February 17, 2011 — Surging anti-government protests in the Middle East, economic and military growth in China and nuclear provocations in North Korea are proving challenging to the United States.

The University of Virginia's Office of the Vice Provost for International Programs will hold a talk Monday by Al Pessin, Pentagon correspondent for Voice of America radio news. He will explore "U.S. National Security Challenges of the 21st Century."

The event, co-sponsored by the student-run International Relations Organization will begin at 4:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the South Lawn Commons Building and is free and open to the public. A reception follows.

Pessin's reporting experience is extensive. He was expelled from China under martial law regulations after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre for alleged illegal news gathering and fomenting counter-revolutionary rebellion. He has also covered Hong Kong, Jerusalem, Islamabad and New York, and was Voice of America's White House correspondent during part of the Clinton administration. Pessin recently returned from a reporting trip to China, Japan and South Korea with U.S Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

He has spoken at several venues, including Harvard and Stanford universities and his alma mater, Northwestern University.

The Office of the Vice Provost for International Programs brings Turkey's ambassador to the United States to Grounds on March 23. Indonesia's ambassador to the U.S. comes to U.Va. on March 14.