The 2021 IPSCON Minnowbrook Conference

The Kissinger Center's International Policy Consortium and Network (IPSCON) hosted its annual Minnowbrook summer conference from August 18 to 21, 2021, in Blue Mountain Lake, NY. Engaging graduate students and scholar-practitioners to bridge the gap between the worlds of ideas and action, the workshop began with a welcome dinner for attendees led by Professor Francis J. Gavin, the Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and the inaugural director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS, and the Honorable James B. Steinberg, University Professor of Social Science, International Affairs and Law at Syracuse University and former Deputy Secretary of State under Secretary Hilary Clinton, Deputy National Security Advisor for President Clinton and the president’s personal representative to the G-8 summits, Director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Analysis in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.

During the workshop, Director of Strategic Plans at the National Security Council and former special advisor to the Deputy Secretary of Energy Professor Rebecca Lissner (U.S. Naval War College), shared her insights into the national security strategy process. Former Executive Director the 9/11 Commission, Counselor of the Department of State, and former Director of the Miller Center Professor Philip Zelikow (University of Virginia) led an all-day, Iraq War exercise for attendees. Students also heard from former Deputy to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Director for Development and Democracy on the National Security Council staff at the White House Professor Jeremy M. Weinstein (Stanford University) about the role of Big Tech, as outlined in his forthcoming book, System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot (Harper; E-Galleys: NetGalley, Edelweiss, 2021). Students had the opportunity to learn about the early academic career experience and received expert feedback on their dissertations through breakout groups led by Professors Gavin, Steinberg, Weinstein, and Zelikow, as well as Professor Peter Feaver, former Special Advisor for Strategic Planning and Institutional Reform on the National Security Council Staff and Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control on the National Security Council at the White House (Duke University), and Professor Rachel Myrick (Duke University). IPSCON is generoulsy supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.