 Good morning, everybody. Thank you for coming. Appreciate it very much. My name is Juan Zarate. I'm a senior advisor here at CSIS. I think many of us know each other. For those of you who haven't figured it out, I run the friends and family program here at CSIS. I only host events with close friends and family. So FARA fits neatly into that category. So I'm very happy to have FARA here and to see so many friends around the table. This is actually a great time to have this discussion with FARA, in part because FARA, I think, has played an incredibly innovative role in her role as a special representative to Muslim communities, in part not only based on who she is and her experience in this field, but also the innovation of diplomatic interchange with communities and non-state actors as a means of engaging in diplomacy, which is a real credit to Secretary Clinton who named FARA at the start of the Obama administration. And as well, we have two, I think, important events in the context of Muslim engagement. Yesterday, the Obama administration put out their domestic strategy, entitled Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States, which in some ways, I think, takes the model that FARA has built internationally and adopts it domestically. So I think that's very important. And then next week, Secretary Clinton is announcing, thanks to FARA's good work and leadership, the Women in Public Service Initiative on December 15th, which is a major initiative working with women's colleges in the United States and women leaders around the world to ensure that women have opportunities and are empowered to lead in public service. So this is a wonderful opportunity, I think, to speak with FARA. For those of you who don't know her, let me give you a slight introduction. Again, she and I have been close friends and colleagues for a number of years. But she was named to this role a unique role, the first in US history in June 2009. It largely built off of the role she was playing for Dan Freed as Assistant Secretary for European Affairs in the European Bureau, doing outreach to Muslim communities in Europe for three years, FARA? Almost. Three years, almost. And then before that, FARA was one of the most important directors in the National Security Council, working for the Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy and Promotion. And there she took on the leadership role within the White House with respect to Muslim engagement and creative opportunities. I credit FARA with some of the most important symbolic and real actions that the Bush Administration took. For example, the placement of the first Quran in the White House. We worked together on the naming of the first envoy to the OIC and a host of other very important efforts that were crystallized in the Bush Administration and have continued in the Obama Administration. What we'd like to do here is we've made this purposely an intimate gathering. We want to make this a real discussion. So FARA and I are going to talk maybe for about 25 minutes, do a Q&A session, and then open it up to you all. Because FARA plays an incredibly important role on the leading edge of our diplomacy. And I think you all want to hear from her. So that, let's start. FARA, one of the things that I find interesting, I think you have, we've talked about, it's important is the title that you hold. You're not a special representative to the Muslim world. You're a special representative to Muslim communities. Can you explain why that's important and how that has shaped what you do? Well, first of all, I want to thank everyone for coming this morning. It's a pleasure to see you all, some old friends and some new ones. I also want to thank you one personally for inviting me to CSIS. It's a pleasure to be here. I will say that this is one of the most important lessons that we have learned over the course of the last 10 years, and that is lexicon matters. How you say something is a direct reflection, obviously, to how people hear it, but importantly on issues that are as sensitive as engaging with Muslim communities around the world. We cannot be sloppy about how we talk about these issues. You and I know that in the work that we did in the last administration, we spent a lot of time thinking about the right phrase, how we talk about things. Life has moved on. There are lots of changes that have happened over the course of the last 10 years. And as we think about the role that the Secretary established for me at the State Department, we were very precise to talk about what the President said in Cairo, which is mutual interest and mutual respect. And I want to talk about the mutual respect. You cannot respect Muslims around the world if you paint them all with the same brush. And you assume that a Muslim living in Lebanon has the same makeup and lives their life the same way as a Muslim living in Sao Paulo. From the United States point of view, we have to give respect around the world, Muslims in Muslim majority countries and Muslims that live as minorities. So in the title, the Special Representative to Muslim Communities, we're hoping to touch upon the nuance, talk about the dignity of the diversity of Muslims around the world, and to focus very specifically on one of the cornerstones of how we're doing engagement, which is community on the ground. So that's why my title is, what it is. Very good. Fark, could you speak a little bit to sort of the changing nature of diplomacy and what you've done to concentrate on what I would turn to be more grassroots diplomacy, people-to-people diplomacy. And so you deal obviously with foreign officials, but you also deal perhaps even more so with representatives of civil society, religious groups, et cetera. Can you talk a little bit about the model? Sure. I think it's really important what you're saying. I mean, we all understand that the State Department does a lot of things in a wide variety of ways and we do government to government interchange in many ways. But one of the things that I think that we have learned a lot about is obviously the role of civil society, but the ability to actually listen to what's taking place even within a country. And these are lessons that I learned on the ground when I was doing my work with Dan Freed in the Europe Bureau, that even if you look at a country like Spain, for me to assume that the conversation that I'm having with Muslims in Madrid will be the exact same as what's taking place in Barcelona would be faulty. You can't say Spain is like this, nor could I say Egypt is like that. So to take the time to listen to different community groups, to understand who is making up these communities, and very importantly, not to assume that someone just because they're the head of XYZ organization represents everyone. So when you unpack that, it means that community to community, we are really looking at how civil society is made up, the gender balance, but what I'm doing very particularly in this job is not just people to people, which is critical and that's part of my mandate, but we're very specifically focusing on the communities under the age of 30. Because when you look at the demographics of Muslims worldwide, most Muslims are in the world are under 30. And in many countries that number is over 62, some places it's 75%, some places it's 80%. And you think about the fact that one fourth of our planet is Muslim. And most of these folks are under the age of 30, many of them are digital natives. How do you think about how we interface between the United States government, what's taking place with the people? So we wanna do more to build up our relationships, our ability to communicate, and most importantly, our ability to listen to what the issues are on the ground. With respect to that, can you talk to us a little bit about what you have seen and perceived with respect to identity? Your point about the vast majority being under 30 and how the internet may impact their sense of identity, global affairs, foreign policy might impact. What is the role of identity? Because I think it's often a lost factor as we look at national security issues. But I think it's principal in what you've been doing is trying to sort of investigate how identity is discussed, how it's perceived, and frankly how the United States can impact. I talk about the importance of diversity and not painting everything with one brush and saying all Muslims are doing this or all Muslims are doing that. So I really step away from saying, and this is the central thing that I find, but I will tell you in the last two years that I've been traveling on the ground, I've been to 50 countries around the world and talking, as I just said, to Muslims under the age of 30, there's only one theme that comes up over and over again, and that is the navigation of identity. What does it mean to be Muslim on the planet in 2011? What is the difference between modernity and Islam in some people's minds? How do you balance culture and religion? What is the difference between culture and religion? The navigation of this identity is central for us and we should care about it because we want these young people to be able to think about some of the themes that we've just discussed, the diversity of Muslims all over the world, that it's not just one thing that is taking place, that there are different components to the way in which they think about themselves, the importance of democracy and Islam. We don't want these young kids to only be isolated by narratives that come from places that we don't think are necessarily helpful to the way they think about the world. If a young person is only believing that there's only one way you can become Muslim and that way is this way, then you're changing the whole face of the way a whole generation is growing up. So you want to be able to broaden the conversation about identity. You want to be able to offer alternative narratives by credible, I mean not government can't do this, Muslims themselves have to be able to reshape and recalibrate the conversation. And very importantly, it's important for the United States to understand that identity is an issue because as some of these questions that we see on the front pages of the paper every day, you know, come into our minds, we as government people are what can say, you know, every single day since September 12th, 2001, we have seen the word Islam or Muslims on the front page of a paper. At no other time in history has this ever happened. How does that shape a young kid who's growing up at 12, 11, 13 years old, whatever it happens to be, how do they think about themselves and how do they think about how others think about them? Something very unique has happened to this generation. I don't care if you're a kid that is growing up in Jakarta or you're a kid growing up in Stockholm, the conversations I have when I talk about identity and I hear what they have to say, it is central to these kids because they're really challenged to find examples of people who are like them. They are not finding parallels with their parents' generation. They're looking to their own peers to get answers and I think that's very, very important for us to understand. Interesting. I often say and remind folks that Ben Lawden when he talked about 9-11, he talked about it not just as an attack against the far enemy but also as a moment of Muslim awakening and an intent to draw people to the ideology of al-Qaeda. In some ways, the Arab Spring proves the antithesis of that awakening or as an alternate awakening. How have you seen the Arab Spring playing into your work into this question of identity and how is it impacting well beyond the Arab world because so much of your focus is on Muslim communities outside of sort of classic Arab countries the way we've traditionally thought about the issue. So you know, I've been going around the world for the last couple of years, obviously before, this has been a moment this year for the planet in so many ways but I've been describing what I've been hearing from young people as a youth quake, that the ideas that are taking place across the world by these young people under the age of 30 is historic because there's a ripple effect. They're connected digitally with 140 characters on Twitter with posting on Facebook with the access to be able to move those ideas forward. It doesn't matter how rich or poor you are. It doesn't matter if you're black or white or blue or pink. Doesn't matter what part of the world you're from. It doesn't matter how educated you are. Your ideas are moving fast and they're moving and they're connecting with each other. So this powerful effect of ideas this youth quake that's happening means that the generation under the age of 30 primarily is reshaping how they think about themselves but also how others think about them. So how does that play into some of the things that we've seen around the world? Now certainly, I don't think anybody could have predicted the ripple effect of what happened in Tunisia moving forward. I mean, there's scholars that are on TV 24 seven trying to say that they knew what was taking place. I mean, come on. It's been a remarkable, it's been a remarkable moment in our human history in terms of what's happening. But what is true is that what we're seeing is that these young folks are speaking up for what they want by being able to communicate with kids in other parts of the world who are their peers they're seeing what they want and what they can do. Why can't it be theirs? So they're articulating this. They're moving and they have the tools to be able to put powerfully their images out there. And then they now have media that is actually following their tweets, following what they're saying. So they're moving these ideas forward. What's important, I think, about the Arab Spring. I don't like that term, but I'll use it. What do you call it? I think it's very hard to define what it is. You know, I think it... You go with Youthquake. Listen, I think that there's a Youthquake generally. I'm not sure about that, but I think that's what's very powerful, but what's happening, what happened and what is happening in the Middle East. It is when it started and even in ways now, this hasn't been about religion. This is about what they want for their future as citizens of their country. And those freedoms that we all hold so dear in our country. So whether AQ or others are trying to put out a narrative that is trying to move a lot of these folks to believe, I think some of that has reshaped itself in the last few years, to be honest with you. But I think what I've seen by young people in terms of how they think about what's happening in the Middle East, the movement of the mind that the power that they have, that they count, that something really spectacular is happening here. And if that person in Tunisia, or that person in Tahrir Square, or that person on the road somewhere else is able to articulate and get attention, why can't I? And that either virtually or physically. Farah, one of the things we've talked a lot about is where you've seen Muslim communities coming under assault, ideologically, culturally. Can you give us a couple of examples of where you've seen that coming into play? Either communities under assault because of globalization, or because of violent extremism. Can you give us some examples of what you've seen and maybe some things that concern you? So I told you that I've been to 50 countries around the world, and there hasn't been a country that I've been to in which young people don't talk about their fear of external ideologies coming in and impacting their traditional culture and the way they view themselves as Muslims. That's just a data point I'll put on the table for you. And whether the impact of those voices come from foreign imams that come into their community, or they come from the fact that parents are talking about their kids going online and going to places they don't want them to go, or it is kids talking about free CDs on a street corner that are just available to anybody by very radical imams that talk about a particular thing, or it's a new kind of music that's coming out that is impacting a young generation to believe X, Y, or Z. This is a theme that is consistent. So certainly there is a, in my view, an increase on that issue. There's some very specific examples that have been, that are still with me that have surprised me. I mean I had a, I don't know how many people know much about the Maldives and you may think the Maldives, why do I need to care about the Maldives? Well, you should care. I think it's a really important example. This is a nation that is 100% Muslim and it is a nation that I believe over 800 years ago Islam has been part of the culture. And they have practiced their religion in the way they do in traditional societies. And when I went to the Maldives, they were unbelievably vocal about the threat of extremism and the changes that had taken place in the Maldives over the course of the last five, six years. Let me give you a very specific example. Traditionally in the Maldives, the women were able to go to school and be educated like men and had choices about how they dressed. Many of them did not cover their hair and did not wear non-Maldivian dress. So today in 2011, when you go to the Maldives, you see a very different shape in terms of the societies. There has been pushback of some women getting educated, getting out of the house. They are dressed more in a fashion that you would see more in the Gulf than you would in a Maldivian society, which is obviously South Asia. So these are two different cultures, wire. So that kind of thing should be a red flag to us as we think about how our cultures that are so embedded, 800 years of Islam being impacted to change in ways even in the last couple of years. That example in the Maldives, I could give you examples in other parts of the world too in which people are really frightened by external voices that are saying, you aren't being Muslim enough. And let me tell you what that means for us. And so now they're reshaping or they have young people who are being educated outside of their countries and are learning about a new different type brand, way of living and coming back and criticizing traditional culture and saying this isn't right and so therefore we're gonna start moving you in a different direction. I'll finally say that I also think that, you know, not everything happens in the mosque. We know that I've just talked to you about the fact that there are things that are happening outside of the mosque. The mosque also matters. With the textbooks that are on the shelves of a mosque. The way an Imam chooses to teach young people to value pluralism and to be respectful of differences and to interface with different kinds of communities is important too. So you will see a change in many countries in the world in which particular changes have happened within the mosque so that it's become more conservative in the sense of they don't expand outside their own circles. This is very much true in Europe and it's a little alarming actually if you think about the concept of what this means as Muslims who are living in democratic societies in Europe who are part of multi-cultural societies that they are living as minorities. If you're isolating yourself and isolating yourself and isolating yourself there are fourth-generation Brits that I have met that have not met anyone outside of their own Muslim community. That's remarkable. So these kinds of things are current in our world right now. I think they should be talked about and I think what I'm seeing it's not just governments that are seeing these points but in fact communities themselves that are commenting on it. And so you see Muslim groups that actually wanna make a difference in terms of broadening the conversation. Well that's very important. Before I do that, let me put a little plug in for CSIS. There's a forthcoming report on the revival of Islam in Central Asia which the Transnational Threat Project is about to publish which talks not only about the issue on the ground but how governments are reacting or overreacting which will be an important report. But your last point is very interesting one far because the question of how communities are actually organizing both to defend their sense of identity and culture but also to interact and even to interact with you and the US government. Can you speak a little bit to some examples of what that organization looks like and then how you as a US government official interact? Cause I do wanna talk about some of the complications and difficulties that you have as a US official in all of this. So I mean you and I have worked together since 2004. And I remember conversations that we would have about well where are we going to actually build partnerships with people on the ground who have credible voices for lack of a better term that can actually impact the way a community thinks about things. And I think that there have been a lot of really great lessons. Our country and other countries around the world have learned about groups on the table. I said earlier today that you can't just go to the biggest group out there and say, hey, you're the leader of it and therefore you need to be the spokesperson. We're doing a lot more to go deep and go wide and get to know, I mean that's how our embassies are actually thinking about the different constituencies and how we have to be very even-handed about how we approach this. But what I am seeing is I think in the last couple of years even more compelling movement by Muslims themselves online and offline who have said, listen, we're tired of waiting for others to stand up and talk about this. We're gonna do something ourselves. And so whether or not they're doing educational campaigns or they're doing mosque management and transparency campaigns or they're going online and creating alternative voices on identity and on religion and theology, whether or not they're starting campaigns on Facebook to have people become more aware of issues around the role of women in Islam, for example. There are more and more NGOs that have started individuals and importantly what we're trying to do is to connect a lot of these movements and voices around the world. I think the greatest strength the United States has is to be the convener and the facilitator and the intellectual partner with the ideas that we hear on the ground. And that is something that is, I'm often asked how much money do you have and how much is the United States government? I could have 800 trillion dollars and I wouldn't have enough money to be able to do the kinds of things that need to be done. Civil society matters and how we engage and partner as government with civil society and move their ideas forward. And it isn't, by the way, just government. Importantly, and I wanna stress this fact, private sector has a role to play too. This is something that all of us have to do together. And so I think giving seed money to cool ideas by young innovative minds on the ground, whether it's a $30,000 grant or a $50,000 grant, those ideas can move forward. We have to leverage this moment. We have to leverage how young people are thinking about their generation. Because their ideas matter for this generation. It isn't a whole bunch of people in an ivory tower that's able to tell a 22-year-old how they ought to think about things. I'm sorry. Nor is it, by the way, governments that suggest we ought to do it this way. Talk to somebody within the communities on what's gonna work here. I know a guy on the ground in Oslo, a super amazing guy who looked around and saw a lot of Somali immigrants who were getting impacted by narratives that were coming out from outside of Norway. And they were being moved in a direction that they shouldn't go. And he said, I can do something about this. I've been working with the disenfranchised youth for a long time and at-risk youth. We're gonna use hip-hop, we're gonna use video, we're gonna use film, and we're gonna get these kids off the street thinking about things in new ways. Elvis is an amazing example of a guy who has used lessons that we know, lessons that we understand for communities and grassroots and coalition building and innovative tools and moving it forward. And he's working very specifically with Somali youth in Oslo and he's doing a tremendous job. But it is that kind of example. What would happen if a business said, I believe in that kind of guy. I'm gonna give him X amount of money to do something or a government says, just the way we do with VC funders for business. Hey, let me hear your ideas. Let's put some investment in that. Farah, how do you deal with the limitations of being a U.S. government official? I'm now on the outside, so I feel somewhat liberated, but you have to deal with the realities that when you walk in a room, people are gonna be skeptical because in a way you represent not only the government, but foreign policies that remain fairly consistent. The things that like support for Israel that are very controversial in many Muslim communities. You also have constraints in terms of picking ideological sides. And so you can't go into a country and say, we like this brand of Islam, this brand of moderation versus this one. It's a challenge we've had obviously, not just internationally, but domestically. How do you deal with those types of constraints and issues? As well as frankly, the sensitivities that go along with some of this because you might wanna go into a country like Pakistan and say yet again, we need Madrasa reform, and that creates all sorts of sensitivities. So how do you juggle that? Yeah, it's a really fair question, and it's one of the hardest components obviously of my job. I mean, I think if I were only talking about the comfortable, nice stuff, I wouldn't be doing my job. And I think providing a platform for people to be able to talk and ask really hard questions, they may not always get the answers that they want, but I think you have to be fair and be able to have that interchange with them. That's first, so you make yourself accessible. Secondly, I think also, I mean, I think that there is a lot of opportunity to, not to educate, that's not the right word, but to articulate in different ways, different perspectives, both from the folks on the ground talking to us and us talking with them. And I think the more you provide opportunities to have those kinds of conversations, you can flush things out. I'm not going into countries trying to quote win hearts and minds, unquote. I hate that term. I hope we eradicate it from our vocabulary. I think it's very insulting that anyone would suggest that any government in the world is trying to go in and try to get you to like us. If you like us, great, and I want people to respect and understand our country. But the conversation of building trust and how you build relationships means it takes time over time. It's not a data point on whether or not this poll says you're doing something. I do talk about foreign policy. I talk about it in every conversation I have. I can tell you the top three things that are asked all the time, and sure somebody's gonna ask that now that I said that. But what I have seen, very fairly, is that while somebody may be absolutely furious about our country on this position or that position, and they made it really clear, they also wanna work at the same time on something that they find in terms of a common interest. So we are able to do two things at the same time, and obviously there are colleagues at the Department of State who are working on some of these hard issues because that's their job, and I have a very specific mandate. So it is a challenge. It's something that I deal with every single day. It is also a challenge to be absolutely fair with you. When you are in a situation where somebody will not believe the intent of this president in terms of how he is trying to engage, that they think that there's some other thing that is going on, it's pretty obvious that our country needs to build relationships with one fourth of the planet for now and for the long term. And over the course of the next 20 years, our nation needs to do as much as we can to make sure that this generation is working with us. They may not always agree with us, but that this generation, we are finding the places of common interest. We're finding and using more tools in our toolbox, and we're taking the time, frankly, to hear new innovative ideas because actually we can't think of everything ourselves, and this is a long-term investment that we are making in this. It's not a question of right here, right now, because we are afraid of X, Y, or Z. It's because we understand numbers across the world and the importance of our nation being able to have those bridges built with civil society. Gobbled up enough time. I'm gonna take prerogative with two more questions if that's okay. I could sit here for a long time as you could probably tell with Farah. Farah, you've spent a lot of time, and the Secretary spent a lot of time on empowering women and the issue of women's rights and issues in diplomacy. Speak a little bit to the issue of women's rights in the context of the kind of engagement you're involved in, and then it's a little bit of a platform for you to talk about the initiative I mentioned at the start. Talk to those issues. So, obviously, I'm talking very specifically about the things that I've heard from both men and women in Muslim communities around the world. I think, before I talk about what I've heard from the Muslim voices, let me talk to you about the problems I'm hearing from the non-Muslim voices. There is a lot of conversation in the media in our country and around the world that would like to stereotype what it means to be a Muslim woman. That is a really hard position to step away from, because when you begin, again, to paint everybody the same way, assume all these things that you don't really know, not take the time to understand what's taking place within a particular, what's the difference between the culture and what is embedded in the religion when you don't take the time to understand the wide spectrum of experiences of Muslim women around the world. You play into this idea that everybody's all the same and it is very difficult to step away from that. So, the first thing I'd say is for those people who actually allow that to happen, you're hindering a really important process which is gender equality around the world and that Muslims, both men and women, are trying to actually articulate these things in new ways. The second thing I'd say is I think that there's a lot of confusion that I've heard on the ground in the conversations that I've had with Muslims who have asked if there is more information, more opportunities for them to learn about what's taking place with Muslims around the world. Now, we are the United States government. We cannot and we do not talk about theology. I am not going to bring forward what rights people have within, but I can talk about the fact that there are many NGOs and many initiatives around the world in which people are talking about the role of women in Islam that talk about the diversity and I think that is a very important thing that needs to be highlighted. We don't often hear that conversation here in the United States. In some parts of the world we do. There's an amazing NGO in Kuala Lumpur called Sisters in Islam who've done some amazing work. There are some incredible academics. They're very important actually bloggers and others who are online talking about these issues. You see a very different shape actually that's happened in our country. For American Muslim women that have actually articulated the experience of the diversity of experiences here in our country as well. So this is sort of the environment in which I am navigating. When I talk about the rights of women, it isn't about the rights of women in Islam. It is the rights of women period. We as the United States believe in gender equality and the Secretary of State has embedded in absolutely all of what she's doing the forceful articulation of the need for girls and women to be up and front and center in the conversations that we're having as well. So the many initiatives that have been brought out in the last two and a half years through the Office of Women's Empowerment at the State Department and if you're interested in that issue there's a great deal of information on the State Department website. From my perspective, one of the things that has been very problematic and you know this is not a gender thing necessarily but it plays into it is the false narrative that democracy and Islam are not compatible. And you have got to see more people pushing back against that. We have articulated it very clearly in our country but I think one of the incredible things about the movement that we are seeing with voices in the Middle East and in other places is that women should have a role in their countries and that they have the right to take part in what happens in the future of the countries. This marries very nicely with what the Secretary is launching next week which is the Women in Public Service Initiative. And on December 15th, you can watch the Proceedings Live by the web where she will be talking about why it is so important that women around the world are entering into public service and giving opportunities not only to enter but to move up and move in to different varieties whether you're a civil servant or you're a foreign service officer, whether you're an appointee, whether you are somebody who's on a commission, public service is a lot of different things. But we want to see more and more women come to the table in our country and around the world. So the platform of people that are coming forward next week are tremendous. I mean, we have Secretary Solis, we have Secretary Sebelius who will be speaking about these things. Obviously the Secretary of State, Secretary Albright will be coming. You're gonna hear from people like Gloria Steinem, you're gonna be hearing from people like the President of Kosovo, Prime Ministers and various other members. It is an all-star lineup next week to talk about this issue because it's not obviously just about our country but it's about what we need to see around the world. And whether you're the Nora Berra, the Minister of Health in France who comes from an immigrant background and is doing something really remarkable in her country or you're an emerging young leader from Ghana or Zimbabwe and you see yourself as being part of the future of policymaking and politics in the world, we have got to put this on the table. This is the next frontier. We talk about women around a boardroom table. We've got to talk about women around the policy table. Well, I applaud you for this because I know this is an initiative you've been pushing for a long time. I applaud the Seven Sisters Colleges. You're a graduate of Smith College. Thanks for the applause. Secretary Clinton, Secretary Albright. Well said. My wife or well said grads. Oh, Juan, you had to do that. I knew, I knew you were gonna do that. That's fine, that's fair. And I forgot to mention, Farah as well as a graduate of the Fletcher at the School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts two times at USAID and so. And is currently, by the way, speaking of women in public service, the highest ranking Muslim American woman in the US government born in Kashmir. One final question. I know you've done some very interesting and sort of first of its kind research on the continuity of US engagement with Muslims and Muslim communities. Can you give all of us just a really brief sketch of kind of what you found with respect to how presidents and administrations have engaged on the issue of Islam and with Muslims? Thanks Juan. One of the things that was very frustrating for me in the entire time that I've been in government from 2003 onward is that people were always scrambling to find out of a moment when a president said something nice about Muslims or data points about American history and Islam. And I mean, I have to tell you, I mean, I obviously studied US history and so did all of you. It's not something that is in our classes. We don't learn about that aspect. So I was learning along the way and certainly when I was at the White House and in other roles really kept thinking there's got to be more out there. Well, there wasn't more out there. One of the first things I did as special representative was I said, I need a timeline. I need a timeline of American presidents and diplomacy and Islam because I'm tired of people scrambling at the last minute doing insane Google searches, trying to figure out what makes sense and calling schools and historians to double check that the Google fact is, I mean, it's not right. So we partnered with an amazing woman. Her name is Precious Mohammed. She went to Harvard. I'm calling out of school. But Precious had been doing some really great work and a few other folks and I said to her, can we actually create a timeline that we can go back and I want to hear it. I want to hear it from the founding fathers all the way up to President Obama. What has happened? What president said what? What is our, how have we talked about what we know that's in the Constitution which is that it doesn't matter what religion you are. You have the same rights in America. How was it articulated? And where was it articulated? Well, we spent almost two years pulling together just she's done a wonderful work that will be live and on her website which will come up very soon and I'll share it with you so you can send it out to your folks. But we have seen obviously from President Washington, frankly, all the way to President Obama, there have been, I mean more than 20 presidents have particularly talked about the fact that American Muslims are part of America. That they're given the same rights as everybody else. These are things we all know, obviously we've all read the Constitution. But for a president of the United States to be able to talk about it in a very particular way makes a difference. There have been some really wonderful things that John Adams said that Thomas Jefferson said very specifically about Muslims and why they said it at that moment in time and what they were viewing for our country going forward. They would call them Mohamedids. They did, some of them did, some of them didn't. But it also very, I mean I learned this fact too, things that President Ford did, things that President Clinton did, President Bush, President Eisenhower. I mean it is really an incredible journey for us to take at a moment in America when there are shrill voices that can be heard in every corridor. I think we ought to know our facts about our country. And so that's one of the reasons that we did this because I personally think it's important to say this happened in such and such year and this president said this then and this is why. It's fantastic. All right, well let's open it up now. This is a fantastic tour de force already. Ron, why don't we ask, I'll ask you to identify yourself, turn on your mic, we're recording this for folks and then ask a question. Hi, yeah, Ron Marks. I'm actually in the steering committee here for the transnational transgroup. Boy, you're enthusiastic. Thank you very much for that enthusiasm. As a taxpayer, I feel better. No, I really do. It's a tough narrative to deal with but I'd be loath not to ask the question. Both allies of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in particular have not been helpful to this process. As you know, they've either ignored their internal conservatives who've supported madrasses and educational institutions throughout Europe, throughout Asia, et cetera. I was wondering how you're engaging with that because I must admit my initial reaction to this is it's smart to work for the under 30s but all the blogs in the world aren't gonna help you if you have governments in both places either turning a blind eye or supplying money to very conservative groups who really aren't interested in developing either democracy or freedom for women. You know, those aren't the only two countries. Let me just be really clear. We have, it's state actors and non-state actors that are impacting the narratives and the conversations that are out there. It is a remarkable thing to think about 1.6 billion people on the planet who are Muslim and influences that are affecting them. You cannot boil the ocean. I am very aware of that. And by no stretch of the imagination I don't suggest that one blog is gonna change the way. I mean, we have to go really deep in a lot of these issues. But to your point, our country has been very clear and very forceful about the importance of textbooks, the importance of what's being taught vis-a-vis pluralism and respect and human rights. And I mean, we're doing that in many, many different ways. And I don't wanna push you off your... But if you combine the forces within the State Department that are actually talking about these issues, whether it's from a CT perspective or a human rights perspective, two sides of the table or an education perspective, consistently the voices from the US government have been very clear and very rich in terms of what needs to be done and how they need to be done. You have to keep pounding on it. You have to be, and as you can see, I'm not afraid to talk about it. I think you have to be able to say what it is. And this is why I'm saying to you, I mean, I think governments can do only so much. There are more people who are against crazy voices than there are people who believe in them. And you have to be able to amplify those alternative voices. You have to be able to do more. I can't get over the fact that we've been 10 years since 9-11. There should have been much more progress within civil society. And I can't blame civil society, but I do blame all of us as citizens of the planet. What can we do to help those voices that want to amplify themselves? Which is why I go back to small seed grants from private sector and on. There are so many more points of movement than there ever have been on this issue. Let's engage now. Let's do far more now. Yes, ma'am. Hi, I'm Elizabeth Duda. I'm a student. I have two questions. One, I'm just kind of curious of pop culture question. Have you seen all American Muslim and what do you think how that impacts people? I'm a big fan of TLC, I'm not gonna lie. And do you have, you spoke about the change in Muslim societies in Europe, and I was wondering if you work with any European groups, government, organizations, what partners do you work with? Sure. So on your first point, I have to tell you that I had my reality TV debut last Sunday on All American Muslim for exactly two seconds. It was fabulous. If you blink, I'm gone. Are you giving autograph today? No, no, it was very nice of them to come into my office. But I think that there is, obviously there's been a lot of conversation about this show and I think it's a television show. I think it's important to talk about it in the context of it is a television show. Let us remember that. However, images matter, humanizing people matters, just the same way we talked about the Cosby show, we talked about anything else. Things that are moving minds can matter. And I think so for some that show has been an opportunity to get an insight into communities. They never would have seen before. For others, they've had problems with the show because they think that they're not as diverse as they could be. I don't have a position on the show. I think it's a television show and I'm, you know. So in terms of Europe, okay, so again, I'm not gonna talk about Europe like it's all the same thing. In my job before this one, that job was created for me when I was at the White House because when we had to deal with the Danish cartoon crisis, we realized as I think as a government that there was far more that we needed to do in terms of engaging Muslim communities on the ground. And Ambassador Dan Freed, who was the assistant secretary for Europe at the time, asked me to move from the White House over to the State Department to focus all day every day on building strategies for our embassies throughout Western Europe on engaging with Muslims. And through that experience for that period of time, I mean, I think it was something like going to 19 countries and 55 cities across Western Europe. So I will say to you that of course I know a lot about these wonderful partners that we can have on the ground. Some NGOs are really small. Some are more robust, but there's some terrific movements that are taking place by young Muslims across Western Europe that are doing great things to change the narrative, to increase the pace of awareness about what it means to be a European Muslim or very specifically a Dutch Muslim or a Spanish Muslim or whatever that might be. There's also a lot more that's been done in terms of connecting some of those European voices around the world, I think around the, yeah, both around the world actually and within Europe, but there's a network called the CEDAR Network, C-E-D-A-R which stands for Connecting European, no, Connecting Emerging Muslim, I mean, it's great. It's the CEDARNetwork.com. I'm totally losing my mind. I haven't had enough coffee this morning. But the CEDAR Network is one place where they have some of these amazing Muslim professionals around the world. There are also a lot of things that our embassies are doing and I wanna focus a moment on that because I didn't talk to Juan about it. This isn't a job that I'm doing that is far of running around the world trying to do whatever it is I'm saying I'm doing, right? This is about how our embassies, there are forces on the ground who do engagement. I work with our embassies hand in glove. Our ambassadors are the ones that are using their teams to go deep and go wide. So I'm working in collaboration so all of our European embassies and our embassies in other parts of the world are doing as much as we can to get to know who are these new people, who are the new voices, what are new ways we can engage. They're moving their, again, moving their ideas from a non-capital city to others to say, wow, you ought to hear what's happening in Leipzig as opposed to what's necessarily happening in Berlin. You want to get to know the breadth of what's taking place. I've had a lot of, I feel very fortunate that I have had the European experience that I have because it really opened my eyes to what is possible and I will say that even since 2007 so much has taken place in Europe in terms of civil society doing a lot more than they've done before. You're welcome. One of the great groups that I know you're a fan of, I am as well, the Sisters Against Violent Extremism in Vienna, which collection of women actors around the world but based in Europe. David. Thanks Juan. David Trullio, Raytheon Company, also senior fellow at the Homeland Security Policy Institute. I applaud you for citing the importance of the role that the private sector has to play. I was hoping we could drill down a little bit into that. You mentioned grants. Great. If we break out companies versus foundations and I'm curious what's worked but maybe what hasn't worked despite good intentions? So people get really scared about giving money to ideas in this area. I can't figure it out. I guess I come from the private sector so I suppose if somebody came to me in my pre-public sector life and said we wanna have you start something on emerging Muslim voices, I'd be like, whoa, we don't do religion. What is the deal with that? But let's take the religion part out of this because it's not about the religion. It's about how we are thinking about a youth generation and again the connectivity with what we wanna do as a country. I mean, from the private sector, I could sit here and talk to you about all the reasons why a private company would want to have stability in a country and wanna see it robust and you know that as well as I do. But there's something very human about what I'm talking about and that is if we see something that's happening on the ground, we as Americans, we usually call it out and we usually see what we can do whether it is poverty, whether it is a lack of education, whether it is something else. We are seeing something happening right here in real time around the world and what are we doing? We're talking about it. It isn't right for a 15 year old kid who has grown up all day, every day since September 12th, 2001 to think that the world hates them to grow up not having the opportunity to impact the world the way they can and live up to their potential. There's something that we can do and so when I think about a private sector company, I think about well, talk about it in terms of youth programs. I don't care if you're only dealing with Muslims. Talk about it in terms of youth. Talk about how you give these kids a chance, how you connect amazing voices around the world. This youth quake is not about Islam. This youth quake is about this peer group talking to each other about what matters for their future. So when I think about a company, I think the skittishness for a lot of companies in terms of investing has been about religion. I think you need to turn that a little bit. But I also think on a very serious front now, on the violent extremism piece, okay? You and I both know that there are voices out there that impact young minds and they do it in very different ways. We have to, non-government has to help here because with government it is tainted. With government it is, it has that burden. Why can't we be more creative about how we get the private sector to say, hey, let's start this fund. Let's start a fund that we do the same thing that we do with everything else. Every other issue that's out there and give small seed grants. Well, how do you know that that money is gonna make a difference? The only way I can tell you that we can make a difference is to try. Not everything you plant is gonna bloom, but some of it will. And what happens if it's that awesome idea that actually revolutionizes how young kids think about themselves and push back against violent extremism? That $50,000 grant that you gave is gonna pay off in a huge way. I'm an optimist. I believe that we can make this difference. And if I were in the private sector, I would tell you I would be moving, I would be moving in that direction because I've seen it. I've been in this space now since 2003. I've seen it all day, every day that the smallest amounts of money from non-government can make a difference to how something is shaped. This gentleman here. I say that all the time. The question is on, just tighten it for me. Yes. So in terms of American aid? Yes. In other parts of the world? Yes. Well, I think you know about the United States Agency for International Development, which is our arm of the United States government that does economic and humanitarian aid. And so many of the programs and initiatives that we have on the ground through USAID are actually in places where Muslims live. And so you are seeing a lot of schools being built, hospitals, educational programs. You're seeing a lot being done on transparency, rule of law, these kinds of things. I am not somebody who is currently working at USAID, though I used to. I have a lot of respect for the agency. But if you're interested in a particular part of the world and what we are doing in that part of the world on pick your issue, women, girls, education, poverty, whatever it is, environment, you can see where we're doing what and why we're doing what. Yes. Sorry. Sorry. What he may be also bringing up is an interesting point that Muslims don't have big aid organizations to help with the delivery. So like he was referring to the Christian missionary organizations or other Christian aid organizations that Muslims don't seem to have the capacity to have Islamic relief, that seems to be the only one. Like do you have any recommendations for how they can get more involved in the charitable sector, the aid sector? Well, I think that's a fair point. I'm gonna push back a little bit. First of all, the Aga Khan, as you very well know, is doing tremendous work. And I think I would say they're one of the leaders in the world doing this kind of stuff. And that's an enormous arm. So my question is to you. So if we're working on helping people on the ground and there are really fabulous organizations that are doing this, do you have to have a Muslim organization that's delivering the aid or can you use, that's just one thing I just put out there. If in fact one feels that there needs to be more opportunities to get aid out from a Muslim organization, my goodness, there are so many innovators in America, so many entrepreneurs that have tried to start and jumpstart actually the process. I think that it's gonna be interesting. I mean, I'm interested to hear your response to me, but I am absolutely certain that if any individual out there feels that they can build a new mountain, they can go out there and do that in this country. I think that's gonna have to be it, unfortunately. Build a new mountain, Hedya. Are we okay on time? All right, let's go with one more. You made your plea well, so last one. Thank you, Farah. I'm Jinning Nguyen from Voice of Vietnamese Americans. Would you educate me about the challenges that we have with the Muslim community in Pakistan? Gave me a hard, big, gigantic question at the end. So the challenges that we have, so let me just give it very much from my experience in Pakistan when I was visiting a special representative, I think that this is a country that we, it's very complex. I can't answer that question like this. It's a very complex question. From my perspective with young people, one of the challenges that I have had is the combination of being able to focus on some of these innovative ideas and projects at the same time when there's some very serious issues happening on the ground day to day. So it's that balance that's taking place. I did meet some amazing entrepreneurs when I was in Pakistan who were really interested in obviously their future of their country and trying to work on things in new ways. But it is gonna take time. I mean, I think that we have to get to know this generation in new ways. And I think that, frankly speaking, it is the context of the environment and things that are going on on the ground both politically and policy-wise and at the same time that you're trying to engage a group of young, vibrant folks on the ground. Now, I've brought in, I mean, there are many young Pakistanis that I've met who are part and parcel of the networks that we're building. Generation Change is a network that the Secretary of State launched in 2010 where we're trying to get change makers around the world to get to know each other. And there are several folks that fit into that and are part of Generation Change with a Pakistani background. So it's been great. Daniel Narani is one of them and he's terrific. And if you don't know him, I'll tell you afterwards how to learn about his work. Well, Farah, let me just sort of add a coda here and feeding off of Ron's comment about being reassured that not only our taxpayer dollars are being used well, but frankly, the satisfaction that those of us who know you and have watched your career have in understanding how not only energetic you are, but how innovative you've been and what a driver you've been for big ideas. And I think for America and Americans at a time when the questions about the role of Muslim Americans and shrill voices, I think we all need to be very proud of you, the work you've done and frankly, the fact that you're one of our great patriots and others like you in the US government, Muslim Americans who've devoted their lives to doing all the right things and all the good things for American security. So I wanna thank you on that score and thank you for your time. I know how precious it is. And I wanna thank you all for taking time to be with us. So join me in thanking Farah and with that, we hope to see you again at the next CSIS event. Thank you.