Event Schedule

• 11:30 AM Registration 
• 12:00 PM Lunch Served 
• 12:30 PM Program

About the Event:

Above all, Stephen Hadley understands well what philosopher George Santayana meant when he said: “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” This Hadley-edited book, Hand-Off, is a frank examination of the eight years of foreign policy of President George W. Bush, whom Steve served for four years as National Security Advisor and four years as Deputy National Security Advisor. An honest critique of both the strengths and weaknesses of that administration during a critical time in U.S. history, Hand-Off is a must read for anyone who wants a good understanding of how foreign policy was formulated and implemented under President Bush. — James A. Baker, 61st U.S. Secretary of State

Arguably no individual has a better understanding of the foreign policy of President George W. Bush and its continuing influence than Stephen Hadley, who served as the 20th Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) from 2005 to 2009.

In that capacity he was the principal White House foreign policy advisor to then President George W. Bush, directed the National Security Council staff, and ran the interagency national security policy development and execution process. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Hadley was the Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor, serving under then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

The enlightening Hadley-edited book, Hand-Off, details the Bush administration’s national security and foreign policy as described at the time in then-classified Transition Memoranda prepared by the National Security Council. Thirty of these Transition Memoranda, newly declassified and made public for the first time, provide a detailed, comprehensive, and first-hand look at the foreign policy the Bush administration turned over to President Obama.

These same experts now in hindsight take a remarkably self-critical look at that Bush foreign policy legacy after watching subsequent administrations attempt to deal with the same vexing agenda of threats and opportunities — China, Russia, Iran, the Middle East, terrorism, proliferation, cyber, pandemics, and climate change – an agenda that still dominates America’s national security and foreign policy.

Mr. Hadley will discuss the ongoing effects of the Bush administration’s foreign policy and give insights into the present-day challenges posed by China, Russia, Iran and other destabilizing forces which may disrupt the U.S.’s place in the world.

***Copies of National Security Advisor Hadley’s acclaimed new book, Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama, will be available at the event.***

About the Speaker:

Stephen Hadley served for four years as the 20th Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) from 2005 to 2009. In that capacity he was the principal White House foreign policy advisor to then President George W. Bush, directed the National Security Council staff, and ran the interagency national security policy development and execution process.

From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Hadley was the Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor, serving under then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. In addition to covering the full range of national security issues, Mr. Hadley had special responsibilities in several areas including: a U.S./Russia political dialogue; the Israeli disengagement from Gaza; and developing a strategic relationship with India.

Mr. Hadley is a Principal at Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm founded with Condoleezza Rice, Robert Gates, and Anja Manuel. He is the Executive Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Council and the former Board Chair of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). He has co-chaired a series of senior bipartisan working groups on topics such as: Arab-Israeli peace; U.S. political strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan; U.S./Turkey relations; and U.S. policy on Iraq and Egypt.

From 1993 to 2001, Mr. Hadley was both a partner in the Washington D.C. law firm of Shea & Gardner and a principal in The Scowcroft Group. From 1989 to 1993, Mr. Hadley served as the assistant secretary of defense for international security policy under then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. Mr. Hadley represented the Defense Department on arms control and defense matters, including: negotiations with the Soviet Union and then Russia; security issues involving NATO and Western Europe; and export and technology control matters. In 1987, he was counsel to the Tower Commission, as it investigated U.S. arms sales to Iran, and served on the National Security Council staff under President Ford.

He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of The Council on Foreign Relations and Yale University’s Kissinger Papers Advisory Board. Mr. Hadley previously served as a member of: the Department of Defense Policy Board; the National Security Advisory Panel to the Director of Central Intelligence; and the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board.

Mr. Hadley graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University. He received his J.D. degree from Yale Law School, where he was Note and Comment Editor of the Yale Law Journal.  From 1972 to 1975 he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy.