 So we are at the end of our day, thank you to all of you who have made it to the end of the day. We are at our closing remarks section and I am just delighted to introduce our keynote speaker for our closing remarks. Mr. Pete Morocco serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary and Senior Bureau official for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, CSO at the State Department. Many of you have heard us refer to CSO throughout the day and our incredible partnerships in their support for the Resolved Network. I'd also like to give a special thanks to Mr. Vasu Vaitla sitting in the middle who is our main point of contact on a daily and weekly basis and I'd be remiss if I didn't thank him for his consistent support for the Resolved Network. Mr. Morocco before assuming his current position oversaw the Bureau's Europe, Eurasian, Near Eastern, Western Hemisphere and Analysis Planning Program and Learning Office. He oversees CSO's leadership on atrocities prevention including the Atrocities Prevention Board and Interagency Committee consisting of U.S. officials from the National Security Council, the Departments of State, Defense, Justice and the Intelligence Community and others. He has an illustrative career before coming to his current position and we are delighted to invite him here today so please. Thank you, Leigh Ann, for that nice introduction and I'd like to thank the President of USIP Nancy Lindborg for having me here today. They tell me I've only got about an hour and ten minutes to speak before the reception starts so kidding I definitely would not listen to myself talk for an hour so I'll get right to it. The subject that we're talking about today is near and dear to my heart the work that the Bureau does, the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. This is exactly what we focus on is how we can take evidence and put it into action and have impact. So this is a meaningful and relevant discussion to a lot of the policy and a lot of the decisions that we're making today. This year's focus on innovation is important. It's exciting to see the Resolve Network discussing actionable research. Our mission is to anticipate, prevent and respond to conflict. This includes early detection of violent extremism and our focus is evidence-based analysis and expeditionary diplomacy. And when I say expeditionary diplomacy I'm talking about the Secretary of State saying we want to get our swagger back. He wants to see us back in the field and that's exactly what we're doing. But we can't just go there. We actually have to take something valuable with us. So CSO, we are nimble, we measure for impact. We're the State Department's surge capacity in conflict zones in fragile states. Our methods are rigorous and proven. Our reports are based in evidence and action and not personal inflection. We don't do advocacy and we always arrive with an exit strategy. This afternoon I'm happy to report that this is exactly what our focus is on. And I heard a couple of interesting remarks there at the beginning was research for impact. I can tell you, for instance, we don't do literature reviews anymore. And I know that in the past there's been a lot of questions about do you do research for the sake of research or research for the sake of having an effect. And I can tell you unequivocally that we are there to have impact. So let's talk about the big picture. And I think the big news that we have right now is that we have a new government-wide stabilization strategy launched in May 2017 and recently completed. It's called the Stabilization Assistance Review. I've seen a few heads nod. We affectionately call this the SAR for those of you who are addicted to government acronyms. In the past, many humanitarian and stabilization efforts morphed into needs-based development assistance. This was sometimes with no discernible national security priority. Across the board, we're being much more selective about our engagements, more targeted in our approach, and much more disciplined in our spending. The U.S. government cannot serve as a world's policeman and we are not nation building. Not every conflict or failed state warrants U.S. intervention. And there are some cases, however, where another state's internal conflict and instability threatens our national security. But if it's not a national security priority, if we don't have reliability and effectiveness of the local partners, if we don't have security of the operating environment, if we don't have the opportunity for burden sharing with our partners, if there's not potential for progress towards predetermined political objectives, we're not doing it. Rather than maximum dollars out the door, we must focus on targeted approaches to sustainable assistance. Where there's an issue in security sector reform, we train the trainer. And where the issue is promoting defections or countering violent extremism, we identify locally legitimate actors. To do this, local context is critical. Culturally sensitive approaches are necessary for long-term stability. We must avoid inadvertently exacerbating conflict and having unintended consequences. And we also, as they mentioned earlier, have to monitor for progress in these environments. Innovation to this theme, I'm actually very excited about something that we're doing at CSO. We're launching a new hub for forecasting conflict trends. We provide data visualization to the Secretary that tracks events and pinpoints risk. We look at media trends, hate speech, fake news, election violence, extremist ideologies, political turmoil, and malign influence. We can layer this with monitoring where there are resources or people from other countries that are entering these spaces. We look at the drivers of conflict for early warning. We spot for leaders and losers. We look for affinity, dependence, and dominance. This technology platform allows the Bureau to connect to a diverse range of sources. That includes partners outside the U.S. government. And they're willing and able to bring us vital data that populates our models and enhances our forecasting. This hub captures emerging trends in violent extremism and disseminates information very quickly. We need to be creative and nimble and use today's technology for early action to prevent conflict and atrocities. Understanding trends online can prevent early warning for impending conflict. The hub will draw insight from social media and open sources, but we can't do this on our own. We have to learn from you. We have to learn from other people in the community. Innovation in government is not just leveraging new technology. It's how we partner with the private sector and partners like Resolve. It's also innovating our missions and recognizing how we need to improve and modernize at all times. And we're happy to announce that we are, in fact, making solutions more inclusive. President Trump signed the Women, Peace, and Security Act into law in 2017, making the United States the very first country to enact legislation on this very important issue. It's now U.S. policy to promote the meaningful participation of women in all aspects of overseas conflict prevention, management, and resolution. So let me tell you what this looks like in 2018. This is not mere politics. This is policy. It is practical. And here's a few examples. Women in many of these communities, they have a much stronger concept of what civil society looked like. They have a lot of information that a lot of the security sector does not directly have. They understand where the risk is and who to watch for, where the at-risk youth are. They have valuable information and contributions, and they often are aware of tools that are needed to deter radical elements, but they don't have access so they're not in power. In many places, many of these women, they can't go to the police, and we need to find ways to facilitate that. So one of the things we're doing is encouraging the communities to have more meaningful roles for women in the security sector, giving them direct roles with the police force. And I'll give you another example that I just saw recently in Kosovo that really troubled me. They're in many small towns in Kosovo. Right now, you have little girls that are prohibited from playing soccer. They're not able to play sports, and this is not something that is tradition. It's not a part of their culture. This is something new. It's from external influence, and the government is extremely unsure how to handle it. And as well, the legitimate Islamic community has recognized that this is not acceptable and they don't understand why this is happening. So how do we carefully address sensitive issues like this at the clash of religion and culture? In the Balkans, we actively engage with regional partners to counter violent extremism, and it's becoming a source of strength for reconciliation between neighbors who are often at odds. This crucial moment for the Balkans, as they work towards a European future, is highlighted by a few major events. The Prespa Agreement recently between Macedonia and Greece is a historic achievement, and we're gonna be supporting the referendum on September 30th. Success in this area is gonna mean huge strides for the region. And intensified normalization talks between Serbia and Kosovo could also give us lots of great new opportunities, but it also comes with some great risk. Also, upcoming elections on October 7th in Bosnia and Herzegovina could lead to an extended period of protracted political uncertainty. My bureau is working very closely with European partners to prevent a political crisis. These dynamics change to present opportunity that is sometimes, I think, confusing to many of the people that are there. And it also gives some radicals, I guess some excitement too. Fighters that are returning from Syria, this is one of my chief concerns, and there's three that I particularly highlight in the Balkans. The fighters that are returning are finding new ways to radicalize online and in prison. And in many cases, we don't have the legal mechanisms in these countries to deal with these individuals appropriately. Unresolved ethnic conflicts are presenting opportunity for these extremists to flourish in the area. And we can't be timid about depriving them the opportunity to do this. House mosques or perigemots are showing up with significant external funding, promoting radicalism, fostering friction with no connection to the local culture at all. We will begin by convening a forum of mayors in November, CVE coordinators, researchers, civil society actors, women, religious leaders and others from around the region. And they're not only gonna discuss CVE best practices, but they're also going to immediately deploy action-oriented programs at the local level. And resolve is critical for our strategy. And this is what we're gonna be relying on them for. One, development of the research basis. Two, provide the local policymakers actionable programs. Three, train the trainers to build local research capacity in the region. The resolve network is a prime example of how we can achieve evidence-based research and empower local partners to sustain their efforts against violent extremism. By grounding policy in local level evidence, the resolve network can facilitate action. Grounded in local realities, this is essential for more effective and sustainable solutions to preventing further radicalization. Now developing the capacity of local partners as I mentioned is critical. We've seen how one-off activities or just dabbling in something can actually come with great consequences. It can be counterproductive, short-lived or much worse. Our best chance of sustainability is in building capacity of local actors to be the frontline partners on countering violent extremism. By connecting the right partners with the best research, our strategy is to build for impact and success. We're excited that resolve is gonna be joining us in this effort. In closing, when we talk about fragile states, we're talking about states who have broken the social contract with their citizens or in some cases they have never truly established what that is and what that responsibility should be. CSO's analysis is highlighting global trends and violent extremism that threaten these fragile states and thus threaten our national security. We have to improve our understanding at the local level and ensure local empowerment. And this will help people solve their own problems where they are. We have a lot of work to do. Ensuring American security and extending American prosperity will require tenacity but this also requires the evidence that we've been talking about today and because we need it to have confidence in our policy and not just hope. I look forward to partnering with the resolve network in this. I look forward to hearing more from many of you at the reception today and I appreciate you having me here today. Thank you.