WHITE HOUSE WORKSHOP
CONTINUITY AND TRANSFORMATION IN AN AGE OF TURMOIL

September 21-23, 2010
March 8-10, 2011
September 20-22, 2011

The President has outlined three principal elements in his domestic agenda: education, energy and health care reform.  Each is contentious and involves substantial direct or indirect costs.  Overshadowing all three is a lingering global economic recession, fear of inflation, the growth of entitlements, and a record-setting national debt.

His foreign policy agenda includes 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.

In a time of promise and danger, the White House remains the focal point of Americans’ expectations and concerns.  The central task of the President will be to build the political consensus to deal with problems facing the nation.  What does the new President emphasize?  Where will he have to compromise?

The White House Workshop offers attendees the unique opportunity to discuss current issues of interest – in an off-the-record setting – with over a dozen speakers experienced in all aspects of the national policy-making process.

SPEAKERS & TOPICS*

• President Obama’s Strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan
  Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution; Former CIA Officer and National Security Council Staff Member; Former Special Advisor, NATO, Brussels, Belgium

• An Overview of European Politics, Security, and the Economic Crisis
  James Sofka, Adjunct Faculty, Federal Executive Institute; Former Dean and Director, Echols Scholar Program, University of Virginia
• The President, Congress, and the Global Economy:  The Changing Face of American Politics
  Alexis Simendinger, National Correspondent, National Journal; Commentator, Washington Week in Review, CNN, National Public Radio
• The Middle East and the War on Terror:  From President Bush to President Obama
  Hisham Melhem, Washington Bureau Chief, Al-Arabiya News Channel; Senior Correspondent, Annahar (Lebanon’s leading daily)
• Reflections on the Modern Presidency
  Sid Davis, Former Vice-President and Washington Bureau Chief, NBC News; Former Program Director, Voice of America
• Presidential Leadership:  Contrasts in Style
  Edwin Meese, III, Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy, Heritage Foundation; Former U.S. Attorney General
• The Fall of the Evil Empire and the Rise of 21st Century Socialism
  Yuri Maltsev, Soviet Defector; Former Senior Economist, Academy of Sciences of the USSR; Professor, Carthage College, Wisconsin
• The Supreme Court: What Will the Next Four Years Bring?
  Jeffrey Rosen, Legal Affairs Editor, The New Republic; Author, The Most Democratic Branch:  How the Courts Serve America
• The Legislative Roles of the Office of Management and Budget
  Jeffrey Weinberg, Legislative Attorney, Legislative Reference Division, Office of Management and Budget
• The Political Context of National Intelligence
  Ronald Marks, Vice-President, Government Relations, Oxford-Analytica, Oxford, England; Former Intelligence Counsel to Senator Robert Dole
• The Presidency in Critical Times: The Role of Presidential Advisors
  Kenneth Duberstein, Former Chief of Staff, Reagan Administration; Chairman and CEO, The Duberstein Group
• Is China Rising or Falling – and What Does This Mean for Us?
  Gordon G. Chang, Commentator; Former Legal Counsel in Shanghai and Hong Kong;
  Author, Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World and The Coming Collapse of
  China
• Separation of Powers:  Does the Constitution Still Matter?
  Mickey Edwards, Former Representative from Oklahoma and Republican Party Leader; Executive Director, The Aspen Institute
• Political Deception and the Politics of Energy
  Llewellyn King, Executive Producer and Host, White House Chronicle (PBS); Former Publisher, Energy Daily and Defense Week
• The Emerging Criminal-Terror Nexus in Latin America
  Douglas Farah, Former Foreign Correspondent, Washington Post; Author, Blood From Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror
• 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

$1,485 per person

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The seminars will be held in private meeting rooms at the Capitol Hill Club, located at 300 First Street, SE, in Washington, DC. The Club is directly across the street from the Capitol South Metro Station (Blue and Orange Lines).  Reporting information concerning registration time and workshop start and end times will be sent to all participants approximately 2 weeks prior to the start of each program.

Generally, registration will begin around 7:45a am and seminars will be conducted from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm on the first two days and from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm on the last day (subject to agenda and scheduling).  Business attire for participants is required. Military uniform is optional.

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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