Johns Hopkins SAIS to host “The State of American Diplomacy” with Antony J. Blinken on Wednesday, September 13, 2017

MEDIA ADVISORY
 
“The State of American Diplomacy,” will be hosted at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
 
The conversation with Antony Blinken will address diplomacy in practice during his tenure as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and Deputy National Security Advisor under the Obama administration, and other current topics in foreign relations and diplomacy.
 
The program will further explore:

• How does diplomacy further American foreign policy goals around the world and what should its role be in our increasingly connected and social global society?
• What tools are currently being utilized in American foreign diplomacy? What tools should be?
• What does smart diplomacy mean today?
• What role does credibility play in the foreign policy of a nation?

 
The conversation is part of the Art of Diplomacy Lecture Series by the Foreign Policy Institute (FPI).
 
Speaker
Antony J. Blinken
Herter/Nitze Distinguished Scholar at the Foreign Policy Institute and Managing Director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement
 
Moderator
Vali Nasr
Dean, Johns Hopkins SAIS
 
Time and Date
4:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
 
Location
Johns Hopkins SAIS

Kenney Herter Auditorium
1740 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
 
Registration
The event is open to the public and media, with registration. Members of the working press can request to cover the event by selecting a Media ticket on the online registration form. Final media access will be confirmed at least one day prior to the event. Pre-authorized camera setup will only be permitted from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
 
Media Contact
Stacy A. Anderson
Communications Manager
Johns Hopkins SAIS  
202.663.5620 office
202.853.7983 mobile
[email protected]

About the Speakers
 
Antony J. Blinken is the Herter/Nitze Distinguished Scholar at the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins SAIS and Managing Director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.  He served as Deputy Secretary of State, the nation’s number two diplomat, from 2015 to 2017. Blinken also served in the White House as Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama. During the first term of the Obama administration, he was Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden.
 
Blinken served for six years on Capitol Hill as Democratic Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a member of President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council staff at the White House from 1994 to 2001. Blinken was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs from 1999 to 2001, serving as President Clinton’s principal advisor for relations with the countries of Europe, the European Union, and NATO. From 1994 to 1998, he was Special Assistant to President Clinton and Senior Director for Speechwriting and then Strategic Planning. Prior to joining the Clinton administration, Blinken practiced law in New York and Paris. He is currently a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and a global affairs analyst for CNN. Blinken is a graduate of Harvard College Magna cum Laude and Columbia Law School.
 
Vali Nasr is the Dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Nasr is a Middle East scholar, foreign policy adviser, commentator on international relations, and author of the book, The Dispensable Nation, which explores the implications of the Obama administration’s foreign policy on American strategic interests. His earlier books, Forces of Fortune and The Shia Revival, examine the postwar sectarian violence in Iraq and the uprisings known as the Arab Spring and contributed to U.S. policy formulated in response to those events.
 
Prior to joining Johns Hopkins SAIS, Nasr was a professor of international politics at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. From 2009 to 2011, he was a special adviser to President Barack Obama’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has served on the faculties of the Naval Postgraduate School, Stanford University, the University of California, San Diego and the University of San Diego. Nasr has also served as a Carnegie Scholar, a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, an adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. He is a member of the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board and is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He earned a PhD in Political Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 
About Johns Hopkins SAIS
A division of Johns Hopkins University, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a global institution that offers students an international perspective on today’s critical issues. For nearly 75 years, Johns Hopkins SAIS has produced great leaders, thinkers, and practitioners of international relations. Public leaders and private sector executives alike seek the counsel of the faculty, whose ideas and research inform and shape policy. Johns Hopkins SAIS offers a global perspective across three campus locations: Bologna, Italy; Nanjing, China; and Washington, D.C. The school’s interdisciplinary curriculum is strongly rooted in the study of international economics, international relations, and regional studies, preparing students to address multifaceted challenges in the world today.
 
For more information, visit sais-jhu.edu or @SAISHopkins
 
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