2008 Annual Meeting
The Cohen Group
May 14, 2008
12 noon-2:30pm
The American Academy of Diplomacy hosted its 2008 annual meeting at The Cohen Group, and had the pleasure of welcoming Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates as the keynote speaker.
Participants at the well-attended meeting included Academy members, as well as leaders in business, nongovernmental organizations and the media. The speech and discussion focused primarily on current Academy activities, including a forthcoming study to be published by AAD in fall 2008 entitled the Foreign Affairs Budget of the Future: Fixing a Hollow Service, which will provide concrete recommendations to the next Administration on what is needed by the State Department, USAID, and the Foreign Service to accomplish their missions in classic diplomacy, public diplomacy, development diplomacy and crisis response.
Ambassador Thomas Pickering, Academy Chairman, introduced Secretary Gates, who addressed the crowd and took questions from Academy members. The major themes discussed at the meeting were the importance of strengthening the civilian component of our government and the institution of American diplomacy, the importance to national security of better cooperation among government departments and agencies, America's foreign policy vis-à-vis Iran, and the militarization of foreign development assistance and reconstruction efforts.
Academy members also provided an update on various Academy programs and initiatives, such as AAD's Leonard Marks Foundation Essay Contest, the Douglas Dillon Book Award, the Arthur Ross Media Award, and the Genocide Prevention Task Force.
Related Materials
> Read the transcript of Secretary Gates' remarks
> View photos taken at the event
> Read a summary of the major themes discussed
This Event in the News
>Gates Urges More Unofficial Contacts with Iran, Reuters [PDF]
>Gates: U.S. Should Engage Iran With Incentives, Pressure, Washington Post [PDF]
>US Defense Secretary Calls for More Leverage on Iran Before Talks, Voice of America [PDF]
>US Defense Secretary urges more private US contacts with Iran, AFP [PDF]
