A View from the Region:
Public Launch of the Middle East Strategy Task Force

Introduction by:
Frederick Kempe
President and CEO
Atlantic Council

A discussion with:
Madeleine K. Albright
Former US Secretary of State & Middle East Strategy Task Force Co-Chair

Stephen J. Hadley
Former US National Security Advisor & Middle East Strategy Task Force Co-Chair

James Zogby
Managing Director
Zogby Research Services

Mohamed Younis
Senior Analyst
Gallup

Rabab El Mahdi (via videoconference)
Associate Professor of Political Science
American University in Cairo

Please join the Atlantic Council for “A View from the Region,” the public launch of the Middle East Strategy Task Force (MEST). MEST is a bipartisan effort that will examine, through dialogue among partners in the Middle East and the international community, how the United States and other key actors can better collaborate to rebuild a regional order based on well-governed, legitimate states.

In addition to considerations of US foreign policy and interests, MEST’s work will also seek out as a starting point the perspectives and ideas of citizens and leaders in the region itself. Accordingly, Co-Chairs Albright and Hadley—together with some of the foremost analysts on Arab and Muslim public opinion—will use this event to explore what people in the Middle East themselves consider the region's greatest challenges and opportunities, and how they view the role of the United States. 

The MEST will culminate in a report by the Co-Chairs to be released in late 2015, proposing a pragmatic and actionable Middle East foreign policy roadmap, which the United States and its partners can implement and can inform the foreign policy debate for the US presidential election in 2016. 

Frederick Kempe is the President and CEO of the Atlantic Council. Madeleine Albright served as US Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001 and currently serves as Chair of the Albright-Stonebridge Group. Following his tenure as US National Security Advisor from 2005 to 2009, Stephen Hadley cofounded RiceHadleyGates LLC where as principal he remains engaged in international affairs. James Zogby is the Managing Director at Zogby Research Services where he oversees research on a wide range of issues in the Middle East. He is also the founder and President of the Arab American Institute. As a Senior Analyst for the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, Mohamed Younis focuses on attitudes toward Islam, extremism, and Muslim-West relations. American University in Cairo Associate Professor Rabab El Mahdi’s research interests include state-civil society relations, social movements, and resistance, as well as the political economy of social policy.