Challenges to America's Security

  • What are the lessons for national security and foreign policy that can be passed from earlier administrations to the incoming Bush administration and new Congress?
  • When and how should the U.S. take the lead in resolving international crises?
  • To what extent should the next administration consider restructuring the executive branch to bring strategic planing and improved policy implementation into the 21st Century?

On January 17, 2001, the United States Institute of Peace webcast the first of a series of special programs designed to examine these and other challenges to America's security in the new century. Entitled "Passing the Baton: Challenges of Statecraft for the New Administration," this program featured a rich array of seasoned senior foreign policy and national security leaders and former officials. Included throughout the day were remarks by Brent Scowcroft, Robert Rubin, William Perry, Anthony Lake, Strobe Talbott, Senator Joe Biden, and others.

Featured at mid-day was a keynote address by National Security Advisor Samuel Berger on "Foreign Policy in an Era of Globalization." In the afternoon National Security Advisor-designate Condoleezza Rice made a special address on "National Security Challenges for the New Administration."

Other national security and foreign policy issues which were examined included:

  • Organizing for National Security Policy;
  • Why Partnership with Russia is So Elusive;
  • America as Peacemaker;
  • Building a Stable Balkans; and
  • Securing Peace in Northeast Asia.

This Internet event was webcast all day on January 17th, beginning with the opening remarks at 9:00 AM, and concluded at approximately 6:30 PM EST.

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Despite obvious distractions from crises in other corners of the world, Haiti’s deepening disaster is belatedly drawing wider international attention. Critics of U.S. policy toward Haiti are emerging from all corners of the political spectrum — and there is much to be critical of, particularly if the timeframe is stretched to cover Haiti's political experience since the late 1980s and the transition from the Duvalier dictatorships. But in the here and now, these assessments short charge the admittedly tough odds of the most recent Caribbean Community- (CARICOM) managed mediation efforts from which has emerged Haiti’s Presidential Council, a transitional governance structure for the country.

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In Russia’s Hybrid War on Europe, Moldova’s Critical Next 15 Months

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A rising risk in southeast Europe is Russia’s sharpening of conflicts to block Moldova’s effort to join the European Union. The Kremlin is escalating a hybrid campaign to manipulate three Moldovan elections over the next 15 months. Moscow last week hosted the formation of a political bloc around its primary Moldovan ally, a fugitive billionaire convicted of the country’s worst-ever bank fraud — and sent a startling flood of pre-election cash that police seized at Moldova’s main airport. This is a critical season for Moldova’s democratic allies to help it defeat Russian disinformation and election subversion.

Type: Analysis

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On March 28, 2021, barely two months after the February 1 coup in Myanmar, a minor skirmish erupted at the Tarhan protest in Kalay township in central Sagaing region as demonstrators took up makeshift weapons to defend themselves against ruthless assaults by the junta’s security forces. This was the first recorded instance of civilian armed resistance to the military’s violent crackdown on peaceful protesters since the February 1 coup d’état.

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