“Assessment of Obama's Long Game: A Conversation with Eliot Cohen and Derek Chollet,” on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016

MEDIA ADVISORY

“Assessment of Obama's Long Game: A Conversation with Eliot Cohen and Derek Chollet,” will be hosted by the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Professor Eliot A. Cohen, Director of the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies and the Robert E. Osgood Professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS, will lead the discussion with Derek Chollet about his new book, The Long Game: How Obama Defied Washington and Redefined America’s Role in the World.

Time and Date
4:45 – 7:45 p.m.
Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Location
Johns Hopkins SAIS

Rome Auditorium
1619 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036

Register
The event is open to the public and media, with registration. Members of the working press should send RSVPs to [email protected]. Camera setup will only be permitted from 4-4:45 p.m.

Media Contact
Stacy A. Anderson
Communications Manager
Johns Hopkins SAIS
202.663.5620 office
202.853.7983 mobile
[email protected]

About the Speaker

Derek Chollet is counselor and senior advisor for security and defense policy at The German Marshall Fund of the United States, and author of the book, The Long Game: How Obama Defied Washington and Redefined America’s Role in the World (PublicAffairs, June 2016).  He is a regular contributor to Defense One, and is also an advisor to Beacon Global Strategies and an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies.

From 2012 to 2015, Chollet was the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, where he managed U.S. defense policy toward Europe (including NATO), the Middle East, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere.  In that role, he was a senior advisor to two secretaries of defense, Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel.

Prior to joining the Pentagon, Chollet served at the White House as special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic planning on the National Security Council Staff.  He was the Principal Deputy Director of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Policy Planning staff from 2009 to 2011. Chollet was a member of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team from 2008 to 2009. During the Clinton administration, Chollet served as chief speechwriter for UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and as special adviser to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott. He was foreign policy advisor to U.S. Senator John Edwards, both on his legislative staff and during the 2004 Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign.

Chollet has been a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the American Academy in Berlin. He has been a visiting scholar and adjunct professor at the George Washington University and an adjunct associate professor at Georgetown University. Chollet has contributed to several books on U.S. foreign policy, including The Road to the Dayton Accords: A Study of American Statecraft (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), America Between the Wars: From 11/9 to 9/11 (PublicAffairs, 2008), and The Unquiet American: Richard Holbrooke in the World (PublicAffairs, 2011).

He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the U.S. Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the U.S. Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, and the U.S. State Department Superior Honor Award.

About the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies

The Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies operates as a center for teacher development, strategic thought, and education at The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). It explores the relationship between politics and the many kinds of military power—from the use of terror by small, non-state groups to the threatened use of nuclear weapons—aiming to promote dialogue and innovative research on pressing national security issues.

About Johns Hopkins SAIS

A division of The Johns Hopkins University, the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a global institution that offers students an international perspective on today’s critical issues. For seven decades, students have distinguished themselves by pursuing academic excellence in international relations. The school was established in Washington, D.C. in 1943, and opened its campus in Bologna, Italy in 1955. It initiated one of the first Western university programs in the People’s Republic of China when it launched a campus in Nanjing in 1986.

The school’s mission is to provide an interdisciplinary professional education that prepares a diverse graduate student body for internationally-related positions of responsibility; to foster research, scholarship and cross-cultural exchange; and to contribute knowledge, expertise and leadership to the global community.

For more information, visit sais-jhu.edu or @SAISHopkins


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