The first plenary session at the 61st Annual Asilomar Conference entitled Understanding the Post 9/11 World featured Michele Flournoy, Paul Hughes, Siegfried Hecker and was moderated by Jane Wales.
In the years since 9/11, the "War on Terror" has defined the Bush Administration's foreign policy. While no terrorist attacks have succeeded on US soil, many consider the global terrorist threat greater than ever. Critics also suggest that the emphasis on fighting terror has damaged American authority and leadership abroad.
Rethinking the "War on Terror" brought together some of the world's foremost experts who explored new foreign policy strategies. They critically examined military, political, social, and economic approaches, offering a roadmap to improve our security. The conference provided participants with a much better understanding of our foreign policy options and the ability to judge the ideas that our current and future leaders propose- World Affairs Council
Bio
Michele Flournoy
Michele Flournoy was appointed President of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) in January 2007. Prior to co-founding CNAS, she was a Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where she worked on a broad range of defense policy and international security issues. Previously, she was a distinguished research professor at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University (NDU), where she founded and led the university’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) working group, which was chartered by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop intellectual capital in preparation for the Department of Defense’s 2001 QDR.
Dr. Siegfried Hecker
Emeritus Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory; Visiting Professor, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University
Paul Hughes
Paul Hughes is a senior program officer in the Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations where he led the Iraq Study Group's Military and Security Expert Working Group. Prior to joining USIP, he served as an active duty Army colonel and as the Army's senior military fellow to the Institute for National Security Studies of the National Defense University. As the director of national security policy on the Army staff he developed and provided policy guidance for the Army in numerous areas, such as arms control, weapons of mass destruction, missile defense, information operations, emerging nontraditional security issues, and crisis prediction.
Jane Wales
Jane Wales is vice president of philanthropy and society at the Aspen Institute, president and CEO of the World Affairs Council, and founder of the Global Philanthropy Forum.
Previously, Wales was a special assistant to President Clinton, senior director of the National Security Council, and associate director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
She also chaired the international security programs at the Carnegie Corporation and the W. Alton Jones Foundation and directed the Project on World Security at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Wales is the former national executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility.