The Weekly Leaf
This week, flash floods in eastern Spain claimed over 200 lives, Israel banned the UNRWA from operating in Gaza, protests continued following Georgia's disputed elections, Japan's ruling LDP lost its parliamentary majority in a snap election, and the Botswana Democratic Party was ousted for the first time in 58 years.
Read more below.
Spotlight: AI and National Security
Revisit original pieces on the nexus of artificial intelligence and national security from “Intelligent Defense: Navigating National Security in the Age of AI,” a compilation of papers emanating from the discussions at the 2024 ASG Workshop.
Read the collection for insights into this game-changing technology, like an assessment of the dangers of audio deepfakes and how to prevent them from compromising election integrity from U.S. Senator Chris Coons; an examination of the evolving ways that the U.S. Intelligence Community and Russia and China are using AI from former Deputy Director of the CIA for Digital Innovation Jennifer Ewbank; and much more.
This Week's Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Joseph S. Nye for Project Syndicate: “Political Protest and the University”
Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley at the Hoover Institution: “Presidential Transitions: National Security”
Anja Manuel interviewed by Dheeraj Pandey at DevRev Effortless 2024
Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos for The New Yorker’s “The Political Scene” podcast: “The Lies Are Winning”
Michael J. Green and Jude Blanchette interviewed Aaron Connelly for the Asia Chessboard podcast: “Myanmar After the Coup”
Stephen Hadley for Foreign Affairs: “Xi Jinping’s Axis of Losers”
Jane Harman, Eric S. Edelman, and James N. Miller Jr. interviewed by Amna Nawaz at the Council on Foreign Relations
Chris Howard quoted by ASU News: “ASU Selected to Support DOD Irregular Warfare Center”
David E. Sanger, Eric Schmitt, Ronen Bergman, and Farnaz Fassihi for The New York Times: “Behind the Tactical Gains Against Iran, a Longer-Term Worry”
Anne-Marie Slaughter for Foreign Affairs: “How America Can Succeed in a Multialigned World”
Tweet of the Week
Rising Leaders Program Highlights
Features from ASG Rising Leaders
Rachel Brooks (‘24) for The Seattle Times: “Don’t Let Drop Box Attacks Shake Your Faith in Voting”
Felicia Schwartz (‘24) and Christopher Miller for the Financial Times: “Ukraine and U.S. Warn Kyiv’s Troops Could Face North Korean Forces ‘in Days’”
Dillon Taylor (‘24) interviewed by Daniel Scott for the Theory-N2-Practice podcast
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Lloyd J. Austin III for Foreign Affairs: “The Price of Principle Is Dwarfed by the Cost of Capitulation in Ukraine”
Bethany Bell and Frances Mao for BBC News: “Spain Mourns As Death Toll Passes 150 in Catastrophic Floods”
Jane Flanagan for The Times: “Botswana’s Ruling Party Toppled After Nearly Six Decades”
Valerie Insinna for Breaking Defense: “The Biden-Era Pentagon Makes Its Case for Continued Industrial Base Funding in New Plan”
Takatoshi Ito for Project Syndicate: “Japan’s Electoral Stalemate”
Carrie Keller-Lynn for The Wall Street Journal: “Israel Cuts Ties With U.N. Agency, Creating New Hurdles for Palestinian Aid”
Kersten Knipp for DW: “Sudan War Sees Mass Killings and No Sign of Ending”
Joshua Kucera for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: “Amid Uncertainty Over Election Results, Georgians Look to the West”
Robert Lightizer for the Financial Times: “Donald Trump’s Trade Remedies Reflect America’s Troubled Reality”
Robert A. Manning for Foreign Policy: “The G-20 Needs a Grand Bargain With the Global South”
Marwan Muasher for Foreign Affairs: “The Case for a New Arab Peace Initiative”
Craig Silverman and Priyanjana Bengani for ProPublica: “Exploiting Meta’s Weaknesses, Deceptive Political Ads Thrived on Facebook and Instagram in Run-Up to Election”
Robert Ward for the International Institute of Strategic Studies: “The Aftermath of Japan’s General Election – Uncertainty Ahead”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation on national security, artificial intelligence, and misinformation from the 2022 Aspen Security Forum.
Eric Schmidt, Chair, Special Competitive Studies Project
Brad Smith, President and Vice Chair, Microsoft
Senator Mark Warner, Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Moderator: Anja Manuel, Executive Director, Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security
Book of the Week
By Alexei Navalny
“Alexei Navalny began writing Patriot shortly after his near-fatal poisoning in 2020. It is the full story of his life: his youth, his call to activism, his marriage and family, his commitment to challenging a world super-power determined to silence him, and his total conviction that change cannot be resisted—and will come.
In vivid, page-turning detail, including never-before-seen correspondence from prison, Navalny recounts, among other things, his political career, the many attempts on his life, and the lives of the people closest to him, and the relentless campaign he and his team waged against an increasingly dictatorial regime....Patriot is Navalny’s final letter to the world: a moving account of his last years spent in the most brutal prison on earth; a reminder of why the principles of individual freedom matter so deeply; and a rousing call to continue the work for which he sacrificed his life.”
Podcast of the Week
"How CISA Is Working to Protect the Election"
Join Our Team
Brent Scowcroft Award Fellowship
The ASG launched the Brent Scowcroft Award Fellowship (BSAF), a paid, temporary, and full-time fellowship program, in recognition of ASG Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft’s long-time dedication to the group, as well as his legacy of distinguished public service. Now in its 20th year, the six-month fellowship is designed to provide an important professional stepping-stone for recent graduates with a keen interest in foreign policy and national security by way of direct exposure to the types of critical, thoughtful, and bipartisan discussions that characterize the ASG’s dialogues. Scowcroft Fellows are integral members of our team and their work contributes across all of our programs and initiatives at the Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum.
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As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Aspen Institute is nonpartisan and does not endorse, support, or oppose political candidates or parties. Further, the views and opinions of our guests and speakers do not necessarily reflect those of the Aspen Institute.