Passing the Baton 2021: Securing America’s Future Together
Read the event coverageFor the past 20 years, the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) has convened national security leaders after every change in administration to affirm the peaceful transfer of power and the bipartisan character of American foreign policy through its signature Passing the Baton event.
In 2021, USIP and its partners believe that this event is more important now than ever.
Read the full event transcript
On January 29, USIP brought together Jake Sullivan, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s national security advisor, and Ambassador Robert O’Brien, President Donald J. Trump’s former national security advisor, for a conversation on the most critical foreign policy challenges facing the nation. Secretary Condoleezza Rice, the 66th Secretary of State and former national security advisor to President George W. Bush, moderated the conversation.
Passing the Baton: Securing America’s Future Together provided an opportunity to assert and reflect on the importance of standing united against threats to global peace and security, which is rooted in the American commitment to the peaceful transition of power.
USIP was pleased to host this bipartisan event with the American Enterprise Institute, Atlantic Council, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Center for American Progress, The Heritage Foundation, and Hudson Institute.
Agenda
Opening Remarks
- Stephen J. Hadley
Chair, U.S. Institute of Peace - Lise Grande
President and CEO, U.S. Institute of Peace
Top National Security Threats Facing the Nation
- Admiral Michelle Howard
USN Retired
Securing America’s Future Together
- Jake Sullivan
National Security Advisor to President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. - Ambassador Robert O’Brien
Former National Security Advisor to President Donald J. Trump - Secretary Condoleezza Rice, moderator
66th Secretary of State and Former National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush
Meeting the Moment: Reflections from Partners
- Frederick Kempe
President and CEO, Atlantic Council - Kenneth Weinstein
President Emeritus and Walter P. Stern Distinguished Fellow, Hudson Institute - Thomas Carothers
Senior Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - James Jay Carafano
Vice President of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, and the E. W. Richardson Fellow, The Heritage Foundation - Ambassador Gordon Gray
Chief Operating Officer, Center for American Progress - Kori Schake
Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
Closing Remarks
- Ambassador George Moose
Vice Chair, U.S. Institute of Peace
