Menu

United States Institute of Peace

Home ▶ Events

Passing the Baton 2021: Securing America’s Future Together

Date: Friday, January 29, 2021 / Time: 11:00am - 12:30pm EST

Read the event coverage
Share This
Print the Page

For the past 20 years, the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) has convened national security leaders after every change in administration to affirm the peaceful transfer of power and the bipartisan character of American foreign policy through its signature Passing the Baton event.

In 2021, USIP and its partners believe that this event is more important now than ever.

Read the full event transcript

On January 29, USIP brought together Jake Sullivan, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s national security advisor, and Ambassador Robert O’Brien, President Donald J. Trump’s former national security advisor, for a conversation on the most critical foreign policy challenges facing the nation. Secretary Condoleezza Rice, the 66th Secretary of State and former national security advisor to President George W. Bush, moderated the conversation.

Passing the Baton: Securing America’s Future Together provided an opportunity to assert and reflect on the importance of standing united against threats to global peace and security, which is rooted in the American commitment to the peaceful transition of power.

USIP was pleased to host this bipartisan event with the American Enterprise Institute, Atlantic Council, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Center for American Progress, The Heritage Foundation, and Hudson Institute.

Agenda

Opening Remarks

  • Stephen J. Hadley
    Chair, U.S. Institute of Peace
  • Lise Grande
    President and CEO, U.S. Institute of Peace

Top National Security Threats Facing the Nation

  • Admiral Michelle Howard
    USN Retired                       

Securing America’s Future Together

  • Jake Sullivan
    National Security Advisor to President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
  • Ambassador Robert O’Brien
    Former National Security Advisor to President Donald J. Trump
  • Secretary Condoleezza Rice, moderator
    66th Secretary of State and Former National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush

Meeting the Moment: Reflections from Partners  

  • Frederick Kempe
    President and CEO, Atlantic Council
  • Kenneth Weinstein
    President Emeritus and Walter P. Stern Distinguished Fellow, Hudson Institute
  • Thomas Carothers
    Senior Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • James Jay Carafano
    Vice President of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, and the E. W. Richardson Fellow, The Heritage Foundation
  • Ambassador Gordon Gray
    Chief Operating Officer, Center for American Progress
  • Kori Schake
    Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute

Closing Remarks

  • Ambassador George Moose
    Vice Chair, U.S. Institute of Peace

Speaker Bios

co host logos

Latest Publications

For Peace in Africa, Boost Regional Blocs — Like West Africa’s ECOWAS

For Peace in Africa, Boost Regional Blocs — Like West Africa’s ECOWAS

Friday, April 19, 2024

By: Joseph Sany, Ph.D.

As the United States and international partners work to stabilize Africa’s Sahel region — and to prevent its warfare, violent extremism and armed coups from metastasizing into Africa’s densely populous and strategic Atlantic coast — the West African multinational bloc, ECOWAS, has proven its value in resolving crises and promoting stability. Yet, as global security threats have evolved, ECOWAS, like other multinational bodies, needs updated capacities to meet new challenges. International democracies’ most effective initiative to support West Africa’s stability would be to partner with West Africans to strengthen their vital regional community. A similar strategy is valid across Africa.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance;  Global Policy

Sometimes the Good Guys Win: Guatemala's Kleptocracy Fights Back

Sometimes the Good Guys Win: Guatemala's Kleptocracy Fights Back

Thursday, April 18, 2024

By: Ambassador Stephen G. McFarland

Last year was a pivotal moment for Guatemala’s democracy. Longshot candidate Bernardo Arévalo rode popular anti-corruption fervor into a shocking second place finish in the first-round presidential polls, ultimately winning the presidency in the runoff. Since Guatemala transitioned to a democracy in the mid-1980s, the country has been wracked by increasingly pervasive corruption, perpetrated and perpetuated by venal elites.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance;  Global Elections & Conflict

Four Priorities for Sudan a Year into the Civil War

Four Priorities for Sudan a Year into the Civil War

Thursday, April 18, 2024

By: Susan Stigant

This week marks a year of war in Sudan. A once promising revolution that led to the overthrow in 2019 of the country’s longtime dictator, Omar al-Bashir, has devolved into a devastating civil war. The fighting started over a dispute on how to incorporate the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) into the country’s military, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). A year later as the conflict between the RSF and SAF grinds on, Sudan is experiencing the world’s worst displacement crisis and one of the world’s worst hunger crises in recent history.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy;  Peace Processes

Huawei’s Expansion in Latin America and the Caribbean: Views from the Region

Huawei’s Expansion in Latin America and the Caribbean: Views from the Region

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

By: Parsifal D’Sola Alvarado

Since its founding in Shenzhen, China, in 1987, Huawei has grown into one of the world’s major information and communications technology companies, but its ties to China’s government and military have been regarded by US officials as a potential risk to national security. Latin American and Caribbean countries, however, have embraced the company for the economic and technological benefits it provides. This report explains the stark contrast between Huawei’s standing in the United States and its neighbors to the south.

Type: Special Report

Global Policy

The Indo-Pacific’s Newest Minilateral Emerges

The Indo-Pacific’s Newest Minilateral Emerges

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

By: Brian Harding;  Haroro Ingram

Last week, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stepped foot in the Oval Office for the second time in a year. Joining Marcos this time was Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the leader of the United States’ most important ally in Asia and, arguably, the world. The Philippines has long been among a second rung of regional allies, so this first-ever trilateral summit marks Manila’s entrance as a leading U.S. ally working to maintain order and prevent Chinese revisionism in East Asia.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy

View All Publications