Diplomacy: Score Roenicke connects students with diplomats and government speakers

Scott Roenicke, a professor in the Helms School of Government, seeks to replicate his experiences working in the Pentagon and White House to train students on how the government functions. He prepares them to enter the national security scene, ready to reflect Christ by standing for truth and justice. 

National security is the government’s duty to ensure safety from internal and foreign threats.  Roenicke was involved in national security relations with Russia. As an exchange student in Finland, he developed a heart for national security after traveling to the Soviet Union, where he got to see life under Communism firsthand. 

This experience eventually led to Roenicke serving as a senior policy advisor to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff during his time in the Pentagon and later as the Director of Russia Affairs in the White House. 

Throughout his career, he acquired expertise in a wide range of national security matters.

“We must resolutely negotiate with our enemies, at the same time as we convincingly engage our friends and allies in support of U.S. security interests,” Roenicke said. “Effectual diplomacy necessitates creative solutions, although frequently, you must exhibit both toughness and clarity to strategic adversaries and allies alike.”

After working in various national security positions for nearly 35 years, Roenicke felt drawn to Liberty after hearing about his daughter’s CFAW experience. While he was initially looking to teach at a different university in Virginia, he felt God directing him here. 

He is grateful for the opportunity to teach at Liberty because he can speak on how his faith impacted his career.

“It became clear to me that God wanted me here as a professor, and that it would be far more gratifying to have the freedom to articulate what I know about how God’s hand is manifested in the world system today. It’s incredibly fulfilling to teach students how national security professionals can use their faith and Christian principles to calibrate their efforts in service to the nation,” Roenicke said. 

Roenicke uses his position as a former national security professional to enrich the classroom experience and has the opportunity to bring in government officials and military professionals to speak to his classes. He also has led groups of students to DC where they visited various foreign embassies and interacted with foreign diplomats as part of a US delegation meeting.

One truth that Roenicke hopes to emphasize to his students is the power of prayer. He shared how it was a privilege to be able to work in the government while simultaneously praying for the nation in a more informed way. He reflected on how Daniel was placed in the court of King Nebuchadnezzar, and how he prayerfully committed his life to the task of serving where God placed him. 

“We professors in the Helms School can teach our students how to make policy, how to produce and analyze intelligence and how to think critically about problems,” Roenicke said. “But it’s really God who will then empower them to accomplish the truly remarkable and consequential things that they would otherwise have never imagined they could do, except through the power of prayer. I’ve seen it and have lived it. It’s an enduring truth that God can do great things through people whose hearts are fully yielded to Him in prayer.”

Freund is a feature reporter for the Liberty Champion. Follow him on X