On Tuesday, July 8, at 2:00 p.m. ET, the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht National Security Resilience Initiative will publicly launch its task force’s inaugural report, “Resilience first: Strengthening individuals, securing the United States, and protecting the free world.” Task force members will discuss what national security resilience means across multiple levels: international, national, state and local, and individual.
The panels will be followed by a reception in the Adrienne Arsht Sky Lobby to celebrate the report’s launch.
In 2024, the initiative established a task force that has worked collaboratively over the past year to help shape the direction of a future work program. The report is intended to lay the groundwork for a deeper exploration of resilience as a core component of
security. It serves both as a starting point and a framework for future projects aimed at exploring resilience across multiple levels, identifying key enablers and obstacles, and informing practical applications for governments, organizations, and communities around the world.
In a world where it is increasingly difficult to predict specific threat and risk outcomes, a “resilience first” approach offers a comprehensive foundation for national security. Focusing on resilience cuts across both conventional and emerging risks, while enabling a more deliberate focus on the factors within an individual’s control that support the ability to understand, prepare, adapt, respond, and recover.
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Speakers

Jenna Ben-Yehuda
Executive Vice President
Atlantic Council

Adrienne Arsht
Executive Vice Chair
Atlantic Council

Marta Kepe
Nonresident Senior Fellow,
Atlantic Council;
Senior Defense Analyst,
RAND Corporation

Elizabeth Sizeland
Executive Director, Adrienne Arsht National Security Resilience Initiative Task Force,
Atlantic Council;
Former Deputy National Security Advisor,
United Kingdom

Matthew Kroenig
Vice President and Senior Director, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security,
Atlantic Council
Agenda
2:00–2:10 p.m. ET | Welcome remarks
Speakers
Jenna Ben-Yehuda
Executive Vice President,
The Atlantic Council
Adrienne Arsht
Executive Vice Chair
The Atlantic Council
2:10–2:55 p.m. ET | Resilience First Task Force report launch
Speakers
Elizabeth Sizeland
Executive Director,
Adrienne Arsht National Security Resilience Initiative Task Force
Atlantic Council;
Former Deputy National Security Advisor,
United Kingdom
Jeanne Benincasa Thorpe
Former Director of National Security and Resilience,
Nixon Peabody
Marta Kepe
Nonresident Senior Fellow,
Atlantic Council;
Senior Defense Analyst;
RAND Corporation
2:55–3:00 p.m. ET | Closing remarks
Matthew Kroenig
Vice President and Senior Director, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security
Atlantic Council
3:00–4:00 p.m. ET | Reception
In-person attendees, may join us in the Adrienne Arsht Sky Lobby for drinks and hors d’oeuvres to celebrate the report launch and learn more about the future work of the Adrienne Arsht National Security Resilience Initiative.
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The Adrienne Arsht National Security Resilience Initiative, in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, works to advance resilience as a core tenet of US and allied national security policy and practice.
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