Fed Event: CISSM-"Giving Engagement a Bad Name: The Obama Administration's Flawed Iran Policy"

The CISSM Forum is a weekly policy forum held on Thursdays, from 12:15 pm - 1:30 pm in room 1203 Van Munching Hall, College Park, Maryland. The CISSM Forum is supported by the Yamamoto-Scheffelin Endowment for Policy Research. For further information about the CISSM Forum contact anjak@umd.edu.

Thursday, 12:15 pm - 1:30 PM, 1203 Van Munching Hall

Flynt Leverett, Director, The Iran Project, The New America Foundation and Hillary Mann Leverett, CEO, Strategic Energy and Global Analysis (STRATEGA)

Flynt Leverett directs the Iran Project at the New America Foundation, where he is also a Senior Research Fellow.Additionally, he teaches at Pennsylvania State University’s School of International Affairs and is also a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Dr. Leverett is a leading authority on the Middle East and Persian Gulf, U.S. foreign policy, and global energy affairs. From 1992 to 2003, he had a distinguished career in the U.S. government, serving as Senior Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, and as a CIA Senior Analyst. He left the George W. Bush Administration and government service in 2003 because of disagreements about Middle East policy and the conduct of the war on terror.

Hillary Mann Leverett is CEO of Strategic Energy and Global Analysis (STRATEGA), a political risk consultancy. Ms.Leverett has more than 20 years of academic, legal, business, diplomatic, and policy experience working on Middle Eastern issues. In the George W. Bush Administration, she worked as Director for Iran, Afghanistan and Persian Gulf Affairs at the National Security Council, Middle East expert on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, and Political Advisor for Middle East, Central Asian and African issues at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. From 2001-2003, she was one of a small number of U.S. diplomats authorized to negotiate with the Iranians over Afghanistan, al-Qa’ida and Iraq. In the Clinton Administration, Leverett also served as Political Advisor for Middle East, Central Asian and African issues for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Associate Director for Near Eastern Affairs at the National Security Council, and Special Assistant to the Ambassador at the U.S. embassy in Cairo.