All right, everyone find your table, please. You will have time to mingle during lunch. Good afternoon, everyone. And welcome to our annual event, celebrating womens leadership. Can i have your attention . Thank you. Again, thank you. Good afternoon, everyone and welcome to our big annual event celebrating womens leadership. Im lois romano, culture of the board of directors and im going to be brief because we have a pretty full program. On behalf of myself and my cochair, kathy russell, ambassador kathy russell, thank you all for your support and for being here today to honor three phenomenal women for their service to our country and for their contributions to National Security. We all know that with more women at the top and more women at the table, better policy is made. It fosters global democracy, gender equality and peace. Thats our goal here, and its what we do best. I i would like to acknowledge or diplomatic colleagues who are here, both americans have served abroad, ambassadors, as well as foreign ambassadors who are here today. Could we get all the ambassadors and the deputy chief of mission to just stand for a second . [applause] you all have been critical to our mission from the beginning and we really appreciate your support. I would also like to thank current and former board members, including our founder and president meridith meredits who is here today. Can you all stand for a second . [applause] can we get the board to stand real quickly . We couldnt do any of this without you. [applause] and lastly, thank you to our executive director who holds it all together, and our Program Assistant maginn, and all the interns and volunteers who have helped today. [applause] i would like to suggest a brief word about journalists, and were fortunate today to have two very Accomplished Women moderating our conversations. Journalists have been critical to the womens Foreign Policy group from the beginning. They have been supportive. They have loaned us their expertise and is moderated and made a programming better from the getgo. Recently we have seen whats happening around the country, and its troubling times for journalists. They are threatened everywhere just for really holding the government accountable, and now we see this happen in our own country. Which reverberates globally. So im half of the organization we would like to thank all journalists for what you do. [applause] on behalf. In closing, just a quick pitch, if and not a member we hope youll consider it. Its a great, Interesting Group of people. We do a lot of info programming, and we are mentoring the next generation. I would like to turn things over now to board member for steve rogers who chaired this event and who we are so grateful to. Shes a, shias worked so hard today so lets give her a hand and she will take it from here. [applause] i dont know, i need to twirl when i come up . Ive been called many things thats not one of them, so thank you, lois. Im christy rogers, good afternoon and happy to simmer. And we believe it . I cant. Im stuck on four july so i dont know whats happening. I hope everybody had a wonderful angst giving, enjoyed family, friends or your dog, your cat, or yourself. Just had time to sell. We all do it something to be thankful for even in these chaotic times. I truly want to thank you all for being here today because i know how busy each and everyone of you are. I want to thank you all for your efforts and everything you do, whether its big and small, to actual help make this world a better place. I know that sounds cheesy but this world could use all the help we can get right now. Right . Amen. I heard that in the crowd. As we all know when would open up the newspaper, when we turn on the cable news, we see that the United States and the world are facing challenging times. Dangerous uncertainty, shifting alliances and urgent crises that are striking at the core of nations. These perilous challenges range from escalating proxy wars, increasing election meddling, growing Nuclear Threat from rogue states, all the way through to come if that wasnt enough, through to the pervasive and rapidly transforming cyber threat. Not just from criminals and organized crime but also from nationstates that dont just affect our National Security, but they affect each and every one of us sitting here today and how to protect and secure and store our own data. So today as we begin the program, we actually have as little as pointed out, we have three Stellar NationalSecurity Leaders adequate help us walk through these challenges and solve them all, right . Im just going to walk through the show of the bit. First we are going to have a Panel Moderated by Elisabeth Bumiller who is the New York Times washington. With the new times shes also covered the pentagon, also covered the white house and then when she was with the Washington Post she served in new delhi and around the world. Elisabeth also has had such a stellar career. Elisabeth is going to be engaging in a discussion with susan gordon. The recently retired Deputy Director of National Intelligence and also under secretary conformer under secretary of state for arms control and interNational Security andrea thompson. I think first, one thing we do, cant forget this because we all want to engage each and everyone of you. We dont just want talking heads appear, so were going to the question from the audience. So there are pads of paper and pens at each table. We know this group is not shy so think of your questions, write them legibly with your name on it and then wave your hand and one of our five those volunteers will come around and grabbed the card and it will be called to ask a question. We will have microphones. Im with the program and have to put my classes on, its terrible. So bad, i didnt have to do this five, ten years ago. Its terrible. So im going to just jump right in and introduce the two and credible role models with today. Im going to hold the introduction for ambassador susan rice until later, but first we have Deputy Director of National Intelligence sue gordon, smh in. Sue recently retired from the dni in august, and i think there was a collective gasp not just across the Intelligence Community that quite frankly across washington, d. C. When she stepped down. She is incredibly incredible, incredibly well respected across the Intelligence Community, sue gordon. Shes been serving in the National Security across the icy and multiple disciplines for nearly three decades. Im not going to sit over three decades. Her leadership, knowledge and ability to collaborate with others is unparalleled and will be greatly missed in that role. Next, with state Department Former i undersecretary of arms control and interNational Security, andrea thompson. Andrea thompson also has served in the Public SectorNational Security for nearly three decades. Like me, they started when they were 12. So like most of you, right . Prior to this role in undersecretary, andrea served in the white house. She was Deputy Assistant secretary to the present National Security adviser to the Vice President argued that shes been over 25 years in the military serving in iraq, boston, afghanistan and was the j to which is intelligence director in afghanistan. At state department she helped diplomatic policy for the United States around the world meeting with leaders in various countries, traveling the globe nonstop on everything from emerging technologies to cyber to emerging threats. So with that im going to turn over to elisabeth. Thank you much and hope you all enjoy your lunch. [applause] thank you, christie. Thank you all for coming and thank you especially to sue and to andrea. We have exactly half an hour. We will be dealing with Nuclear Capability and intelligence in the trunk white house so dont have a lot of time. Im going to do about ten minutes for each and then open up to your questions so please get some good questions ready. Let me start off with this right off. Sue, you have briefed president trump. I have. With a mostly talked about how he doesnt read a lot of intelligence briefings, prefers perhaps naps sometimes to work and youll set a very complicated exit from the trump administration. Id like to do talk, ask you again what was like briefing the president , how you did it, how much testing secondly at [inaudible] cant hear you. Can you turn it up higher . Is that better . One minute down. How is that . Is that better . Ill have to talk loud. Is that better now . No, thats not on. Ill just have to shout. Great. Also talked a bit about your exit from the white house. Okay here i had the greatest to ever. Intelligence is a lovely discipline that all you have to do is pursue the truth as hard as you can. And then represent it in a manner that policy can be formed. So three things, ill give you three things that are the same about this president for others i briefed and through their different. The three that are the same are come everyone who i briefed is different. Some people, president obama was a reader and just voraciously consumed it. Jfk wanted three x five cards in his pocket. So the notion that youre going to have someone different who your briefing that just figure out a way to convey information. Because openly thats what youre trying to depict or trying to present information in a way that is both heard and then can be used. The other thing that is at the same is intelligence is massively inconvenient. It actually typically steals some of the decision space of the president. You are walking in their making things difficult because of what youre presenting. You are limiting the choices because once it is hard, it is theres nothing different about this president. It is a foundational piece of his morning to it is a foundational piece of nsc meetings, whether that was 20 years ago or now. The third thing is every president for whom i have worked has wished intelligence could say things that it cant. Right . You wish that some piece of the truth existed that would allow you to justify, and none of that is hard for the Intelligence Community. Whats different about this president , number one is he is the first in my experience who had no Foundational Framework to understand what is come with the limits of intelligence are, with the purpose of it was, and the way that we discuss it. I do a lot of sports analogies. Its like playing pickup basketball with one runner. Anyone else knows how the game moves in place and just one person that comes in place and is just so different that that in and of itself was different. He ask different questions. He pursued different he had different trusts, because hes probably the first president that arrived with no framework in a in a world that is massively available information with infinite people offering opinion that often times sounds the same but, in fact, are grittier because they dont have to have the same standard. Hes different because he is much more economic in the way he sees the world in the Intelligence Community tradition is much more political military, purposefully so. And so we were scrambling a bit to try and produce intelligence that was foundational leak useful for some who is interested in making trades and deals and be able to explain how we see the world when we were all think set of the people of been. I found him actually kind of a fun brief because he was interacted, he would challenge you, and again because the role of intelligence is to provide wisdom clarity and insight, you cant wish that the recipient were different from who they were. Present in a way that can have your i think that was something anything ever who is been in the oval office with this president would say that is true. Can you guys hear me now . Okay. What kind of questions we ask . This this is a weird question bw long with the briefings . How long did the last . Different desha i just lost i dont think that whispers interview it differed on the day. We would brief two other times a week religiously. I cant think of the week what we do another session. It would always start out with us presenting a set of intelligence that without either were relevant to what he was doing or that needed to be heard. I would say some of between 30 minutes at an hour would be typical. And the questions you would asked . You know, im sorry. I just hadnt thought about it that way. I was a two varieties. One, i dont think thats true. [laughing] right . But again, a member intelligence is fundamentally a crap of uncertainty and the possibility of so that doesnt put you off. Its trying to catch up to how you adjudicate the sources the lead him to believe that and how you responded. So one is, im not sure i believe that. And the other one is, second and third order complies that true . Why are we there . Why is this what you believe . Why do we do that . Those sorts of things. Disproportionate with economic bent to it. Last question before i get to andrea. Which is, better exit come, it exit, what do know about it . I hear snickering in the background. So on the simplest level, the president who appointed me to the position of principal deputy, which is the seniormost career intelligence advisor, ultimately decided that he was not comfortable with me continuing as the acting director when dan stepped out and there was a gap. And if youre the third kit of a naval officer who has for whole career professed she was simply a student of the community, not the community itself, you give a teary eye and you give the president the space. Do i think that hes wrong . Yes. Why would i . [laughing] [applause] why wouldnt you want me to be in that role . But i think that on the simplest level, once he decided, and you give them room to do that. Because what you believe is the community is the strength and that community continues to go in at a think thats what i told him. Thank you for your candor. Ill be back to you in a minute. [applause] andy, the president just said in london at a nato meeting that he is talked with bladder put in about a broad new arms control treaty turkey said i have to say this, this is about an hour ago or two article russia want to make a a deal on arms control e russian whats make you as recently as two weeks ago. Also sort to bring in china. We may bring them in later. We may bring them in now. What is he talking about . [laughing] and why easy saying that china is excited to join in . I assure you, just expand on it. The refreshing thing about no longer being the undersecretary is i dont have to follow my twitter feed. If it happened in the last hour i was probably talk to folks here in the room. But i can get some background on that because it did work while at the state department. No surprise to folks in the room we had been in discussions with russian counterparts ive met multiple times to modernize our existing armscontrol agreement. Again, its a better section for about another hour on violations of the imf treaty, but modernize those systems that Vladimir Putin said the systems is going to already built or is in the process of building and testing. Weve had this discussion peer we been in talks with the russian counterpart again to modernize the armscontrol treaty come to reflect what is the current state, the violation from the past to make administrations continue to we left a treaty and collaboration with some consultation from allies and were all in agreement that any to reflect the reality of today. So those discussions are ongoing here we also need to have the systems their building be part of the treaty. Again, i left the department about six weeks ago. If it happened in the last two weeks, i wasnt tracking that but i but i can say what i did during my year plus as a dissector and in previous to that as National Security adviser for the Vice President. With china, less optimistic. I have met with my chinese counterpart multiple times in the construct of the p5, in the concept of the npt. Muscle armscontrol to armscontrol across the table. I have raised it with my chinese counterpart multiple times. If you want to be a responsible actor you need to be at the table having discussions. They were not interested. In my personal assessment now as plain old taxpayer is theres not much incentive for china to come to the table. Trump keeps talking about it, and as one of my colleagues pointed out, the chinese have three to 400 Nuclear Weapons and would this encourages them to build more if they came into the cup . The important thing is dialogue. For those who know me and of heard me say it again and again, this starts with diplomacy and it will end with diplomacy, and thats talking to one another. If and not having discussions we will never have an armscontrol treaty with china if we dont address it. We will never have a safer and secure world if we dont address it. I hope he continues to talk about it. It needs to be discussed. We are not in a good place with what our chinese counterparts are doing with the weapon systems, with their policies writ large. Many of you in the room are experts in those fields so were not going to solve it unless that doors open and talking. I hope he continues to talk about as i hope the women and men in this room continue to talk about it. That brings me to our next question, we are in a new cold war with Nuclear Weapons. Do you see that as the case and is it anyway theres an arms race in place, do you see any way to a rest it . I disagree with that assessment. I think its a Bumper Sticker i think it bodes well for media sites and for pundits. What i would say is we have different paradigm in technology to sue and i talked about this as well. What technology is being integrated at more rapid pace. Is there an armscontrol race we evolving our systems and processes as our peers are, as adversaries are . That is changing. What used to take generations or years and years now can happen in months and years. I think thats whats happening is what Endocrine Technology at a much greater rate, forming new alliances and happy 70th daniel. We talked about the importance of the Foundation Alliances but we have new unrighteous as do our friends. That something we need to talk more about the affiliate of our system. Hopefully well talk about that this afternoon, on china as all of country, all of system can integrate. I missing we need to do the chinese way. What im saying is we need to be more agile in our system as you are partners and we talk about that. How do we do that . Theres a Public Sector and private sector. We have much to gain from our relationship with the private sector when it comes to integrating technology. Let me go back to sue. You at the cia during the rush investigation. Do you have any doubt that it was russia and not ukraine that interfered in the 2016 election election. Actually i was at nga that space well, okay. I think thats important because i wasnt part of that. I think the Intelligence Community assessment on russian interference in the election was an exceptionally good piece of analysis and the decision to make it public. It was one of the best and most transformative decisions that the Intelligence Community made it because what we did was we talked about an issue of historic adversaries using a new modality to affect the longstanding policy of undermining society. And what we did was by sharing it openly we allowed the populist and the private sector to understand what they were facing. You see a lot of good things coming from it. But i dont think theres anything that is happen in the two and half years since it was released that made me question its conclusions. Now, have overtime others recognize what the digital environment can be used for in order to affect national interest, yes, but i dont think weve seen anything that changes the assessment they came out of that. How much do you worry about can happen in the 2020 election . Well, because the making us not believe in ourselves, you know, so fundamental to our society is is in the ability of people to believe that their vote matters. It is perhaps one of the greatest Threat Services that we have. It is going to be concerning, and because information moves at such a pace in such a volume and we dont have as many mechanisms to deal with the come i think its going to be concerning. The distance with traveled not only between 2016 and now, but in 2018 now in terms of getting state and local governments to understand it, what is happen to dhs in order to be really engage, whats happening with the private sector gives me great hope that we are much better prepared but this will always be a threat surface that we are going to have to Pay Attention to. Question for you. Back to trump. He has this inherent distrust for the Intelligence Community. I think weve seen that for three years now. Why . So im not sure im going to agree with the top line grimace. I think we have premise. We can talk to whole range of issues this nation is addressed and i would tell you that intelligence has been at the bedrock level of a lot of things, of those issues. The president has received that information on china, i think this president has taken intelligence on china and use to better effect in many president. I think the russian interference, the way that it has played out and what he infers its implication is to the legitimacy of his position is what causes that to be a hotbed issue. But dont take way that the president doesnt listen to an ally to intelligence in general. That is a trust issue, and his difference means that he has to work harder to adjudicate the difference between what is Intelligence Community is telling him and what others to sound like us tell him. You dont seem like you buy it. [laughing] ill take a polygraph. [laughing] going back to cyber. When we were speaking on the phone you mentioned the bureau, cyberspace security which is yet to be at the state department but its a drop in the bucket compared to the Cyber Command at the pentagon. What is the reason for the state department to stand up the bureau of cybersecurity . Why does the state department need such a bureau . I mean, i know the answer. The country needs the pier. Thats the shortage short entre leading diplomatic post discussion its not cybercom. Its not the pentagon. Diplomatic cyber discussions and ai discussions and quantum discussions of what the state department does. We have done it and its not me. We have a professional civilservice enforcer in the ranks doing that now. That its a cost of a of the state department. One of the first things i did as undersecretary i i raised it wh the second incident again this is foundational to what we do. Whether its discussions with nato, and a pack, here at home, and has a friend of emerging technologies and we are behind. When i go to estonia, when i go to australia, when i go to across the globe of the countries are already doing this. And he said let stand for. Time what it looks like. We laid it out, how many peop, spaces, functions, engage with folks in the room, engage with industry and the chamber, and great with the hill, engage with partners. We designed it. We worked through it. We present a congressional notification this summer and it has been there since. But when you talk to folks like we need this, we need this, if youre in the room and your contacts with the House Foreign Affairs committee, its that important. We had the function of the where the leaders doing it. When youre having those discussions on 5g, current events, thats rob and his team were traveling the globe. Meeting with partners and allies, when you bring companies internetworks, primarily chinese compass, heres the vulnerabilities. Its an interagency message that its not Just State Department it will have dod and Intelligence Community but where having country to country diplomatic discussions. That is solely under the purview of the state department. Hope its not the method. With done the work that people are there but when you talk the recruiting of the next generation of leaders, again a look around at the young people in the room. The record is kept of what to serve, and what to serve their Diplomatic Community and their passion about it. Ive talked with leaders in Silicon Valley who want to serve. How do we get can we do a fellowship where you come from a tech company for a year . We help give you some exposure of policy and you help us with the technical piece and return. Thats all dual. Do. We start a fellowship with georgetown, but with jasons team can we have georgetown fellow that will be working ai at the state department and then return. Back to agility and modernization of our policies, we need to get it done. I want to ask to more questions, one for the Young Leaders and then i have a bunch of questions here for both of you. At the age of 28 you are in the situation room briefing george h. W. George h. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan about soviet missile capability. Can you tell the crowd how you got there at that age . Okay. How do you do . First, you join. I would say best first five years can best tenures of any whisper is spent in National Security. The purpose is great and you carry more responsibility than your peers. So my colleagues at duke, while i was briefing the president , they were working on a bushing at general electric. Just caring responsible. The way you get the issue except the job, work hard, put your nose down, you are excellent are within the parameters of excellence, and when youre moment comes you do a good job. Whats interesting is as i thinking about, elisabeth told he should ask the question, how does a 28yearoldyearold stand in front present reagan, and present reagan and Vice President bush and it was a weinberg, a whos who around that the table. They didnt ask very different questions than the president asked just in a different modality. They asked, it was on soviet Space Program and why the soviet Space Program was so much more robust and somewhat stronger particularly in the civil arena than the u. S. Space program. To look at each other like why did we give up the saturn five . Why dont we had that same thing . In a weird sort of way you get there because you come into this community, you learn to carry the weight of responsibility you are surrounded in the community that values expertise, so they send the right person cannot the right level. You understand the problem youre dressing and hopefully brief it in a in a way. Were you nervous . No. I dont know why it was so much fun. For those of you, and if you want to say for someone who left and a complicated circumstance and a world that seems to have gone crazy with the trust between the political elements and the career and bureaucratic elements of our government seems to be really frayed and hyper partisanship and irresponsible social media, would i say to this is the best place to be . It is. Maybe no one will be there for 40 years anymore. I dont think thats the way because National Security is more than that but that feeling of great purpose and weight of responsibility is a a great wao grow up. [applause] andra, i dont know what you doing at 28 bit of something important because a looking at this hour coffee and you were all over the world. How did you do this . I echo the comments of my good friend sue. I was doing the math in my head, i think of the Company Commander in fort Lewis Washington if ive done my math correctly, studying the indopacific. Again, call to service. Folks go, did you want to be in the military . Do you have come history . I was a journalism major convoy to the university of south dakota to be a journalist and played basketball. Took a military site class because it was a free social science elective. I was a journalist and knew nothing about military. They asked me if i wanted to repel off the library at homecoming and i said i am in. [laughing] so i was surrounded with people i was learning from, people i respected, people i quite candidly want to be like when i grew up. I thought okay, ill join the army. Can they go to europe . Yes. Kennedy military intelligence . Yes. Work hard, surround yourself with intelligent people. I think my mom said, probably a ten year mark, are you thinking about reenlisting . Mom, yes, i think im in for the long haul. But because i had done and learned a lot about myself personally and professionally everyday, so folks say how did you go into heaven . Call to service. I did not seek out the job with the Vice President i cut cold called by the vice presidency in the permit. I retired october 31 of 16. I retired from 20 years in the army and got a call, a better story with the whole room of new friends, but i told my husband, i said im just going to go in for the interview. My parents will be really happy. Its great experience. They offered me the job in january undertook it as a call to service. You never know where the path is going to go. I know i wanted to be around people i learned from and death and doing it and work hard, and its passion. Do you want to be serving is a call to service. Thats how my family interpreted it. I have been asked by my country to serve again and i will say yes. Thank you. [applause] we will answer your question in tweets. Can you give us a snapshot of the uprising in iran . Can they sustain this movement . Well, the other question i had was part of that which was, what is donald trump actually want in an iran deal . I will let him after that. The maximum pressure has, the economic and were seeing some results of that. I will tell you again, this is not the former undersecretary but maybe former intelligence officer, that is a resilient regime. I hope the power of the people, we do not want a nuclear iran. Like i said, whatever comes to ideal, but at the end of the day the pressure is having some effect. But we do not want a nuclear iran. Heres another question. Last i was lucky to organize the first u. S. Business mission to baghdad in almost a decade. Next year i will be returning on a more frequent basis provided of the security situation improves. What is your best piece of advice for young professional women who do work work in environments with challenging security circumstances . Understand what youre walking into, and if it feels wrong, it is. That is very interesting. It always feels wrong. [laughing] i would say youre going to go into that circumstance, there will be a structure around it are you going to want to understand the structure as you go into it but i will say on a personal level, intended you go into a difficult circumstances, just be aware of your surroundings. If something feels wrong, it probably is. Same advice. What are my back to being a young 23 or 24yearold as a first sergeant. If it feels wrong, it probably is. Thats Good Parenting advice, too. If i may add one what is self awareness. Know your strengths and weaknesses active mentorship, if youre new to an area, if a kernel going into iraq or into afghanistan, you dont know everything. Seek out those the folks arounu and again no where were used ot no, we need to work and seek us out you along. Is it anything you want to ask each other . Best day in your job. In my shockingly brilliant career. I guess i would do the first thing the consummate is the right answer that, to undergrad anyway, one of the best days was in estonia. And again active mentorship and technology and i was asked to come to wifi cant, five countries, estonia, georgia, u. S. Come and apologize anyway, five countries, girls between the ages of 16 17, two weeks of public and private partnership. Girls that are coding, building a drones, networking across, and to sit in that room, the reason i think i faced timed my husband that any of i dont know what you get work today but you are just being mean. And i said, i sat in a classroom with next generation of Global Leaders and i felt like part of me has given back but i probably got more than i gave that day. Your best day . Last question. Is that what you want to ask . You just have to accept of this, every day when i remember that i got to say this sentence if the other day when i was in the oval office talking to the president. [laughing] and i say that because, because i never tried to forget what i got to be a part of. And for the third kit of a naval officer with a degree in zoology and to be at that moment and to carry the hopes and dreams of a community who felt so strongly about, i never every time i remember i can say that, it was my very best day. Thanks to both of you. Thanks to all of you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] americans are coming out and getting engaged, and politics is feeling a little bit less like a spectator sport for people on the left ear and a lot of the same social issues that the book covers are still the ones that are relevant today. People in this book were outraged that you should like family separation, and like Sexual Assault on women and the devaluation of black lights, et cetera. This period provides a really crucial precursor black lives to our moment. Including t