Off The Record | Engaging international affairs discussion since 1938.

Director, President and CEO, Woodrow Wilson Center

April 19, 2018

Jane Harman, the Director, President and CEO of the Wilson Center, is an internationally recognized authority on U.S. and global security issues, foreign relations and lawmaking. She resigned from Congress in 2011 to join the Woodrow Wilson Center as its first female Director, President, and CEO. A native of Los Angeles and a public-school graduate, she went on to become a nine-term member of Congress, serving decades on the major security committees in the House of Representatives: six...

International Peace & Security

Dr. Ian Bremmer and Dr. Richard Haass in conversation with Ayman Mohyeldin

The World: How Bad Is It? How Did This Happen? What Can We Do?

April 4, 2018

Ian Bremmer President, Eurasia Group Ian Bremmer is the president and founder of Eurasia Group, the leading global political risk research and consulting firm. He is a prolific and thoughtful commentator and author, regularly expressing his views on political issues in public speeches, television appearances, and respected publications, including Time magazine, where he is the foreign affairs columnist and editor-at-large. Once dubbed the “rising guru” in the field of political risk by The...

US Strategy and Politics

Ambassador Robin Raphel in conversation with Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry

Pakistan's Role in Peace and Security in South Asia

March 29, 2018

Ambassador Robin Raphel Former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Ambassador (ret’d) Robin Raphel is an expert in political, security, and economic development issues in South Asia and the Middle East. As a career foreign service officer, she worked for nearly 40 years in foreign affairs agencies, including the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Ms. Raphel served as assistant secretary of state for South...

International Peace & Security

Marc Chandler and Jacob Lew in conversation with Ali Velshi

LECTURE CANCELLED: Are We Keynes' Grandchildren?

March 7, 2018

Bio's forthcoming Marc Chandler: VP of Investor Relations, Brown Brothers Harriman Jacob Lew: former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Ali Velshi: Host of MSNBC Live

Economics

Dr. Tom Frieden

Former Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Diseases Know No Borders: Preventing Epidemics and Avoidable Tragedies in an Increasingly Connected World

February 7, 2018

Dr. Tom Frieden is the president and CEO of Resolve, a five-year $225 million initiative, launched in September 2017, involving 60 countries, aimed at preventing epidemics and cardiovascular disease. Resolve is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Gates FoundationDr. Frieden is the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he led the effort to end the Ebola epidemic and worked to control the United States’ ...

Health, Science and Technology

Joseph Cirincione and Dr. Gary Samore in conversation with Rebecca Hersman

PATRON EVENT

Can We Avoid Nuclear War?

January 25, 2018

Bios forthcoming Joseph Cirincione President of Ploughshares Dr. Gary Samore Executive Director of Research at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Rebecca Hersman Director of the Project on Nuclear Issues and Senior Advisor for the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Defense & Homeland Security, International Peace & Security

LECTURE CANCELLED: President Masood Khan and Dr. Aparna Pande in conversation with Ambassador Robin Raphel

Kashmir in India-Pakistan Relations: Is Peace Possible?

January 10, 2018

We are working to schedule a make-up lecture date and will notify members accordingly. President Masood Khan President of Pakistan's Azad Jammu and Kashmir territory Mr. Sardar Masood Khan was appointed president of the Pakistani state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2016. At the time of his appointment, Mr. Masood was the director general of the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad. Previously, Mr. Masood was a diplomat in Pakistan’s...

International Peace & Security

Dr. Robert S. Litwak and Jean H. Lee in conversation with Lindsey W. Ford

Shrimp Among Whales: Next Steps for the US and China on Reining in North Korea

December 6, 2017

Robert S. Litwak Senior vice president and director of international security studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Robert S. Litwak is senior vice president and director of international security studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He is also a consultant to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a frequent national security commentator in the media, and the author of numerous publications. Dr. Litwak served on the National Security...

Asia, International Peace & Security, US Strategy and Politics

General John R. Allen and Michéle Flournoy in conversation with David Sanger

US National Security Challenges in the Trump Era

November 29, 2017

General John R. Allen President of the Brookings Institution and Former Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL John Rutherford Allen assumed the presidency of the Brookings Institution in November 2017, having most recently served as chair of security and strategy and a distinguished fellow in the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings. Allen is a retired U.S. Marine Corps four-star general and former commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)...

Defense & Homeland Security

Ambassador (ret.) Robert S. Ford

Senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and former Ambassador to Syria (2011-2014) and Algeria (2006-2008)

War in Syria: End in Sight?

October 25, 2017

Ambassador Robert S. Ford is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. where he analyzes and writes about developments in the Levant and North Africa. He retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2014 after serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Syria from 2011 to 2014 during the buildup of the civil war. Amb. Ford was responsible for leading the State Department’s response by proposing and implementing policy and by developing strategies in collaboration with U.S....

International Peace & Security, Middle East

Gillian Tett

U.S. Managing Editor for the Financial Times

Populism and Protest in Global Politics

October 11, 2017

Gillian Tett serves as US managing editor, leading the Financial Times’ editorial operations in the region across all platforms. She writes weekly columns for the Financial Times, covering a range of economic, financial, political and social issues throughout the globe. Ms. Tett previously served as assistant editor, U.S. managing editor from 2010-2012, and prior to this as assistant editor responsible for the Financial Times’ markets coverage. Her other roles at the...

Society and Culture