A signed copy of Joby Warrick’s book ‘Red Line‘ is included with every ticket, for both in-person & virtual attendees.

Despite losing much of its territory and garnering fewer headlines recently, ISIS, Al Qaeda and other terrorists groups continue to operate and plan major attacks against the U.S. and our allies. In Iraq and Syria, ISIS used chemical weapons at least 52 times against civilians and Iraqi soldiers; and U.S. intelligence continues to work to prevent terrorists from carrying out an attack in the West.

As evidenced by Israeli air strikes in December against chemical weapons facilities in Syria, these weapons still exist in the war torn nation; and the Assad regime is believed to be expanding its chemical weapons stockpiles and capabilities again.

Joby Warrick, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of ‘Black Flags’, will assess the ongoing threat of terrorist groups acquiring chemical weapons. He will also discuss his acclaimed book ‘Red Line’ which chronicles the thrilling unknown story of America’s mission in Syria to find and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons and keep them out of the hands of the Islamic State – and how those efforts empowered Russia and Iran.

In spite of President Obama warning that using chemical weapons would cross “a red line” Assad did it anyway, using sarin nerve agents and chlorine gas to kill thousands of Syrian civilians and psychologically terrorize many more.

While large volumes of Assad’s chemical weapons were destroyed under an agreement negotiated by the U.S. and Russia, troubling questions remain about what chemical weapons Assad still possesses and the possibility that ISIS or another terrorist group could capture some of these weapons – and then use them against the U.S. and others.

JOBY WARRICK has been a reporter for The Washington Post since 1996. He has twice won the Pulitzer Prize, for journalism and for his book Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS. He is also the author of The Triple Agent.