CSIS is pleased to announce a few of the upcoming Smart Power Speaker Series events:

“Nation Building after Iraq”

James Dobbins, Director, International Security and Defense Policy Center, RAND Corporation and Former Assistant Secretary of State for Europe

June 4, 2008: 2:30pm-4:00pm, CSIS B1 Conference Center

“America: Our Next Chapter. Tough Questions, Straight Answers”

Chuck Hagel, U.S. Senator from Nebraska

June 18, 2008: 1:00pm-2:30pm, CSIS B1 Conference Center

“Energy Insecurity and Climate Change”

Jon Huntsman, Governor from Utah

June 23, 2008: 10:00am-11:30am, CSIS B1 Conference Center

“The Future of U.S. Trade Policy”

Carla Hills, Chair and CEO, Hills & Company and Former U.S. Trade Representative

Grant Aldonas, Senior Advisor, CSIS

June 24, 2008: 10:00am-11:30am, CSIS B1 Conference Center

“The Future of Alliances: A CSIS Perspective”

Stephen Flanagan, Senior Vice President, Henry A. Kissinger Chair in National Security and Director of International Security Program

Michael Green, Senior Adviser and Japan Chair

Derek Mitchell, Senior Fellow, International Security Program

Julianne Smith, Director and Senior Fellow, Europe Program

June 30, 2008: 1:30pm-3:00pm, CSIS B1 Conference Center

“Reducing the Global Nuclear Threat”

William Perry, Former Deputy Secretary of Defense and Professor at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation

July 15, 2008: 4:00pm-5:30pm, CSIS B1 Conference Center

To RSVP for any of these events, please contact Jared Wrage at JWrage@csis.org or (202) 887-0200, ext. 3332.

Next Wednesday, May 21, the CSIS Europe Program and Smart Power Speaker Series will co-host The Rt. Hon. David Miliband, UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.  David Miliband has been a Member of Parliament since 2001, and entered the British Cabinet in May 2005 as Minister of Communities and Local Government.  He served as Secretary of State at the Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs from May 2006 until June 2007.  Before entering Parliament, he was head of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Policy Unit from 1997 and 2004.  He was educated at Oxford University and at MIT, where he was a Kennedy Scholar.  In his remarks at CSIS, David Miliband will build on recent speeches he has made on the theme of democracy, reflecting on recent trips he has made to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

This event will take place from 12pm-1:15pm on Wednesday, May 21 at The Pierce Banquet Room in The Willard Hotel (1401 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC, 20004).  Please RSVP for this event by contacting Jared Wrage at JWrage@csis.org or (202) 887-0200, ext. 3332.

Who are the new leaders influencing economic and political agendas around the world?  What will life be like in America, Europe, Japan, or China in the year 2020?  Which countries will dominate the course of globalization?  CSIS is very pleased to host David Rothkopf, President and CEO of Garten Rothkopf and Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Robert Shapiro, Chairman of Sonecon LLC and former Undersecretary of Commerce, for a discussion on globalization.  These international economic experts will address these questions above and discuss their new books, respectively entitled, “Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making,” and “Futurecast: How Superpowers, Populations, and Globalization Will Change the Way You Live and Work.”  Charles Freeman, Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS, will chair the session. This Smart Power Speaker Series event will take place on Tuesday, May 6, 2008, from 2:00pm–3:30pm in the CSIS B1 Conference Center.

“Working for the Greater Good: The Nexus among Government, Corporate America, and Private Foundations”

This Thursday, May 1, CSIS will host Mr. Robert Mallett, President of the Pfizer Foundation and Senior Vice President of Worldwide Alliance Development, Philanthropy, and Corporate Responsibility. Pfizer is the world’s largest research-based biomedical and pharmaceutical company. Mr. Mallett, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, supervises Pfizer’s worldwide philanthropy and corporate giving. He will speak on the rising force and changing nature of American philanthropy abroad and Pfizer’s efforts to deliver better global public health outcomes. Stephen Morrison, Executive Director of the HIV/AIDS Task Force and Director of the Africa Program at CSIS, will be chairing the event. This Smart Power Speaker Series event will take place from 1:30pm-3:00pm this Thursday, May 1, in the CSIS B1 Conference Center. If you would like to attend this event, please email RMylroie@csis.org or call 202-775-3152. Thanks!

CSIS will host Dr. Gordon Adams, Professor of International Relations at American University’s School of International Service, distinguished fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center, and director of Stimson’s new program on Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense, for a discussion on how to reform the planning and budgeting processes for U.S. national security policy.  Dr. Adams served as an advisor to the CSIS Commission on Smart Power and was a member of the CSIS Task Force on Nontraditional Security Assistance.  Kathleen Hicks, senior fellow of the international security program at CSIS, will chair the session. This Smart Power Speaker Series event will take place on Tuesday, April 29, 2008, from 1:30pm–3:00pm in the CSIS B1 Conference Center.

Today, Commission Co-Chairs Richard Armitage and Joseph Nye testified in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the topic of “Implementing Smart Power: Setting an Agenda for National Security Reform.”  James R. Locher, III, Executive Director of the Project on National Security Reform and Dr. Gordon Adams, Professor of International Relations at American University’s School of International Service, also served as witnesses.  You may find a transcript of the testimony here.

CSIS is pleased to host Joseph S. Nye Jr., CSIS Trustee, Distinguished Service Professor from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government; Susan Eisenhower, Chairman of Leadership and Public Policy Programs at The Eisenhower Institute; David Sanger, White House Correspondent from The New York Times; and Brent Scowcroft, CSIS Trustee and President of the Scowcroft Group for a discussion on Dr. Nye’s new book, “The Powers to Lead,” and how leadership is critical to the effective implementation of Smart Power.  Michael J. Green, Senior Advisor and Japan Chair at CSIS, will chair the session.  “The Powers to Lead” should be required reading for anyone interested in assessing the leadership qualities of CEOs, cabinet secretaries, or the next president of the United States. This Smart Power Speaker Series event will take place from 2:30pm-4:00pm this Thursday, April 24 , in the CSIS B1 Conference Center. Thanks!

This Friday, CSIS will host Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme, for a discussion on the new humanitarian challenges in the 21st century.  Johanna Nesseth Tuttle, Vice President for Strategic Planning at CSIS, will chair the session.  The UN WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization.  Climate change, natural disasters, demographic trends, and soaring food prices all underpin mounting global food insecurity challenges.  Ms. Sheeran will discuss the “new face of hunger,” its root causes, implications for malnutrition and stability, and the way forward. This Smart Power Speaker Series event will take place from 10:00am-11:30pm this Friday, April 18 , in the CSIS B1 Conference Center. Thanks!

“The Future of Global Health: Priorities and Approaches”"

On Monday, April 7, CSIS will host Dr. Tachi Yamada, President of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for a discussion on the future of global health.  John Hamre, President & CEO of CSIS, will chair the session.  Dr. Tachi Yamada leads the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s efforts to improve the health of the world’s poor by reducing global health inequities, bringing forward affordable new vaccines, therapies, and by developing new partnerships to shape the future of global public health.  In his presentation at CSIS, Dr. Yamada will speak to the foundation’s vision of its current and future role, and more broadly, to the shared priorities and approaches most important to securing major public health gains in the future.  If you would like to attend this event, please call 202-775-3152. Thanks!

By Christina Hsu

Next Thursday, March 27, CSIS will host Jean-Marie Guéhenno, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, as part of our Smart Power Speaker Series. UN peacekeeping is today the flagship enterprise of the United Nations and has become a central element of the international community’s response to complex emergencies. During his eight year tenure as chief of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Mr. Guéhenno has seen the number of deployed UN troops double to over 100,000 with an annual budget of around $7.5 billion in order to protect vulnerable populations and help local communities transition from a post-conflict to a development environment. Johanna Mendelson Forman, CSIS Senior Associate, will be introducing Mr. Guehenno. The event will take place from 1:00pm-2:30pm on March 27 in the CSIS B1 Conference Center. If you would like to attend this event, please email me at CHsu@csis.org.