Banquet Introduction
Edward S. Walker, Former President, Middle East Institute
Banquet Address
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Zbigniew Brzezinski is a CSIS scholar and trustee. He is also the Robert E. Osgood Professor of American Foreign Policy at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, in Washington, D.C. He is cochair of the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus and is a former chairman of the American-Ukrainian Advisory Committee. He was a member of the Policy Planning Council of the Department of State from 1966 to 1968; chairman of the Humphrey Foreign Policy Task Force in the 1968 presidential campaign; director of the Trilateral Commission from 1973 to 1976; and principal foreign policy adviser to Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential campaign. From 1977 to 1981, Dr. Brzezinski was national security adviser to President Carter. In 1981 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his role in the normalization of U.S.-China relations and for his contributions to the human rights and national security policies of the United States. He was also a member of the President’s Chemical Warfare Commission (1985), the National Security Council–Defense Department Commission on Integrated Long-Term Strategy (1987–1988), and the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (1987–1989). In 1988, he was cochairman of the Bush National Security Advisory Task Force, and in 2004, he was cochairman of a Council on Foreign Relations task force that issued the report Iran: Time for a New Approach.
Keynote Introduction
Ambassador Wyche Fowler, Jr., Chairman of the Board of the Middle East Institute
Ambassador Wyche Fowler Jr., Chairman of the Board, Middle East Institute
A native Georgian, Wyche Fowler currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Governors at the Middle East Institute. Before assuming this position, he served as US Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 1996 to 2001. Senator Fowler represented the state of Georgia for 16 years in the United States Congress. Elected to the Senate in 1986, he served as Assistant Floor Leader, where he helped to mold bipartisan consensus for major public issues. Prior to that, Mr. Fowler was a member of the US House of Representatives from 1977-1987.
Before his election to Congress, Fowler practiced law in Atlanta for eight years and was elected in 1970 at age 29 to the Atlanta City Council. Four years later he was selected President of the Council, and served in that capacity until 1977. Senator Fowler received a BA in English from Davidson College in 1962 and a JD from Emory University in 1969. He holds honorary degrees from Hofstra, Davidson and Morris Brown College.
Keynote Address
HRH Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the US
HRH Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the US
Prince Turki Al-Faisal is the current Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States. He was appointed an Advisor to the Royal Court in 1973. From 1977 to 2001, Prince Turki served as the Director General of teh General Intelligence Directorate (GID), Saudi Arabia’s main foreign intelligence service. From 2002-2005, he served as Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Prince Turki is one of the founders of the King Faisal Foundation and is Charman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh. He is also Chairman of the Board of the Prince Charles Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts Center and co-chair of the C100 Group, which has been affiliated with the World Economic Forum since 2003.
Panel I: Collecting and Understanding US Intelligence on the Middle East
Frank Anderson, Central Intelligence Agency (retired)
Rand Beers, Former NSC Counterterrorism Advisor
John L. Moore, Defense Intelligence Agency (retired)
Stanley Moskowitz, Central Intelligence Agency (retired)
Moderator: Wayne White, Intelligence Analyst, State Department (retired)
Panel II: The Escalating Conflict Between Syria, Iran and the US
Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker
Flynt Leverett, Brookings Institution
Hisham Melhem, Al-Arabiya
Moderator: Ambassador Wyche Fowler, Jr., Chairman of the Board of the Middle East Institute
Panel III: Understanding the Global Insurgency
Zaki Chehab, Al-Hayat and LBC TV, author of Inside the Resistance
Alberto Fernandez, NEA/Office of Press and Public Diplomacy, State Department
Robert Pape, author of Dying to Win
Michael Scheuer, author of Imperial Hubris
Moderator: Syed Farooq Hasnat, Middle East Institute
Panel IV: Reconstructing Afghanistan and Iraq
Larry Goodson, US Army War College
Ali Jalali, Former Afghan Interior Minister
Phebe Marr, US Institute of Peace
Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq’s Permanent Representative to the UN
Moderator: Ambassador David Mack, Vice President, Middle East Institute
Panel V: Where Will the Energy Come From?
Raad Alkadiri, Petroleum Finance Corporation
David Goldwyn, Executive Director, US-Libya Business Association
Moderator: Herman Franssen, International Energy Associates
Panel VI: Building a Successful Palestinian State
Ross Anthony, RAND Corporation
Laith Arafeh, Advisor on Foreign Policy to the Palestinian National Security Advisor
Shlomo Brom, US Institute of Peace
Steven Simon, RAND Corporation
Panel VII: Arguments for Both the One and Two-State Solutions
Amjad Atallah, Strategic Assessments Initiative
Ehud Eiran, Harvard University
Aaron David Miller, Seeds of Peace
Virginia Tilley, author of The One-State Solution
Moderator: James Bennet, New York Times Magazine
Panel VIII: Negotiations vs. Unilateralism
Gidi Grinstein, Re’ut Institute
Daniel Kurtzer, Visiting Professor, Princeton University
Robert Malley, International Crisis Group
Moderator: Representative Steven Solarz, APCO Worldwide
Russia’s Taliban Embrace Signals a New Power Shift in Afghanistan
