WHITE HOUSE WORKSHOP
THE GLOBAL ECONOMY AND THE NEW U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY REALITIES

Few presidents have entered the White House with greater expectations or as many campaign promises as Barack Obama.  Partisan politics may evolve, but institutional rivalries persist. Promising to change politics and policy is easy; actually changing them is difficult.  The Administration’s Domestic Agenda includes: job creation and maintenance, investment security, reliable credit, middle- and lower-class tax reductions, health-care reform, infrastructure rebuilding, environmental progress, energy independence with a green emphasis, and education reform all in the midst of an economic meltdown.

Foreign Policy priorities are equally ambitious: the expanding war in Afghanistan and troop withdrawal from Iraq, the re-emergence of Russia as a regional and international power, trade and debt issues with China, not to mention the threat of terrorism almost everywhere in the world. What does the new President emphasize? Where does he compromise in the face of what’s certain to be growing opposition?  The White House Workshop will offer federal executives the opportunity to explore these and other issues as the 44th President begins to confront the many and difficult problems which the United States faces today.

SPEAKERS & TOPICS*

• Presidential Leadership During Times of Crisis
  Stephen Wayne, Author of Presidential Leadership and The Road to the White House 2008
• What Political Polls Tell Us and What They Don’t
  Karlyn Bowman, Editor, The American Enterprise Magazine
• Presidential Leadership: Contrasts in Style
  Edwin Meese, III, U.S. Attorney General in the Reagan Administration
• Contemporary Iran: Politics, Culture, and Its Role in the War on Terror
  Ambassador Edward Gnehm, Former Ambassador to Jordan, Kuwait, and Australia
• The Legislative Roles of the Office of Management and Budget
  Jeffrey Weinberg, Legislative Attorney, Office of Management and Budget
• National Intelligence:  Are We Going in the Right Direction?
  Ronald Marks, Former Intelligence Counsel to Senators Bob Dole and Trent Lott
• The Iranian Nuclear Dilemma
  Geoffrey Kemp, Director, Regional Security Programs, The Nixon Center
• NATO and Challenges of Transatlantic Relations
  Ambassador Robert Hunter, U.S. Ambassador to NATO under President Clinton
• The Globalization of Economic Life: American Institutions at Risk
  Jack Blum, Attorney; Former Special Counsel, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
• The Current Situation and Prospects in Iraq and Afghanistan
  Frederick Kagan, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
• The Middle East and the War on Terror:  Options for the New Administration
  Hisham Melhem, Washington-based Correspondent for the Al-Qabas International
• The Obama Administration’s 100-Day Agenda
  Alexis Simendinger, National Correspondent, National Journal
• The President and Congress:  Is Cooperation Inevitable?
  Kenneth Duberstein, Chief of Staff under President Reagan
• The Supreme Court:  What Will the Next Four Years Bring?
  Jeffrey Rosen, Legal Affairs Editor, The New Republic; Author of The Most Democratic Branch:  How the Courts Serve America
• Nation Building in Iraq and Afghanistan:  The Impact on the Military
  James Dobbins, Director, International Security and Defense Policy Center, RAND
• The United States and China:  Challenges Ahead for the Obama Administration
  Ambassador James R. Lilley, Former U.S. Ambassador to China and Korea
• U.S. National Interest: What’s at Stake in Iran
  Kenneth Pollack, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution
• Contemporary Congressional Politics and Their Impact on the President’s Policy Priorities
  James Thurber, Director, Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, American University

*NOTE: The above roster, with abbreviated bios, highlights speakers who have participated in 2009 White House Workshops and is meant to offer interested participants an illustration of the type of presentations and subject matter they will be experiencing in upcoming seminars. Approximately 15 presentations will be made in each White House Workshop.

LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES

After participating in the White House Workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Identify the key decision makers who are involved in the policy-making and policy implementation processes and the institutional perspectives from which they offer advice and make judgments;

2. Think strategically and tactically about how to affect policy-making and policy implementation, how to anticipate reactions to that policy in the United States and abroad, and how to avoid unintended consequences that flow from poor policy judgments;

3. Improve cultural and historic awareness of the political, legal, and institutional environment in which domestic and foreign policy-making and policy implementation occur;

4. Enhance critical synthetic and analytical skills necessary to advise senior officials in the making and evaluation of public policy;

5. Be sensitized to the changing situational conditions that affect past, current, and future policy judgments.

PROGRAM MODERATORS

A highly qualified Program Moderator will facilitate dialogue between the speakers and participants over the course of the three-day seminar. View moderator biographies.

FEE

$1,445 per person

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Seminars will be held at the Capitol Hill Club, 300 First Street, SE, Washington, DC. Continental breakfast and registration will start at 8:00 a.m. The seminar will begin at 8:30a.m. and conclude at approximately 4:00p.m. each day. A luncheon workshop with speaker is included each day. An on-site coordinator will be provided to attend to workshop logistics.

No video, power point or audio-visual aids are utilized in the presentations. These programs are informal and strictly "off-the-record."

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