietnam War as well as Lao and Hmong veterans of the "U.S. Secret Army" who defended the

Kingdom of Laos The Kingdom of Laos was a landlocked country in Southeast Asia at the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula. It was bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, North Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

during the

North Vietnamese invasion of Laos North Vietnam supported the Pathet Lao to fight against the Kingdom of Laos between 1958–1959. Control over Laos allowed for the eventual construction of the Ho Chi Minh Trail that would serve as the main supply route for enhanced NLF (the ...

.Defense & Aerospace Week, (4 June 2014) "Arlington National Cemetery, U.S. Congress, Officials Honor Lao, Hmong-American Veterans" http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-371064468.html

Bibliography

*''Everything We Had: An Oral History of the Vietnam War''. Random House. (1981) *''To Bear Any Burden: The Vietnam War, its Aftermath in the words of Americans and Southeast Asians'' Dutton. (1985) *''Refuge Denied : Problems in the Protection of Vietnamese and Cambodians in Thailand and the Admission of Indochinese Refugees into the United States.'' Human Rights First (1989) *''New Americans: An Oral History''. Viking. (1990) *''Leading the Way:How Vietnam Veterans Rebuilt the U.S. Military''. Ballantine Books. (1993) *''Empires of the steppe. Russia and China, from antiquity to 1912''. American Foreign Policy Council (2002)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Santoli, Al Living people American military writers American military historians American male non-fiction writers Oral historians Historians of the Vietnam War United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War 20th-century American historians United States Army soldiers Year of birth missing (living people) The Institute of World Politics faculty