CIGS and Stimson Joint Seminar "The Impact of the Trump Presidency, Year 1: American and Japanese Perspectives"

(Ms. Tatsumi, Mr. Twining, Ms. Laipson and Mr. Miyake from the left)

Seminar outline
Title: "The Impact of the Trump Presidency, Year 1: American and Japanese Perspectives"
Speakers:
Ellen Laipson, Distinguished Fellow and President Emeritus, Stimson and Director, the International Security Program at George Mason University
Daniel Twining, President, the International Republican Institute
Kunihiko Miyake, Research Director for Foreign and National Security Affairs, CIGS
Yuki Tatsumi, Director, Stimson's Japan Program and Senior Associate in the East Asia Program and Senior Research Fellow, CIGS

Summary of Seminar
Summary of SeminarPDF：165KB

Abstract of the Speech
2017 has been a year of challenge and change as the world adjusted to the policies of the Trump administration. From the "America First" approach to trade to the seeming departure from some of the fundamental principles that previously underpinned U.S. foreign policy, the administration has stoked uncertainty about the sustainability of U.S. commitments as a leader and team player in the international community. How did the first year of the Trump presidency impact geopolitical developments in Eurasia? What should the U.S. and Japan (and American allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region writ large) prepare for as they look to 2018?

Speaker's profile

Ellen Laipson is a Distinguished Fellow and President Emeritus of Stimson and Director of the International Security Program at George Mason University. Laipson joined Stimson in 2002, after 25 years of government service. Her last post was Vice Chair of the National Intelligence Council (1997-2002). She also served on the State Department's policy planning staff and was a specialist in Middle East affairs for the Congressional Research Service. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the International Advisory Council of the International Institute of Strategic Studies. She served on the board of the Asia Foundation (2003-2015). She was a member of President Obama's Intelligence Advisory Board from 2009-2013, and sat on the Secretary of State's Foreign Affairs Policy Board 2011-2014. Laipson has an M.A. from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University and an A.B. from Cornell University.

Daniel Twining is the president of the International Republican Institute, where he leads the Institute's mission to advance democracy and freedom around the world. He leads IRI's team of nearly 400 global experts to link people and governments, motivate people to engage in the political process, and guide politicians and government officials to be responsive to citizens. Previously, he served as counselor and director of the Asia Program at The German Marshall Fund of the United States. Prior to GMF, Twining served as a member of the U.S. Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff, as the foreign policy advisor to U.S. Senator John McCain, and as a staff member of the U.S. Trade Representative. He has taught at Georgetown University and served as a military instructor associated with the Naval Postgraduate School. He has been a columnist for Foreign Policy and Nikkei and served as an advisor to six presidential campaigns.

Kunihiko Miyake is the Research Director for Foreign and National Security Affairs at the Canon Institute for Global Studies. He is also a Visiting Professor at Ritsumeikan University. In 2006-2007, he was Executive Assistant to Akie Abe in the Office of the Prime Minister of Japan. Miyake joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan (MOFA) in 1978. Until he left MOFA in 2005, he served in a number of senior positions, including Deputy Director-General of the Middle East Bureau; Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Iraq and Japan's Representative to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA); Charge d'Affaires at the Embassy of Japan in Iraq, Minister for Public Affairs at the Embassy of Japan in China; and Directors of Japan-U.S. Security Treaty Division, First Middle East Division and Second Middle East Division in MOFA. He graduated from the Law Faculty of the University of Tokyo.

Yuki Tatsumi (Moderator) is the Director of Stimson's Japan Programand Senior Research Fellow at CIGS. Previously, Tatsumi worked as a Research Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and as the Special Assistant for Political Affairs at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C. In September 2006, Tatsumi testified before the House Committee on International Relations. She is a recipient of the 2009 Yasuhiro Nakasone Incentive Award and in 2012 earned the Letter of Appreciation from the Ministry of National Policy of Japan for her contributions to advancing mutual understanding between the United States and Japan. A native of Tokyo, Tatsumi holds a B.A. in liberal arts from the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan and an M.A. in international economics and Asian studies from Johns Hopkins University SAIS.