They spoke in brief videotaped interviews with the institute on the sidelines of its “Passing the Baton” conference that marked the foreign policy and national security transition from one administration to the next.

In parsing the new administration’s foreign policy challenges, “I think you have to break it down into the chronic and the acute,” said Eric Edelman, a former undersecretary of defense for policy under President George W. Bush who serves as a USIP board member.

Retired Army General Jack Keane was among those who said U.S. leadership will be critical. “The world needs to know that America is really going to be there for them, and we want to accept some risk to do some of that,” said Keane, who is chairman of the board at the Institute for the Study of War.

Trump’s national security advisor, Michael Flynn, said he heard that message throughout private discussions at “Passing the Baton” on Jan. 9 and in the following day’s panels and presentations. “We have to step up to the stage and take a much greater leadership role,” he said in a video interview.

World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva urged that the U.S. be a “force for good,” and noted an estimate by the Institute for Economics and Peace that the economic cost worldwide of containing violence reached $14.3 trillion in 2014, or almost 13.4 percent of global gross domestic product. Investing in stability could pay great dividends, she said.