Off The Record | Engaging international affairs discussion since 1938.

Managing Director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State

Walls or Bridges: What Will Shape American Greatness in the 21st Century?

September 20, 2017

**If you would like to use a guest pass for this lecture please register through the office. Thank you. Antony Blinken is the Herter/Nitze Distinguished Scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, as well as a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and a global affairs analyst for CNN. From 2015 to 2017 he was Deputy Secretary of State, the nation’s number two diplomat, with responsibility for the fight against ISIL, the rebalance...

US Strategy and Politics

Evans J. R. Revere

Senior Fellow for Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies, Brookings Institution

North Korea's Nuclear Challenge: Can We Avoid War on the Korean Peninsula?

May 3, 2017

The United States faces a dangerous, provocative North Korea that is threatening to use its nuclear weapons against America. Washington’s options are few, risky, and dangerous, but there still may be a way to resolve ongoing tensions short of war. Evans J.R. Revere is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C. He also serves as a Senior Director with the Albright Stonebridge Group, where he advises clients...

Asia, Defense & Homeland Security, International Peace & Security, US Strategy and Politics

Rashid Khalidi, Ph.D.

Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies, Columbia University

Palestine in the Age of Trump

April 19, 2017

The new President has promised to "make a deal" in Palestine, while at the same time coming closer than any previous administration to the positions of the current Israeli government. What does this mean for Palestinians, who have lived either under occupation in their own homeland for half a century, or dispersed in exile for 70 years? Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, a leading expert on Palestine and the region, and a prolific...

Middle East

Kimberly Marten, Ph.D.

Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Political Science, Columbia University

Russian Foreign Policy: Putin's Strategies and Tactics

March 8, 2017

Kimberly Marten, a foreign policy analyst, is the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, and a faculty member of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) and the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University. Marten directs the Program on U.S.-Russia Relations at Columbia's Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies. She is a member of Columbia's Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies,...

Europe & Russia

Ruchir Sharma

Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist, Morgan Stanley Investment Management

The Rise and Fall of Nations

February 15, 2017

Ruchir Sharma is Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he oversees a team that is responsible for $20 billion in assets. Each month, he typically spends a week in a different emerging market, meeting with locals, leading politicians, central bankers, CEOs and investors. His global travels and high-level access provide insight and analysis for Sharma’s best-selling books. He was included in Bloomberg Markets' 2015 list of the 50...

Economics

Thomas L. Friedman

Author, Columnist, The New York Times

Thank You for Being Late

January 11, 2017

Although he grew up in Minnesota wanting to be a professional golfer, Thomas L. Friedman found his calling in high school thanks to a devoted journalism teacher and a family vacation to Israel. Today he is an internationally renowned author, reporter, and columnist; the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes; and the author of six bestselling books, among them From Beirut to Jerusalem (which won the National Book Award in 1989) and The World Is Flat (published 2007). His most...

Society and Culture

General Michael V. Hayden

Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency,

Principal, Chertoff Group

Terror, Intelligence, Politics and the Law: Where to From Here?

December 7, 2016

General Michael Hayden is a retired four-star general who served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency when the course of world events was changing rapidly. As head of the country’s premier intelligence agencies, he was on the frontline of the war on terrorism and the growing cyber challenge. General Hayden was also the nation’s first principal deputy director of national intelligence and the highest-ranking military intelligence officer in the...

Defense & Homeland Security, Terrorism, US Strategy and Politics

Ambassador (Ret.) John Campbell

Former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria,

Ralphe Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies, Council on Foreign Relations

Is Africa Rising?

November 16, 2016

Dr. John Campbell is the Ralph Bunche senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Rowman & Littlefield published his book Morning in South Africa in May 2016. Rowman & Littlefield also published his book, Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink. The second edition was published in June 2013. He writes the blog "Africa in Transition" and edits both the Nigeria Security Tracker and the Sub-Saharan Security Tracker. From...

Africa

His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al Faisal

Chairman, The King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies

Former Director General of Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Directorate

Emerging Realities in the Middle East: A Saudi Perspective

November 9, 2016

THIS LECTURE IS NOW AT CAPACITY PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL THE OFFICE TO BE ADDED TO THE WAITLIST. THANK YOU His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al Faisal is a member of the House of Saud, the royal family of Saudi Arabia. He was appointed as an Advisor at the Royal Court in 1973. HRH served as the Director General (with a rank of Minister) of the General Intelligence Directorate, Saudi Arabia’s main foreign intelligence service, from 1977 until 2001. In October 2002, HRH was appointed as the Saudi...

Middle East

Fareed Zakaria, Ph.D.

Anchor, CNN's GPS

Elizabeth French Hitchcock Lecture*

2016: Why Is This Election Different from Other Elections?

November 1, 2016

THIS LECTURE IS NOW AT CAPACITY PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL THE OFFICE TO BE ADDED TO THE WAITLIST. THANK YOU Fareed Zakaria is the host of CNN’s flagship international affairs program Fareed Zakaria GPS, an editor-at-large and a columnist for TIME magazine, and a columnist for The Washington Post. Zakaria is also a highly regarded author and has written several international best sellers. Zakaria was editor of Newsweek International from 2000 to 2010 and a columnist for Newsweek. From 1992 to 2010,...

US Strategy and Politics

Ambassador (Ret.) R. Nicholas Burns

Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO

Professor, Harvard University

U.S. Relations with Europe in a Time of Crisis: Challenges for the Next President

October 26, 2016

Nicholas Burns is the Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is also Director of the Future of Diplomacy Project and Faculty Chair for the Programs on the Middle East and on India and South Asia. Professor Burns serves on the board of directors of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Burns is also...

Europe & Russia, International Peace & Security, US Strategy and Politics