 Good morning, everyone. My name is Steve Hadley. I chair the board of the United States Institute of Peace. And I'm delighted to welcome you to passing the baton, securing America's future together. USIP has hosted a passing the baton event after every change in administration for the last 20 years, starting in 2001, when President Clinton's National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger, passed the baton to his successor, Condoleezza Rice, who we are honored to have with us again today. This year, we gather in the wake of a violent insurrection against our capital, the symbol and foundation of our democracy. The insurrection was marked by hateful expressions of white supremacy and antisemitism. These never are and never can be tolerated. There is no question that January 6th was one of the greatest tests of American democracy in recent memory. But as lawmakers gathered that same night to fulfill their constitutional duty, it was also the greatest measure of our democracy's resilience. Ultimately, the events of January 6th underscore that despite the challenges and the fault lines, our democratic system remains the strongest, most powerful form of governance on Earth, and the most effective vehicle for driving sustainable peace. Today, as we consider the formidable foreign policy and national security challenges facing the nation, we must recommit to navigating the road ahead together in the spirit, tradition, and principles of liberty and union that have been the bedrock of our republic since its founding. We have an important dynamic set of discussions focused on exactly this issue today. And here to tell you more about this morning's event is the new president and CEO of the United States Institute of Peace, Lee's Grande. Good morning. Allow us to begin by extending our sincere appreciation to the American Enterprise Institute, the Atlantic Council, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Center for American Progress, the Heritage Foundation, and Hudson Institute for their leadership and partnership in this year's passing the baton. Their guidance and insights have been an invaluable part of this process, and we are proud to partner with them on this event. We are honored to extend our respects and warmest welcome to our distinguished speakers and panelists. To Mr. Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to President Biden. To Ambassador Robert O'Brien, former National Security Advisor to President Trump. To Secretary Condoleezza Rice, the 66th Secretary of State and former National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush. And a special welcome to Admiral Michelle Howard, the U.S. Navy's four-star admiral. Now retired. As an institute founded 36 years ago by Congress, we believe and know that good governance, tolerance, inclusion, justice, equality, equity in all of its forms and above all democratic principles are the essential building blocks of sustainable peace. We also know deep in our hearts that promoting peace abroad begins with peace at home. Our work and that of our partners shows that the complex multifaceted challenges to peace and security cannot be solved by a single party or single administration. They require the best ideas, the best thinking and collaboration from all sides of the aisle. Passing the baton, an event we have hosted for the last 20 years, is an opportunity for us to reaffirm the transfer of power and the importance of bipartisanship in U.S. foreign policy. The insurrection at the Capitol and the expressions of racism, white supremacy and anti-Semitism have made this event more important now than ever before. We are deeply honored that the nation's preeminent national security leaders are with us today to reflect frankly and with the humility that comes from being tested at this critical moment in U.S. history on the main national security and foreign policy challenges facing America. We encourage everyone to engage with us on Twitter throughout the morning using the hashtag Passing the Baton. Before our keynote discussion with Secretary Rice, National Security Advisor Sullivan and former National Security Advisor O'Brien were very pleased to share a video message from Admiral Howard. The first woman to achieve the rank of four-star Admiral and the first woman to be appointed to the position of Vice Chief of Naval Operations and the first African-American woman to reach the rank of three and four stars in any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces to help us frame this important conversation. Good morning. I'm Admiral Michelle J. Howard and I retired from the United States Navy about three years ago as a four-star. I support the U.S. Institute of Peace and a couple of various defense military advisory group and the One Building Peace Council. And I am delighted and honored to help greet you, you national security experts in forming up and setting up a dialogue and getting an idea of the continuity of issues that faces the United States. And I just wanted to share a few thoughts with you. I think of myself as a defender of the Constitution and I'm one of those people that re-reads the Federalist Papers all the time. In this one article, John Adams talks about you can be a peace-loving nation and you could be going after prosperity. And in his mind, trade and commerce were essential to the prosperity of a country. But he reminded us that no matter what the motivations are of your nation, the world is full of capricious tyrants. There are those that will attack you to take your power, to take your territory, to take your goods in search of power. He was a wise man who grew up to be president but in framing the Constitution in a need for defense and this idea of defense and supportive national security, it's a reminder that in many ways the globe hasn't changed. We still pursue prosperity as a nation but we still live among capricious tyrants. Since my time in defense, the top five really hasn't changed. Secretary Gates identified Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and terrorist groups. Now the ruling among the top five probably changes sometimes on a daily basis depending on what the leaders of these nations do. There's something significant about that top five though. Russia and China have nuclear weapons. Iran and North Korea are in pursuit of nuclear weapons and with Iran and North Korea with malice towards the United States developing long-range missile systems with the idea of using these nuclear weapons against us and so the capricious tyrants still exist. What has this got to do with peace? Well, I will tell you from my experience with a top five like that, it is overwhelming in terms of expertise, needed policy making, it can consume a government and then there's the rest of the world that isn't necessarily stable. So to me, an investment in peace in the rest of the world's stable allows the United States to focus on the immediate national security threats. And in the end, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, stabilization is far less costly than defense. Not just the monetary cost, but the cost of lives. And so thank you for investing in the US Institute of Peace and willing to have a dialogue about national security, the continuum of capricious tyrants and what's most important for our nation. It's important for our citizens and it's important for the prosperity of America. Thank you. For our keynote discussion, we are honored to welcome three national security advisors to three different presidents. Before his current position, Jake Sullivan served as the deputy assistant to the president and national security advisor to then Vice President Biden. Mr. Sullivan has been the director of policy planning at the State Department and the deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Before Ambassador Robert O'Brien was named President Trump's national security advisor in 2019, he served as the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs at the State Department and as co-chairman of the public-private partnership for justice reform in Afghanistan under both Secretaries Rice and Clinton. Secretary Condoleezza Rice, currently the director of the Hoover Institution at Stamford University, served as national security advisor to President Bush during his first term in office, the first woman to hold the position, and as the Secretary of State during his second term, the second woman and first African-American woman to serve in that capacity. Secretary Rice, we are pleased to pass the floor to you. And I want to begin by thanking the U.S. Institute of Peace for arranging this opportunity to talk about the world, to talk about the challenges facing American foreign policy. And I'm so pleased to be joined by Robert O'Brien, former national security advisor to President Trump and by Jake Sullivan, the now national security advisor to President Biden. And I just want to say, especially Jake, I am so grateful for you being here because one thing about being national security advisor that Robert and I both know, there is no such thing as a schedule and so we're delighted that you can be with us. In fact, I'd like to start by asking a question about the role, the position. I was also Secretary of State and your predecessor is Thomas Jefferson and there are certain things that go with that and people understand that, but the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly known as the National Security Advisor, has had many different iterations and it has many different duties and maybe we could just start with how you thought about it, Robert, and how it ended up, and then Jake, over to you as to how you're thinking about it going in. Robert, could you start on that? Sure, thank you, Condi. You know, you thought about sitting in Thomas Jefferson's seat. I think about sitting in Henry Kissinger and Condi Rice's seat and I'm sure Jake does as well and it was a privilege to work with you back in the Bush Administration in Afghanistan and I appreciate your guidance and wisdom in the new position and as you remember one of the first questions I asked you, I think the first week I was in office. Look, I think the great thing about being a National Security Advisor is that you're staffing the President of the United States and it's your job to make sure, in my view, that he gets the best options, the best advice, the best counsel to face all the myriad of crises and long-term policy issues. He has to decide and only he or she can decide those issues as the President. But as National Security Advisor you can frame those issues. You can pull out the entire government together and have a whole of government discussion of where we should go and how we should address whatever the matter is that's facing the President that day and then it's your job to make sure that he gets the best options or the best policy advice. Sometimes as you know there's a split on that advice and I always try to make sure as National Security Advisor that the different parties had their day in court and could get in front of the President and give President Trump in my case the various options he had to decide a matter and move forward. I felt that was one of the great things about the job, you could see everything, you saw the intelligence and then you could help the President get to his decision and then ultimately implement his policies once he'd made that decision. And Jake, I think one of the things about being National Security Advisor is you actually never know what it's going to look like. I don't think I'd spend a few years to be dominated by September 11th in terrorism and I don't think that Robert probably expected his last year to be dominated by COVID. So given that you'll be surprised and are now strapping on your seatbelt to be National Security Advisor how do you see the role going in? How have you and the President talked about that role? Well, first of all, Connie, thank you for giving us the opportunity to thank Robert for the really great partnership he provided through the transition process. It was a strange and in some ways turbulent transition but for his part and Robert, thank you just for everything that you did to help pave the way for me to come into this seat for our team to get on board and for us to get up and running at a moment when we face considerable challenges around the world from both great power and of course a range of transnational threats as well. You know, it's interesting, I'm humble about answering the question about what being the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs or National Security Advisor means because I'm now eight days into the job although as you two both know that feels like eight years into the job because there's so much coming at you all the time and it is certainly the case that a big part of the role is to manage and be able to keep the President updated on the threats and the opportunities the United States faces as events unfold around the world to be able to take requests in from cabinet secretaries who are looking for the President's guidance on issues but it's got to be much more than the inbox. We also have to be thinking about shaping and driving a strategy that reflects the President's vision and priorities and so I see the role of National Security Advisor on the other hand is the Honest Broker who was coordinating the process and as Robert said teeing up effective options for the President to be able to make the decisions as Commander-in-Chief but on the other hand actually being a communicator to the inter-agency process to cabinet secretaries letting them know what the President is looking for and what he expects of them and how his values and his vision ultimately should shape the agenda that the United States approaches the world with and I think that does require the kind of flexibility of recognizing that the threats that are at the top of your mind the day you walk into the job may be different than the threats at the top of your mind the day you walk out of the job but you can never forget the big things the things that really root the President in what he is trying to accomplish and a big part of this job in my view is making sure to reflect and even that through the process and in fact this is called passing the baton and following on Jake's point about the big things out there Robert what baton have you passed to Jake in terms of the biggest challenges that the United States faces going forward sure and we've been passing the baton for about two months now I think I was relatively early in the process in talking about a professional transition and our transition started even before the election speaking with our colleague Stephen Hadley and asking how he manages the transition back in 2008-2009 between George W. Bush and Barack Obama so we started working with Jake and his team early on we had binders prepared we had papers prepared and all that's well and good but what made it particularly effective is that Jake came in as a very professional team he's a great American he's got a terrific background there are very few people that are probably as well prepared to serve in the role as Jake and so he was able to it was an easy baton to pass if you think about a relay race on the track he did what he was doing and it was great to be able to hand off to him what we handed off though on the big issues are number one China we have a very assertive rising China that has become the number one geopolitical challenge to the United States and will be for a generation China is more assertive when we see it in Taiwan we see it in India we see it in the South China Sea we see it in Hong Kong it's increasingly nationalistic and we see the oppression of the Uyghurs and what Secretary Pompeo is labeled a genocide there we see an unrelenting global ambition with their wolf warrior diplomacy and mass diplomacy and it's really global in reach we see the Chinese becoming very assertive in Antarctica in the Arctic in places where they haven't been before like the South Atlantic so it's a major issue and I think we've developed a bipartisan consensus there so that's one of the big issues Iran of course on a day to day basis it's a leading state sponsored terrorism it's involved in Yemen and Syria and Iraq and Lebanon in Gaza supporting Jihadis including Al Qaeda out of Tehran they've got an unquenched nuclear ambition which was exposed in part by the Israeli seeture of the records so that's a and they continue to operate all their facilities notwithstanding the JCPOA in Russia you have a country with not a great economy in a declining demographic situation yet they're compensating for it with extremely advanced weapons especially the nuclear space and cyber realms where they're compensating for their lack of size in both population and economy with the Chinese and the United States they're very close to China now and we're seeing a boutique approach to getting involved in conflicts in places like Syria using the Wagner group and a little green men and that sort of thing and then finally there are plenty of challenges out there and Jake is glad he's in the seat now and is day to day responsible for these but there are things like the cartels and that's not something that's been on the high end folks list but trans national organized crime is something that I wasn't expecting to see as much of and I think in some ways it was exacerbated by COVID but you take a look at the PCC cartel in Brazil which is a major democracy important part of the United States and the PCC is taking over territory within Brazil we're seeing a similar cartel and others in Mexico the cartels are making a comeback in Columbia so I think that's an issue that may not be on everyone's radar but is a very significant problem that affects Americans because of the drug trafficking and because of the violence on a day to day basis so those are just a few of the big issues that are on Jake's plate that we passed off to him and some of those were passed on to the Trump administration by the last administration they haven't changed China, Russia Iran but it's a full plate for him and his team he's a great American and he's got a very solid front office team and I know he's going to do a super job Jake you want to talk a little bit about some of those challenges and both how you see them now and perhaps how you're thinking about ways to not address them in terms of policy to start to get together strategically how the United States might take these challenges Well first listening to Robert and father if you want your old job back because yeah that's a full plate and that was only an illustrative list Robert probably could have gone on for another 5-10 minutes about the sheer range of threats and the turbulence facing us in many different quarters and on many different issues around the globe you know when I think about the really foundational question of what is the most important national security priority facing the United States it occurs to me something that Joe Biden has really reinforced for us which is that foreign policy is domestic policy and domestic policy is foreign policy and at the end of the day right now the most profound national security challenge facing the United States is getting our own house in order is domestic renewal we are facing a COVID-19 pandemic that continues to ravage our population we are facing an economic crisis that is devastating mainstream businesses and working families we are obviously facing the effects in every part of our country of a climate crisis and of course there have been the acute threats to our basic constitutional republic and the deep divisions that have only been reinforced by that and so when you ask a question about the question of priority and the question of strategy it sort of comes together for me in the proposition that we have to put ourselves in a position of strength to be able to deal with the challenges we face around the world and establishing that position of strength has to be the kind of fundamental early work of this administration and it goes both for the great power competition questions particularly as it respects China and a position of strength to deal with these significant threats that could impact Americans way of life the climate crisis, nuclear proliferation cyber attacks continuing economic devastation that is occurring not just here but around the world and more and so really what we are invested in is thinking about what are the core components of the strength that we need to be able to effectively manage this set of threats and challenges at the domestic renewal then there is the investment in allies and really trying to reinvigorate our alliances but not return them to the way they were before rather think about how we modernize those alliances to deal with the threats of the future it's reestablishing our place in critical international institutions from the Paris Climate Accord to the World Health Organization and beyond and then it's speaking clearly and consistently about our values but in a way that actually is consistent with living on our values here at home as well and so I think what you will see in terms of the work that we are doing out of the gate a huge amount of it is about shaping the overall environment within which we are going to have to grapple with these threats and challenges trying to establish that position of strength on those pillars I just described and from there be able to carry forward effective strategies to deal with the China challenge to deal with the kind of crisis to deal with not just this pandemic but future pandemics and so much else let me go back to you Jake and then I'll come back to Robert but I just want to pour in on something that you said you mentioned in there consistent with our values and one of the hardest challenges really for American foreign policy now for many many decades has been not that our interest in our values are at war with one another but that sometimes one or the other seems to have to lead when we talk about for instance China Robert mentioned the genocide against the Uighurs Robert mentioned Hong Kong and human rights and the attitude toward Taiwan one could even talk about China's use of the internet and of AI technologies for actually social control making it very hard to think about a single internet so in many ways this problem of values and interest comes together when you have a great power competitor who doesn't share your values who in fact challenges your interests I often say you know with the Soviet Union we were dealing with a country that was a military giant but a technological midget that's not China so can you talk a little bit about interest values and maybe in the context of China or more broadly if you wish sure I think talking about it in the context of China gives us a concrete way to get into an issue that as you say has bedeviled American foreign policy in many different contexts across many continents across many decades to take the China case and I think the way you framed it up was really effective look I think there are four major steps that the United States needs to take to contend with the challenges you just outlined the first is to recognize that China is essentially making the case that the Chinese model is better than the American model and they're pointing to dysfunction and division in the United States and saying take a look at that what the United States does and increasingly over the last few years you've heard their leaders right from the top speak more explicitly in these terms this is not any longer some kind of implied contrast it is an explicit statement that there is an alternative model to the democratic market economy model that the United States has been advancing over the course of decades so step one is to go back to this point about domestic renewal is to refurbish our democracy and that goes for everything from our democratic system itself to issues of racial inequity to issues of economic inequality all of the things that have contributed to the shine coming off the American model over the course of time so that's step one step two is to recognize that we are going to be most effective in advancing our vision for what a free prosperous equitable society looks like if we are doing so in lock step with democratic allies and partners by ourselves we represent about a quarter of the world's economy with our allies and partners in both Europe and Asia we represent well more than half of the world's economy and that provides us not just the kind of leverage we need to be able to produce outcomes but it provides us a chorus of voices that can drive the argument that says we are going to stand up for a certain set of principles in the face of aggression and the kind of steps that China is taking the third is to recognize something that you said at the outset which is all of this really comes home to risk with technology and who ultimately is going to be leading the world on the key emerging technologies of the future artificial intelligence, quantum computing biotechnology clean energy and so much else and so that requires a combination of working closely with allies and partners and making aggressive ambitious public investment here in the United States so that we stay on the cutting edge it used to be there were big debates about that between democrats and republicans but you know I just talked yesterday to a leading republican senator who was making the case for more spending in these areas that were prevailing this competition over time and then the last piece is speaking with clarity and consistency on these issues and being prepared to act as well to impose costs for the what China is doing in Xinjiang, what it's doing in Hong Kong for the bellicose threats that it is projecting towards Taiwan and this administration is intent at every level from the president across the state department, the defense department every embassy around the world to speaking with that clarity and consistency of voice and that would be an important part of our strategy as well so you know that's obviously not a complete picture of a highly complex challenge but gives you some sense of the way that we are thinking about this in the context of China specifically and you mentioned friends and allies and one ally I think with whom Robert you worked very closely with Israel and in fact I used to say that nothing ever changes in the Middle East but in fact things have changed in the Middle East and I'd like you to talk a little bit about how you see the changing nature of the Middle East the Abraham Accords the potential for an end to the state of war between Israel and its Arab neighbors that's a pretty dramatic change I think when you decided to move the embassy to Jerusalem there was a lot of hard burn around that among specialists and foreign policy types but it turns out that the Arab countries were perhaps looking particularly the modernizing ones looking for a different kind of Middle East can you talk a little bit about the promise of the Abraham Accords and then Jaycraft you can comment about that Thank you Kandia and I think Jake and his team and President Biden are off to a great start on China we have to confront China using all the means of national power and certainly allies and friends are going to be part of that and democracies are messy democracies are never going to be whether it's India or Brazil or the UK with Brexit or the challenges that we've been through of late we're going to be as clean or as crisp as an authoritarian model which at least on the surface look like they're going along smoothly even though there may be icebergs and rocks and things happening below the surface that we don't see so I'm glad to see that and I think as we work together with our allies especially with the Quad and Australia, India and the United States which may be the most important relationship we've established since NATO at a high level I think we're going to be able to confront that challenge and it was we were able to put together the Quad the same way we were able to put together the Abraham Accords and that was looking at a strategic challenge in the Middle East which was Iran and we had close partners and allies whether it was UAE or Bahrain where we have large numbers of soldiers, sailors, airmen, marine stationed are close democratic and enduring ally with Israel and we had these partners who were all confronting a very aggressive Iran in the region that was attempting to extend its hegemony over the entire Middle East and we thought to ourselves why aren't our friends who have the same common national security interests aligning more closely let's bring them together from a diplomatic standpoint let's bring them together from an economic standpoint and let's bring them together from a eventually a defense standpoint and they can stand together with us against a common threat that we have from Iran as well as extremism and jihadism so we did something that was a little unusual we went around everybody thought we had to solve the Palestinian problem first and President Trump wanted to solve the Palestinian problem I did the Israelis do but we couldn't allow the Palestinians to stand as a roadblock to a broader Middle East peace that was so important to us for strategic reasons and so we went to our friends and partners and allies and we built political capital and one way we built political capital in Israel was by moving the embassy to Jerusalem one way we did it was by recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory and these were facts that were never going to change on the ground Jerusalem was never going to change being the capital of Israel Israel was never going to give the Golan Heights back to Assad or any other regime in Syria so we recognized those facts on the ground we did the same thing we built the capital with Bahrain, with Morocco with the UAE by letting them know that we would stand with them by getting out of the JCPOA which was a serious threat to the region because it was providing the Iranian regime with so many funds to fund their to export their revolutionary ideology we then took that capital and used it to bring the parties together and to see if we could bring bring them to some sort of an accord which we did and I think it's a foundation that I think Jake and his team and the Biden administration will be able to build on I think there are other Arab countries that are going to look at the the progress, the economic benefits that those countries enjoy and want to join the Abraham Accord so I think and that allows us to do a couple things one it's going to allow us to draw down number of troops that we have in the Middle East as our partners come together and are more capable together because we need those troops in other places we need them potentially in Eastern Europe we certainly need them in the Pacific it also boxes China out of Israel's tech sector to some extent which is something that I looked at very carefully Israel is second holding to Silicon Valley where you're sitting right now Condi with their startup companies and their tech solutions and as we tighten up on what we're willing to export to the Chinese in the high tech realm they're going to look for other places to buy whether it's Europe or Israel and as these young Israeli entrepreneurs were looking for money China was an easy place to get it because China wanted to invest in Israel to obtain the tech with these Arab sovereign wealth funds now having access to the Israeli market that Arab money the Gulf money is now pushing the Chinese out of Israel so there are all kinds of ancillary benefits that are coming from the Abraham Accords and we were proud to be involved in them and I think it's again I think it's an area that Biden Harris administration will be able to build on and hope they do and hopefully we'll have to foundation for some more success which will certainly applaud if they can bring some of the more maybe more conservative Arab governments in line and then the last point is we still have to deal with the Palestinian issue and we need peace between the Israelis and Palestinians and that has to be part of the agenda of the overall Abraham Accords and we weren't able to get the Palestinians to the table I wish we had been but I think there are a number of carrots and sticks that will bring them to the table and I think our European partners seeing the success of the Abraham Accords will help us on that front. I'm going to turn to Jake, I just mentioned on the Palestinians of course one of the problems in the Palestinian the Palestinians is that they actually need internal reform themselves they need a leadership reform they haven't had an election in a couple of decades and so it's a bit of a challenge to figure out how to move the Palestinian portfolio forward even under the current I think better circumstances in the Middle East Jake can you talk a little bit this is a baton from the Middle East it's rare that you're actually past a positive baton from the Middle East I think the Abraham Accords is one. Yeah and in fact when the first Accords with the UAE and Bahrain were announced it was in the heat of a political campaign a presidential campaign then candidate Biden made no bones about coming out and saying I think this is a good thing I think this is a positive thing and he said consistently over the course of the last several months that he would like to carry forward this initiative deepen the cooperation between the countries that have signed the Accords make real the normalization that has taken root as well as and rather referenced in add additional countries as well and he sees that as being positive for security in the region positive for economic development in the region and positive for America's national interests for many of the reasons that Robert laid out so one of the things that we will be doing in the coming weeks and months is thinking about how we make sure that the seeds that have now been planted actually grow into the full kind of cooperation across multiple dimensions in these relationships can move forward and how that can to Robert's point really help us really help the United States advance our own interests and then just I would I would briefly mention because the Abraham Accords one very positive thing we will be building on Robert mentioned the Quad which for those watching who don't know is the United States Japan Australia and India and I think we really want to carry forward and build on that format that mechanism which we see as fundamental a foundation upon which to build substantial American policy in the Indo-Pacific region so those are you know in two different theaters of the world two initiatives that I think you will see continuity and an effort to reinforce and invigorate and carry forward the steps that had been taken by the previous administration let me ask you about Iran in that context because of course one of the problems for the the senior states is Iran and particularly its advanced missile capability now which has improved significantly over the last few years how do you think I know that there's a desire to continue to to get back to doing something about the Iranian nuclear program but what about Iran in the context of a changing Middle East well I mean look the first thing that I would say is while there are areas of real agreement that I just laid out both on the Abraham Accords and the Quad when it comes to the question of how to approach Iran and the threat that it poses there are real differences between the administration the approach the Trump administration took and the approach the Biden administration will take and it starts from a sober analysis of the state of affairs which is that Iran's nuclear program has advanced dramatically over the course of the past couple of years they are significantly closer to a nuclear weapon than they were when the previous administration withdrew from the JCPOA their ballistic missile capability has also advanced dramatically to be fair it advanced under the Obama administration but it is accelerated over the course of the past four years their recklessness and sponsorship of terrorism in the region has not abated and in some areas has accelerated as well their direct attacks on partners in the region their support for proxies who are getting more audacious both in attacks on US forces and on partners in the region all of this is the inheritance that we take and our view is that if we can get back to diplomacy and put Iran's nuclear program in a box that will create a platform upon which to build a global effort including partners and allies in the region and in Europe and elsewhere to take on the other significant threats Iran poses including on the ballistic missile issue and I've said before publicly and will reiterate that we are going to have to address this considerable threat we are going to have to address Iran's bad behavior, maligned behavior across the region but from our perspective a critical early priority has to be to deal with what is a escalating nuclear crisis as they move closer and closer to having enough fissile material for a weapon and we would like to make sure that we re-establish some of the parameters and constraints around the program that have fallen away over the course of the past two years we are going to have a little bit here of a lightning round I'm going to give you a country or a set of countries and ask Robert where did you leave it and Jake where do you want to take it so Iraq and Afghanistan Robert so draw down starting to end those forever wars but leaving a significant capability there for counter-terrorism to protect our other government agencies that are doing important work but also importantly something that's been overlooked a very significant commitment to both Afghanistan and Iraq we now have more NATO troops in Afghanistan than US troops and we're getting close to parity in Iraq and so we're seeing burden sharing with our allies in NATO and we're drawing down American troops which will free up those troops either to come home or to be redeployed in other places hopefully the peace treaty or the peace agreement with the Taliban will hold we just don't want to see any for dignified transfers I know you did Secretary of State over your years and fortunately since February we haven't had to do those trips for at least combat deaths and coming out of Afghanistan and that was something we were very pleased to see but again that's a fragile agreement we'll have to hope that it holds and support the Afghans as they struggle and then again a similar situation supporting a fragile Iraqi government especially given the militia groups and Iranian intervention in Iraq but I think drawing down in those areas is a legacy of the Trump Administration that we're all proud of So on Iraq I actually think Iraq is a really interesting story of continuity from the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration to the Biden Administration that the Trump Administration picked up a counter-ISIS campaign that was really driven by local partners with relatively modest direct American military involvement I carried that forward to remove territorial control from from ISIS but the challenge still remains and our presence in Iraq focused on that counter-terrorism mission and focused on helping our partners in the Iraqi security forces is something that we are reviewing right now and we welcome also what Robert just said the fact that not only are there NATO trainers on the ground but the NATO mission may grow here over time in terms of its capacity to train Iraqi security forces in Afghanistan there is an agreement between the United States and the Taliban that we inherit that agreement has a May 1 deadline for the withdrawal of the remaining 2500 American forces in Afghanistan that agreement also imposes a set of considerable conditions on the Taliban and three in particular stand out to us the first is that they in a bona fide and sustainable way cut ties with terrorist groups including al-Qaeda the second is that they meaningfully reduce levels of violence and contribute towards ceasefires and the third is that they participate in a real way not a fake way in negotiations with the Afghan government what we are doing right now is taking a hard look at the extent to which the Taliban are in fact complying with those three conditions and in that context we will make decisions about our force posture and our diplomatic strategy going forward Great Robert, Russia, where did you leave it Jake where do you want to take it actually quite a bit of ferment right now in Russia around Navalny's return Well first of all Navalny is an incredibly successful man and for him to return to Russia after what happened to him is an inspiration to all of us and it's great to see Russians we've never had a problem with the Russian people we've never had a problem with the Chinese people we've always had a problem with their governments and it's wonderful to see the Russian people maybe taking some sort of a stand although they're doing it at a high price and that's something we've got to be cognizant of and do what we can to support them in a way that doesn't lead to more unrest and death and imprisonment of folks who want democracy in Russia number two is arms control we were trying to find a way to advance the new start agreement and I had the negotiations with General Petrachev and I think we laid the foundation for some further strong negotiating positions for the US as new starters looked at but we've got to somehow corral the Russian nuclear warheads that are outside of the new start agreement and so that's an arms control priority I know for the new administration it was for us as well and then third we have some Americans that are so long-fledged in Russia we'd like to get them home and finally we have to support our allies and partners in each Europe the great democracies Poland the Baltics the Czech Republic the Slovak Republic all the things that we worked on earlier as the director director of the embassy bringing about the rise of democracy between Europe and the allies against the revenge of Russia Jake reportedly the president had a phone call with Vladimir Putin which is always a joy for an American president I might say where do you want to take Russia well I want to say one final word about Afghanistan I'm so focused on the US Taliban agreement I neglected Afghanistan to add the point that what the previous administration did in terms of setting up and supporting negotiations between the stakeholders in Afghanistan toward a just durable political settlement to that conflict that basic frame is something that we very much support and we want to support negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban and others to get to that just and sustainable outcome in addition to looking at the US Taliban agreement and what it means for our forces going forward on Russia you know president Biden takes a clear-eyed hard-headed practical approach to this relationship it is going to be challenging and difficult because Russia poses threats across multiple dimensions and part of our inheritance in fact is having to deal with how to respond effectively to some of these threats and challenges whether it's on the solar wind attack or the poisoning and use of a chemical weapon against Navalny or the reports of bounties against on the heads of the US troops in Afghanistan or for that matter continuing interference in American democracy including interference in the 2020 presidential election at the same end and the United States will review those issues will look to get to the bottom of the scope and scale of each of them and then will make determinations for how we respond at a time in a manner of our choosing but as Robert said we also very much need to deal with the fundamental question of strategic stability between two significant nuclear powers and here early on the Biden administration reached out to Russia and said we would like to do a full extension of the new start agreement by five years and to get it done before the treaty expires on February 5th that was a 15 day period from when we took over until when it expires and we believe that we will be able to achieve that but that to Robert's point is not the end of the story it is the beginning of the story on what is going to have to be serious sustained negotiations around a whole set of nuclear challenges and threats that fall outside of the new start agreement as well as other emerging security challenges as well and so we will at once have to be able to impose costs and consequences for Russia's aggressive behavior and threats to the United States and our allies and at the same time be able to have credible serious clear eye negotiations with them on hard strategic stability issues and that's the approach that this administration will be taking Our time is coming to an end and what I'd like to do is to actually close with a question about something that USIP sponsored yesterday we had a session on German unification and that kind of great moment when Europe seemed to be whole free and at peace and we were very close to our allies if there is a that is in a particular kind of turmoil these days it's actually Europe some of our strongest and most enduring allies who share values who have the reach to have an impact on relations with China an impact of course on relations with Russia as you said Robert really pulling their weight now in many ways in Afghanistan and Iraq but it seems in many ways a relationship that is in need of refreshing so Robert can you just say a word about how you felt about the European relationship when you left particularly you oversaw Brexit and then Jake a little bit about how to think about relations with our oldest set of allies I think and that's a great question and an interesting one relating to Europe because sometimes we talk about Europe as a whole and it's really a lot more of different countries I think when I want to call Europe who do I call and we had very good and among my closest relationships is national security advisor with my European counterparts and I think that will be the same for Jake and one of the things I spoke with many of them during the last couple weeks of the administration both to reassure them as to the strength and resilience of the United States and that we're going to continue to be there for them and the strength and resilience for our institutions but also that we're going to have a lot of continuity in American foreign policy and I think you've seen in our discussion here today there are things we may differ on whether it's Iran or some other issues but there's a lot of continuity and there's a lot of consistency in US foreign policy and that crosses over Republican and Democratic administrations as far as the Europeans themselves the French were a tremendous ally for us and are highly capable and are often overlooked but they were fighting with us all through the Sahel they helped secure a number of our hostages we took out a number of Al-Qaeda leaders in western Africa with our French colleagues they've got five or six thousand troops in the region we have less than a thousand so again another great example of burden sharing we have tremendous relationships with the Dutch with the Danes, with the British on the foreign policy front in addressing the questions in the wall way the Germans are always a little bit difficult and they have stronger relations with China and Russia than perhaps we would like the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was an area that we had a lot of divergence with the Germans they sell millions of cars probably more cars in China now than they did here in the US so German interests do diverge from US interests from time to time in big ways and yet they have incredible sway over Europe so that's one of the challenges that the Jake and his team and President Biden will have to work on it was a challenge that we certainly had in the Trump administration is how do you bring Europe along when most of Europe and most European countries will be with us on key issues but Germany which really dominates Brussels and dominates Europe from view from the US that's perhaps a bigger challenge than even Brexit again that Atlantic alliance is core to the United States as Jake mentioned earlier when you talk about the great democracies of Brazil and India and Europe together with the United States it's a team that can't be beat by the authoritarian countries by Iran, by Russia by China even in concert so we need to make sure that relationship strong and I think Jake addresses but I think you're going to see a real commitment to that transatlantic alliance in the Biden-Harris administration Jake over to you for the last word I'll pick up exactly where Robert left off the foundation upon which we are going to effectively be able to prevail in geopolitical competition and effectively prevail against these significant transnational challenges that threaten America's way of life that foundation is going to be the foundation of our alliances and none are more critical than the transatlantic alliance you know Dean Atchison after the end of the Second World War spoke about American strategy with this phrase situations of strength he thought that the basic thrust and purpose of American foreign policy had to be to create situations of strength so that when we contended with an adversary or we contended with any kind of significant challenge we were at a point of maximum advantage in doing and that's basically the mindset that I come to this job with which is how do we create those situations of strength and when it comes to Europe getting on the same page with the Europeans whether it's to do with China's trade and technology abuses or it's to do with the climate crisis or it's to do with the common challenge we each face from domestic violence and extremism that is going to be a way in which we can create those situations of strength but as Robert also pointed out it's not as simple as just picking up the phone and saying hey let's all get together and decide on a common approach and we can do it in a day or a week because we don't have entirely aligned perspectives on every one of these issues we do have some challenges even between us on trade issues and other things this is going to take work and it's going to take deep consultation and it's going to take persistence at trying to get to a common picture of the threats and challenges we face and then a common picture of the actions that we have to take jointly I think China is right at the top of the list of things that we've got to work together on and where there is work to do to get fully aligned but there are many other issues as well and so as Robert noted it is going to be a major emphasis of this administration not just to deal with the rest of the world with Europe but also to work with Europe on the challenges Europe faces internally and frankly the challenges the United States faces internally as well well thank you very much again I want to thank Steve Hadley another national security advisor in recovery I would like to thank Lise Gonde of course the US Institute for Peace I especially want to thank Robert for your service over these years and the excellent way in which you conducted yourself and the conduct of American foreign policy and of course for the smooth transition to Jake and to the Biden administration I think there is no more important message delivered by this setting of the passing of the baton that American foreign policy in fact America is at its best when it can find bipartisan consensus on our values not always on our policy but on our values and a commitment to the American people that those of us who have been and those of us who are now charged with the conduct of American foreign policy will do so in a bipartisan way consistent with the view of the founders that it takes compromise it takes constant contestation but more than anything it takes devotion and commitment to the American way and with that I will say to you Jake all the best we're all there for you if you ever need a phone call and we'll be cheering for you President Biden and for Vice President Harris thanks very much and back to you please thank you Gandhi God bless thank you both I hope everyone joins us in expressing our deep gratitude to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to Ambassador Robert O'Brien and to Secretary Condoleezza Rice for their wisdom their leadership and their service to the United States of America we are now pleased to share video reflections on this momentous time in our country's history from each of our partners from Fred Kemp President and CEO of the Atlantic Council from Kenneth Weinstein President Emeritus and Walter P. Stern distinguished fellow at Hudson Institute from Thomas Carruthers Senior Vice President for Studies and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from James J. Carafano Vice President of the Catherine and Shelby Coulomb Davis Institute at the Heritage Foundation from Ambassador Gordon Gray Chief Operating Officer at the Center for American Progress and from Corey Shockey the Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute we're very pleased to begin with Atlantic Council President and CEO Fred Kemp Greetings, I'm Fred Kemp President and CEO of the Atlantic Council four decades ago President Ronald Reagan began his first inaugural address with the following observation and I quote to a few of us here today this is a solemn and most momentous occasion and yet in the history of our nation we're in place a currents the orderly transfer authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are in the eyes of many in the world this every four year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle in this year where a mob threatened that miracle during the violence of January 6 on Capitol Hill we confronted both the vulnerabilities and the resilience of our democracy the resilience with the return of legislators a few hours later to perform their constitutional duty of certifying the electoral results is in that spirit recognizing those vulnerabilities and celebrating that resilience but I want to thank Lease Grande President of the United States for gathering us virtually for this particularly significant addition of passing the baton for the past 20 years USIP has convened national security leaders after every change in administration to affirm the peaceful transfer power and the bipartisan character of American foreign policy a particular thanks goes to Steve Hadley former national security advisor USIP board chair and Atlantic council board executive vice chair Lease and I are fortunate to share the benefits of Steve's vice council judgment and leadership most importantly thanks go to the baton passer and catcher Robert O'Brien the former national security advisor to President Trump and Jake Sullivan national security advisor to President Biden we were fortunate that Condoleezza Rice former Secretary of State and national security advisor herself invited their conversation the dramatic events of January 6 led the United States and the democratic world to the edge of the abyss we could glimpse what the national and global ramifications might be if American democracy were to weaken or even collapse though disaster was averted we at the Atlantic council believe a fuller recovery of our democracy will come through studying the lessons of what brought us to this precipice in politics the reality is that the language and actions of our leaders alter the boundaries of what's viewed as permissible in public behavior at about three in the morning on January 7 senate chaplain Barry Black said and I quote these tragedies have reminded us that words matter the power of life and death is in the tongue through the three decades that I served as Wall Street Journal reporter and editor before coming to the Atlantic council I saw that truth in action in a positive sense during the democratic changes in the Soviet Union the Soviet block and elsewhere in the world now we see the power of language in a more negative way through the authoritarian resurgence of cases like China and Russia through the rise of angry nationalism in weakening democracies around the world and through a global recession of democratic rights over the past decade as measured by freedom house it's in that context that we gather today to celebrate the resilience of democracy the passing of the baton it's in that context that we at the Atlantic council have reflected on what the recent string of events mean to our values driven non-partisan international work first it means we will advance that work with even greater resolve our mission of shaping the global future constructively alongside partners and allies will never be complete the dangers will come in different forms and different times we need to adapt our responses to those emerging challenges whether it be an economic crisis or a worse pandemic in a century second it means the job of principled international leadership and partnership begins at home the United States has been a desired international partner because of our democratic ideals the resilience of our democratic institutions the strength of our open markets and our willingness to work with others in common cause for larger shared interests finally the challenges of our times may concerted action more urgent we face a new era of great power competition a sharpening systemic contest between authoritarianism and democracy stresses on the international order of rules and institutions and uncertainties about US global leadership this all amid unprecedented technological change and rising climate challenges none of these tests can be met by a United States that is so divided or by an international community that lacks common purpose the trauma of January 6 should prompt us to redouble our efforts within the United States and among our allies and partners to strengthen our principles and to strengthen our bonds that is the purpose of the Atlantic Council my German immigrant parents would rise so much to embrace the ideals of America for themselves and for their families would have been alarmed at the violence of the capital yet they would have had faith that the country of their dreams would rise to that challenge and learn from it and improve as that country always had the criminal acts against our democracy failed but it will be actions now that determine whether the problems we face can be a catalyst for American renewal and make America stronger as a country and as a global community or not in the 60th year of our existence we at the Atlantic Council believe there is no better time to come together in our country and in our global community in common cause otherwise we would have missed the lessons of our collective glimpse into the abyss thank you so much for your attention good afternoon I am David Peace and the partners for pulling the passing of the baton event together the 2021 version of passing the Dupont is critical in the aftermath of the divisive election and the odious events of January 6 the day of infamy at the US capital the perpetrators of violence who tried to disrupt the peaceful certification of the electoral college should and will be held accountable it is incumbent upon all of us to do all we can to build on the beautiful spirit of the next morning the morning of January 7 our institutions held that morning and an incumbent vice president whose own life was threatened hours earlier by a violent mob fulfilled his constitutional duty by certifying the victory of his electoral competitors we need to build bridges to one another and restore the broad civic trust essential to a healthy and functioning democracy a central pillar of that broad trust has been a common strategic vision of the foreign and defense policy that transcends party lines in these troubled times I would encourage the Biden administration to be magnanimous and draw on key strategic frameworks that the Trump administration put in place because these policies many of which have broad bipartisan support are in America's interest and align with our democratic principles first and foremost is to recognize the urgency of the cross-domain focus on China as a strategic competitor and ended five decades of strategic naivete undertaking significant strategic realignment and restructuring our international financial instruments in order to meet the unprecedented economic, technological and security challenge China poses this was an incredible achievement one done hand in hand with the Japanese, the Australians and other allies and partners most notably India I applaud the Biden team for appointing a qualified Indo-Pacific coordinator at the National Security Council Kurt Campbell who was well placed to build on the importance of the Quad another cornerstone of Trump administration policy that followed on the Bush and Obama administrations moreover by publicly reaffirming the importance of the defense of a democratic Taiwan and raising the visibility of official ties to Taiwan the Trump administration put China on warning that we were serious about defending the first island chain I applaud the presence of Taiwan's formidable representative the United States Shelby Kim at President Biden's inauguration and the strong language defending Taiwan we've seen out of the State Department in the opening days of the Biden administration the Trump administration also deserves significant credit for transforming the Israeli-Arab relationship facilitating Israel's peace agreements with Arab countries and warm diplomatic relations with the UAE and Bahrain in particular a historic achievement that ends the narrative that the Arab world will never recognize Israel without an agreement with the Palestinians agreements that point the way towards a region of peace mutual coexistence trade and economic development Iran of course continues to violently oppose progress towards peace and while we can expect a departure from the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign towards Tehran which centered on powerful economic sanctions it is important that these kinds of policy disagreements don't undermine the broader importance of sanctions as a key tool for U.S. policy sanctions relief remains one of Russia's most urgent demands from the United States and I would argue it is essential that we keep sanctions in place they deny vital financing and resources to rogue regimes, terrorists and bad actors and reduce their capacity to engage in malign activity and also play a defensive role by preventing enemies from exploiting the U.S. financial system especially kleptocratic authoritarian regimes the broad use of the Global Magnitsky Act by the Trump administration was notable I suspect it will also be a cornerstone of President Biden's commitment to defending human rights and also to tackling transnational corruption as a national security priority let me conclude that the U.S. government is the only country that has the power to defend the grounds of optimism and not simply because our institutions tested on that awful day of January 6 yielded to the beautiful dawn of the 7th at a much more concrete level the Biden team recognizes and numerous advisors have noted this including National Security Advisor Sullivan that President Trump understood better than most of Washington policy experts in the office driven in part by a call for a middle-class foreign policy cognizant of the price to be paid when the divide between the grandiose schemes of foreign policy elites and average Americans is simply too great Heading the cautious wisdom of the American people and proudly defending our democratic principles is key to restoring the deeply fractured trust many thanks Hi I'm Thomas Carruthers I'm Senior Vice President for Studies and Management for International Peace my pleasure to be with you Among the many challenges that the Biden administration faces in renovating U.S. foreign policy is the question of how to re-engage with U.S. support for democracy and human rights in the world it hardly needs saying that the state of democracy in the world is troubled many democracies are struggling to achieve the democratic aspirations they set for themselves a generation ago many established democracies including our own are struggling as well and a number of non-democratic powers are asserting themselves in the world in ways that work again in a more democratic world although U.S. interests are complex we can boil it down in a simple way to say that the United States is a safer, more prosperous country if it lives in a more democratic world thus it behooves the United States to find ways to support democracy Now there's been a consensus on this basic idea over the last 30 years that's Republican and Democratic administrations alike have made supporting democracy abroad at least one part of U.S. foreign policy doesn't mean it's an overriding interest the United States has other economic and security interests that often cut against democracy the United States has been inconsistent in pursuit of this goal at many times it's made some serious mistakes but nevertheless this has been a main state of U.S. foreign policy needs to be in the future as well unfortunately during the last administration U.S. fell away from this a bit and are more in quite a few cases at the presidential level we did not see the engagement on democracy and rights previous presidents had shown U.S. diplomacy was not always there when there were difficult democratic junctures in other countries that could have used external support and of course at home democracy didn't shine as an example to the world so as the Biden administration seeks to re-engage on this in some ways what it needs to do is fairly obvious the U.S. president needs to speak out on this issue speak forcefully he needs to raise it with foreign leaders who are facing democratic challenges who are actively working against democracy the United States needs to return to the multilateral fold in a number of places and engage on democracy issues and the United States needs to, the United States needs to continue the democracy assistance that it's been providing fortunately even during the toughest times of the last administration U.S. democracy assistance continued thanks to bipartisan support from the U.S. Congress the United States needs to continue that assistance, step it up renovate as well now as it does all of these things the Biden administration faces a special challenge which is it's really pretty obvious unfortunately that U.S. democracy has been in a very troubled state not just the insurrection and the capital on January 6th the challenges to free and fair elections that the United States held in November and other violation of democratic norms by politicians over the last several years thus the United States needs to take on board this troubled democratic reality as it re-engages on democracy support how can it do that and how do these things are really important in that effort first the United States needs to approach democracy support with a strong emphasis on partnership the idea that the United States is the natural global leader on democracy unfortunately is in question in the world the United States can't just assert that instead it needs to radiate out the message that most established democracies try to support democracy outside their borders whether it's Canada or South Korea or France European Union or Sweden or many others and the United States needs to pursue a partnership oriented approach in which it looks at what some of those countries are doing and try to support them in their efforts so Canada for example it's putting a lot of emphasis on gender inclusion and its policies abroad Sweden has been emphasizing human rights in many different ways Great Britain has been pursuing anti-corruption policies that are important in all of these domains and others the United States can move in alongside and say how can we support we want to be part of this because by pursuing a partnership approach it lowers the idea that this is a sort of special American preoccupation and allows non-democratic countries to push back and say oh this is just an American geo-strategic point instead the United States through a partnership approach can say this is something that all established democracies do and we're just one of them Second the United States needs to move fully away from the idea really an outdated notion that democracy support is an export venture and instead think of it as a mutual learning endeavor we have trouble at home other countries face similar problems let's find ways to work together on these challenges so if the administration identifies a few key areas of challenge for the United States like election administration polarization the need for electoral reforms of different types and then goes to other countries and says we're working on these things you're facing these challenges let's work together let's learn from you let's bring some of your experts to our country let's have some people from our country go to your country and work with you let's pursue this in a mutual fashion I think it'll find a better hearing on these issues so mutual learning rather than export and then finally smart messaging the United States U.S. officials when they go to reassert the United States as a pro-democratic actor really need to have a smart messaging strategy that doesn't just broadcast we're back we're here we want to support democracy instead it starts with a strong dose of humility and realism and says we are struggling we are facing this challenge U.S. democracy has been alien in different ways but we're on it we're going to get to that and we're going to integrate our efforts at home with our efforts abroad so both humility and solidity if the right messaging is done I think they'll get a hearing again and a better audience with these things so in some democracies in trouble in the world United States needs to step up this is a big opportunity to do so that it has to be done in ways that are consistent with the realities of both what's happening with U.S. democracy at home what the situation is abroad we bring those things into alignment I think the Biden administration will be able to return the United States to a valuable place as a major supporter of international democracy and contribute in significant ways to American security and prosperity by doing so thanks for your attention well I want to thank the U.S. Institute of Peace for inviting us to participate U.S. IP and heritage have been great partners through the years we've worked on a lot of projects and have a lot of success and I think the reason that is we always kind of lived by the rule that you put policy ahead of politics I think it worked for us and I really think it is the magic formula that we should all be focusing on going ahead and deal with the really great challenges we have in the future certainly I think topping that list is dealing with the issues of great power competition I don't think that is a bumper sticker I don't think it's a Republican mantra or a Democratic mantra I think it's the reality of the world that we live in today and if we don't adapt our policies to deal with the challenges it presents then we're missing really the great generational challenge that we face in our lives I think nuclear issues are something we're all going to have to pay a lot more attention to part of great power competition is achieving strategic and conventional balance part of that is the important role of strategic and conventional deterrence and so I think we'll be talking a lot more about nuclear systems arms control and I think it's just an all issue an issue that all of us need to be prepared to take a lot more seriously as we enter the post COVID world I think there's an important role for American leadership and leading the post COVID economic recovery of the free world I don't think that's traditional trade deals or protectionist policies or kind of traditional foreign assistance I think we need new models like the private sector needs to play an important role and government needs really needs to facilitate that so I think it's something that we all need to give a lot more attention to and I think we need to take a hard look at the Atlantic region we talk a lot about the Indo-Pacific strategy and how we bring prosperity and stability that region we've kind of taken the Atlantic region for granted from the Arctic to the Antarctic from Europe to Canada Latin America to Africa but I think it's a part of a part of the world that we have to pay attention to as a holistic region and think about what policies can continue stability and prosperity of the region again I really want to commend us IP for this really important event and their leadership. Thank you for having me. Thanks for inviting me and the Center for American Progress to participate in this important event. Our democracy faces enormous challenges. Earlier this month each of us witnessed images of chaos and rioting at the very heart of our democracy incited unfortunately by then President Trump. The images are a visceral reminder of the obstacles that we must overcome. The new administration inherits a damaged union when we're disinformation and division at home threaten our national security. The national security divisions on the home front will also hinder incoming officials from focusing on foreign policy be they rising competition with China cyber attacks from Russia or other brewing conflicts around the world. And while we are rightly focused on the problems of today there are also clear opportunities for progress going forward. As we have seen when U.S. leadership is absent on the global stage it leaves a void. But the United States has an opportunity to fill that void with easy wins. We can harness U.S. expertise to help ensure global vaccination efforts are successful. We can rebuild diplomatic relationships with key partners such as NATO democratic allies such as Canada and South Korea. And we can bring back a robust policy process based on facts and expert judgment rather than uncomprecious tweets. At the center for American progress we are dedicated to advancing a progressive and sustainable national security agenda. With that in mind we recently published a 100 day report on steps the new administration can take. First we need to rebuild and rebalance our national security tools and institutions. There is long been consensus among national security experts that our diplomatic capacity has not kept pace with our military capacity. Rebuilding diplomatic institution and tools in conjunction with restoring trust and accountability will ensure U.S. foreign policy officials are best equipped to carry out their jobs and meet future challenges. Second we need to prioritize and uphold our democratic values and support human rights in both U.S. foreign and domestic policy. We have long been a widely shared bipartisan view but with mixed results and actual policy. But again unfortunately the past few years have done real damage to U.S. with Trump's embrace of dictators and as we witnessed on January 6 his incitement of violence. The Biden administration summit for democracy can be an important step but it will take concrete policy actions that to ensure progress at home and abroad. Third we should end wars responsibly. The Biden administration will need to find ways to wind these conflicts down while promoting sustainable peace. Hopefully President Biden and now Secretary of Defense Austin will find bipartisan agreement about how to reconfigure DOD's resources to do so. Fourth we need to recalibrate global relationships and here I would include adversaries like China and Russia challenging partners like Turkey and Saudi Arabia and allies who have been given the cold shoulder such as our European partners. I think there's much bipartisan agreement here as last week's confirmation hearings reflect particularly in the face of rising competition with China and the need to cooperate with allies. While there may be different perspectives on how to manage these relations. Bringing experienced diplomats back to the State Department is an important first step. And finally we have to tackle global challenges such as climate change, mass migration, new technologies and of course the pandemic. While there's bipartisan agreement on the scope of these challenges there are of course differences on the right policy solutions. Still I think there's also a shared understanding that one country alone cannot tackle these problems but that bringing U.S. expertise and muscle back to the international community could help spur cooperation and new solutions. Let me finish if I may on a personal note. I had the privilege of serving as our ambassador to Tunisia 10 years ago when the Arab Spring began. I was impressed and gratified by the widespread bipartisan support from Senators such as John McCain, John Kerry and Joseph Sherman. Senators who understood and backed Tunisian aspirations for democracy. Looking forward I hope that we will see our approach to foreign policy mirror theirs and we can return to what Senator Arthur Vandenberg like to call unpartisanship where national interests rather than party politics drive the agenda. So thank you again for inviting Cap to participate and thank you for the opportunity to share your thoughts. I'm Corey Shacky the director of the foreign and defense policy studies program at the American Enterprise Institute and on behalf of our president Robert Dore and the fellows of AEI we are grateful to be participating in the U.S. Institute of Pieces passing the Baton project. It's so important for us to restore bipartisan cooperation on the issues most pressing for our country. The American Enterprise Institute is a public policy think tank dedicated to defending human dignity expanding human potential and building a freer and safer world. The work of our scholars and staff advances ideas rooted in our belief in democracy free enterprise American strength and global leadership solidarity with those at the periphery of our society and a pluralistic entrepreneurial culture. And foreign and defense policy we have been doing an enormous amount of work using the tools of free society to band together with like-minded countries to effectively manage the rise of a China that is increasingly a threat not just to its neighbors but to the global order itself. We are also doing groundbreaking work coming up with software that will help people who are not defense budget experts to see where in the defense budget we are accruing risk by underfunding our strategy. And a third area we are doing a lot of work and we think also has the basis for bipartisan cooperation is identifying areas in the Trump Administration's foreign policy where even if some of the means by which they were trying to achieve objectives need course correction we ought to be careful not to throw out the advances that they nonetheless made for protecting American interests. And we are enthusiastic about teaming up with the other organizations under the U.S. instituted pieces banner for this project to rebuild bipartisan cooperation because of course our country is strongest and safest when we work together. My name is George Moose and I have the pleasure of serving as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Institute of Peace but let me begin by thanking our panelists and partner organization representatives for sending us off with those reflections. As their comments made clear there is a broadly shared understanding of the momentous opportunities and daunting challenges that lie ahead for American foreign policy and national security. Their remarks also affirm that there is an equally shared understanding of the nonpartisan character of those opportunities and challenges. The issues are certainly multifaceted and complex and they will demand the concerted attention and effort of our entire foreign policy community. Let me offer special thanks to our principal speakers and participants Admiral Michelle Howard National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan Outgoing National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Ross. Their very presence here today reaffirms the importance of standing united against threats to global peace and security. The last but not least I wish to thank you our audience for joining us for this important conversation. A recording of this event can be found on our website at usip.org. We will be hosting other bipartisan conversations on foreign policy and national security in the weeks to come and we hope you will join us. We look forward to working with our partners here in the U.S. and around the world continuing to play a leading role in the effort to prevent violent conflict and promote sustainable peace. I thank you.