Obama, Trump Aides to Confer at USIP on Foreign & Security Policies
Passing the Baton Conference January 10 Aims to Facilitate the Transition
Washington, December 20, 2016 --Ten days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, members of his national security team will join Secretary of State John Kerry and other senior foreign policy officials from current and former administrations to discuss immediate and long-term challenges facing the United States. The president-elect’s designated National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, current National Security Advisor Ambassador Susan Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and other officials and experts join in a day of on-the- record discussion on January 10. (See list below)
The meetings will form the third Passing the Baton conference hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace as part of the transfer of power between U.S. presidents since 2001. USIP, an independent and nonpartisan national institution founded by Congress, hosts the event in accordance with its congressional mandate to advance informed, problem-solving on threats to U.S. national interests and to promote international peace without violence. The conference will bring together current, future and former officials as well as hundreds of foreign policy and national security experts to cover topics such as America’s role in the world, and how the country can prepare to deal with unanticipated strategic surprises.
USIP’s partners for the conference include the American Enterprise Institute, the Atlantic Council, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Center for American Progress and the Heritage Foundation. Politico and SiriusXM’s POTUS Channel 124 are USIP’s media partners for this event.
Nancy Lindborg, President of USIP, confirmed today that the following speakers and panelists will participate in the January 10, on-the-record event:
Department of State:
- John Kerry, Secretary of State
- Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State
National Security Council:
- Ambassador Susan Rice, National Security Advisor
- Lieutenant General Michael Flynn (Ret.), incoming National Security Advisor
- K.T. McFarland, incoming Deputy National Security Advisor
- Stephen J. Hadley, former National Security Advisor; Chair of the U.S. Institute of Peace Board of Directors
Members of Congress:
- Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Chairman, Senate State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee; Member, Senate Armed Services Committee
Former administration officials:
- Michèle Flournoy, Co-Founder and CEO of the Center for a New American Security
- Juliette Kayyem, CNN National Security Analyst
- General Jack Keane (Ret.), former Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute for the Study of War
- Admiral James Stavridis (Ret.), Dean of the Fletcher School, Tufts University
- Jake Sullivan, former Senior Policy Advisor at Hillary for America, former National Security Advisor to the Vice President
Think-Tank Leaders:
- Arthur Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute
- James Carafano, Vice President of the Heritage Foundation
- Fred Kempe, President and CEO of the Atlantic Council
For more information or media RSVP, please contact J. Paul Johnson, Senior Press Officer, U.S. Institute of Peace at 202-429-7174 or via e-mail at pjohnson@usip.org.