World Affairs Council of Washington, DC
Encyclopedia
The World Affairs Council of Washington, DC, founded in 1980, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
organization in Washington, DC. The group's efforts are aimed at informing and educating the public about contemporary international affairs. Its corporate sponsors include Aramco Service Company, AIG
AIG
AIG is American International Group, a major American insurance corporation.AIG may also refer to:* And-inverter graph, a concept in computer theory* Answers in Genesis, a creationist organization in the U.S.* Arta Industrial Group in Iran...
, Raytheon
Raytheon
Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...
, and ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...
, and it relies primarily on dues from individual and corporate members.
Programs and Events
Notable Speakers
Notable speakers at WACDC events have included:- Shahid Javed BurkiShahid Javed BurkiShahid Javed Burki is a professional economist who has served as a Vice President of the World Bank and as a caretaker Finance Minister of Pakistan...
- Finance Minister of PakistanPakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and Vice President of the World BankWorld BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
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- Lt. General Kevin P. Byrnes - Retired US Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Programs, Director of the Army's Quadrennial Defense Review Efforts.
- Hon. William J. ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
- Former President of the United StatesPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
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- General Wesley K. ClarkWesley ClarkWesley Kanne Clark, Sr., is a retired general of the United States Army. Graduating as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and later graduated from the...
- Retired, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander.
- Hon. William CohenWilliam CohenWilliam Sebastian Cohen is an author and American politician from the U.S. state of Maine. A Republican, Cohen served as Secretary of Defense under Democratic President Bill Clinton.-Early life and education:...
- Former Secretary of DefenseUnited States Secretary of DefenseThe Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
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- Hon. Lorne Craner - Former Assistant Secretary of State, Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and President of the International Republican InstituteInternational Republican InstituteFounded in 1983, the International Republican Institute is an organization, funded by the United States government, that conducts international political programs, sometimes labeled 'democratization programs'....
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- Alan M. DershowitzAlan DershowitzAlan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
- Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law SchoolHarvard Law SchoolHarvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
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- Thomas L. FriedmanThomas FriedmanThomas Lauren Friedman is an American journalist, columnist and author. He writes a twice-weekly column for The New York Times. He has written extensively on foreign affairs including global trade, the Middle East, and environmental issues and has won the Pulitzer Prize three times.-Personal...
- Three-time Pulizter Prize winner of The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
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- Dr. Harry HardingHarry HardingHarry Harding is an American political scientist specializing in Chinese politics and foreign affairs. He is the founding the dean of the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, and had previously served as dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs...
- Former Dean of the Elliot School of International Affairs at The George Washington University.
- Jean-Marie GuehennoJean-Marie GuéhennoJean-Marie Guéhenno is a former French diplomat. He served as the United Nations' Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations. Guéhenno was appointed to the position in 2000 and retired in August 2008. He is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and the NYU Center on International...
- United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations.
- Dr. Richard Haass - President of the Council on Foreign RelationsCouncil on Foreign RelationsThe Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
and former Director of Policy Planning at the US State DepartmentUnited States Department of StateThe United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
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- Morton HalperinMorton HalperinMorton H. Halperin is an American expert on foreign policy and civil liberties. He served in the Johnson, Nixon, and Clinton administrations and in a number of roles with think tanks and universities such as the Council on Foreign Relations and Harvard University.- Early career :Halperin received...
- Director of US Advocacy at the Open Society InstituteOpen Society InstituteThe Open Society Institute , renamed in 2011 to Open Society Foundations, is a private operating and grantmaking foundation started by George Soros, aimed to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform...
and Senior Fellow at the Center for American ProgressCenter for American ProgressThe Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action." It has its headquarters in Washington D.C.Its President and Chief...
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- Dr. Anthony LakeAnthony LakeWilliam Anthony Kirsopp Lake, best known as Tony Lake, is the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund , author, academic, and former American diplomat, Foreign Service Officer, and political advisor. He has been a foreign policy advisor to many Democratic U.S...
- Former US National Security AdvisorNational Security Advisor (United States)The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...
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- Lord Peter LevenePeter Levene, Baron Levene of PortsokenPeter Keith Levene, Baron Levene of Portsoken KBE is chairman of NBNK Investments plc and was Lord Mayor of London 1998 to 1999.-Life:Lord Levene has enjoyed a long and varied career in business, government and banking...
- Chairman of Lloyd's of LondonLloyd's of LondonLloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...
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- Hon. John F. MaistoJohn MaistoJohn Francis Maisto is a U.S. former foreign service officer and former ambassador. he was the U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States , the U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela 1997–2000 and the Ambassador to Nicaragua 1993–1996.Maisto attended the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign...
- Former Permanent Representative of the United States to the Organization of American StatesOrganization of American StatesThe Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
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- Dr. Jessica Tuchman Mathews - President of the Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceCarnegie Endowment for International PeaceThe Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a foreign-policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. The organization describes itself as being dedicated to advancing cooperation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States...
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- Philip MerrillPhilip MerrillPhilip Merrill was an American diplomat, publisher, banker, and philanthropist who committed suicide while traveling alone on his boat in the Chesapeake Bay.- Career and philanthropy :...
- Former Chairman of the WashingtonianWashingtonian (magazine)Washingtonian is a monthly magazine distributed in the Washington, DC area since 1965. The magazine describes itself as "the magazine Washington lives by." The magazine's core focuses are local feature journalism, guide book-style articles, and real estate advice.-Editorial Content:Washingtonian...
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- Major General William L. NashWilliam L. NashWilliam L. Nash is a retired U.S. Army Major General who commanded the 1st Armored Division of the United States Army when it went to Bosnia in 1995 for a year as a peacekeeping operation. A Russian brigade, initially under the command of Colonel Aleksandr Ivanovich Lentsov, was part of that effort...
- Retired, Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention and Director of the Military Fellows Program at the Council on Foreign RelationsCouncil on Foreign RelationsThe Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
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- Hon. Roger NoriegaRoger NoriegaRoger Francisco Noriega is currently a visiting fellow at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute. He has previously served as a U.S...
- Former US Assistant Secretary of State.
- Hon. Richard PerleRichard PerleRichard Norman Perle is an American political advisor, consultant, and lobbyist who began his career in government, a senior staff member to Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson on the Senate Armed Services Committee in the 1970’s...
- Former Assistant Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Defense Policy Board Advisory CommitteeDefense Policy Board Advisory CommitteeThe Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, also referred to as the Defense Policy Board is a federal advisory committee to the United States Department of Defense. Their charter is available online through the office of the Director of Administration and Management of the Department of Defense...
- H.E. Zoran JolevskiZoran JolevskiH.E. Ph.D. Zoran Jolevski is a Macedonian diplomat and the ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia to the United States of America. In November 2008, he was appointed chief negotiator to the Macedonia naming dispute, and beginning 2011 he was appointed Ambassador to the United Mexican States and...
- Macedonian Ambassador to the United States and former Chief of Staff of the President of Macedonia Boris TrajkovskiBoris TrajkovskiTrajkovski died on 26 February 2004 in a plane crash en route to an economic conference in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aircraft crashed in thick fog and heavy rain on a mountainside in southeastern Herzegovina, near the villages of Huskovici and Rotimlja some eight miles south-south-east...
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- Dr. Anne-Marie SlaughterAnne-Marie SlaughterAnne-Marie Slaughter was the Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department from January 2009 until February 2011. She is the Bert G...
- Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International AffairsWoodrow Wilson School of Public and International AffairsThe Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school has granted undergraduate A.B. degrees since 1930 and graduate degrees since 1948...
at Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
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- Dr. Helmut SonnenfeldtHelmut SonnenfeldtHelmut Sonnenfeldt is an American foreign policy expert.Born in 1926 in Berlin, Germany to Drs. Walther and Gertrud Sonnenfeldt, he spent his childhood in Gardelegen, Germany, where his parents had a family medical practice. In 1938, Sonnenfeldt was sent to Anna Essinger's Bunce Court School in...
- Director of the Atlantic Council of the United StatesAtlantic CouncilThe Atlantic Council is a Washington, D.C. think tank and public policy group whose mission is to "promote constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the central role of the Atlantic community in meeting the international challenges of the 21st...
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- Dr. Lawrence H. Summers - Former US Secretary of the TreasuryUnited States Secretary of the TreasuryThe Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...
and former president of Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
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- Hon. Togo D. WestTogo D. West, Jr.Togo Dennis West, Jr. is an American attorney and public official who was the third person to occupy the post of Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton on January 27, 1998, during Clinton's second term, and was confirmed by the Senate on May 5, 1998. He had...
- President of the Joint Center for Political and Economic StudiesJoint Center for Political and Economic StudiesThe Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies , headquartered in Washington, DC in the United States, is a national, nonprofit research and public policy institution or think tank...
and former US Secretary of the ArmyUnited States Secretary of the ArmyThe Secretary of the Army is a civilian official within the Department of Defense of the United States of America with statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, installations, environmental issues, weapons systems and...
and US Secretary of Veterans AffairsUnited States Secretary of Veterans AffairsThe United States Secretary of Veterans' Affairs is the head of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the department concerned with veterans' benefits and related matters...
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- Col. Lawrence WilkersonLawrence WilkersonLawrence B. "Larry" Wilkerson is a retired United States Army Colonel and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell...
- Retired, former Chief of Staff to US Secretary of State Colin PowellColin PowellColin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
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- James D. WolfensohnJames WolfensohnSir James David Wolfensohn AO KBE FKC was the ninth president of the World Bank Group.-Early life:James Wolfensohn was born in Sydney, Australia, on 1 December 1933...
- Ninth President of the World Bank GroupWorld Bank GroupThe World Bank Group is a family of five international organizations that makes leveraged loans, generally to poor countries.The Bank came into formal existence on 27 December 1945 following international ratification of the Bretton Woods agreements, which emerged from the United Nations Monetary...
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- Hon. R. James WoolseyR. James Woolsey, Jr.Robert James Woolsey Jr. is a foreign policy specialist and former Director of Central Intelligence and head of the Central Intelligence Agency .-Early life:...
- Vice-President of Booz Allen HamiltonBooz Allen HamiltonBooz Allen Hamilton Inc. , or more commonly Booz Allen, is an American public consulting firm headquartered in McLean, Fairfax County, Virginia, with 80 other offices throughout the United States. Ralph Shrader is its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The firm was founded by Edwin Booz in...
and former Director of Central IntelligenceDirector of Central IntelligenceThe Office of United States Director of Central Intelligence was the head of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the principal intelligence advisor to the President and the National Security Council, and the coordinator of intelligence activities among and between the various United...
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- Gen. Anthony ZinniAnthony ZinniAnthony Charles Zinni is a retired four-star General in the United States Marine Corps and a former Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command...
- Retired, former Commander at US Central CommandUnited States Central CommandThe United States Central Command is a theater-level Unified Combatant Command unit of the U.S. armed forces, established in 1983 under the operational control of the U.S. Secretary of Defense...
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