AROUND D.C.

Thursday, January 8, 2009 3:18 PM

Gaza, Nuclear Weapons Take Early Focus At USIP Conference

By AMY HARDER

The latest round of violence in the Middle East has provided a timely backdrop for today's United States Institute of Peace conference examining the foreign policy challenges facing President-elect Barack Obama. At least brief mentions of the conflict found their way into several speeches at the Washington Convention Center, including those by former Defense Secretary William Perry and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in the first half of the daylong program.

It also kept away one of the program's keynote speakers: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, slated to speak early in the day, was held up in New York with the U.N. Security Council. Henrietta Fore, director of foreign assistance at the State Department and administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, spoke on Rice's behalf. The outgoing secretary is "working around the clock to end the violence in Gaza," Fore said. She also said the Middle East conflict offers a "fascinating and timely discussion as we transition to the new administration."

The rest of the morning's program centered on the danger that nuclear weapons present to the U.S. Perry, who served as Defense secretary under President Clinton, delivered a somber speech about the threat of nuclear proliferation, especially from countries like Iran and North Korea. "I have a strong belief that the gravest danger our nation faces today is a terror group detonating a nuclear bomb in one of our cities," Perry said.

He expressed optimism about the incoming president, saying there are "actions Obama can take to move us in a direction in a world with no nuclear weapons," including inviting Russia to join the U.S. in its stand against nuclear proliferation. These actions, he added, can be achieved within the new administration's first year. But while Perry ended on an encouraging note, saying the country is on a "positive track," he wasn't shy in predicting trouble ahead. "President Obama will almost certainly face a serious crisis with Iran," he said. "Indeed, I believe that the crisis point will be reached in his first year of office."

A panel discussion followed, including Wendy Sherman, a former ambassador, principal of the Albright Group, and member of the Obama transition team's national security review group (she was not attending the conference in that capacity). Sherman made a reference to the figurative batons being passed from the outgoing to incoming leaders in foreign policy as they relate to the threat of nuclear weapons. "I want to caution us all that the baton being passed today will not, with the Obama administration, instantly become a magic wand," she said. "Change is really coming, and it needs to, but it will take very, very hard work from everyone in the world to make real this opportunity."

Albright then took the stage to relay the findings of a task force she's helped spearhead that examines what the U.S. needs to do to help stop, and prevent, genocide around the world. Albright, who served under Clinton as the first female secretary of State, explicitly expressed her optimism for what Obama's incoming administration can accomplish on this front, and on foreign policy in general.

"America cannot prevent genocide or other crises abroad if we are suffering a crisis of identity domestically," Albright said. "That's why I'm so looking forward to Jan. 20." She said the president-elect's new leadership offers a "renewal of our purpose both at home and across the globe."

As for the outgoing administration, Fore recounted several accomplishments of the State Department, as well as the Bush administration as a whole, over the past eight years. The U.S. is the largest donor of foreign aid and food, especially in Africa and South America, Fore said. She added that the U.S. has realized the "importance of development" throughout Third World regions.

More speakers and panel discussions, as well as a reception, are on the conference's schedule for the rest of the day. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dominate the afternoon agenda, featuring a keynote speech by Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command. James Jones, Obama's nominee for national security adviser, had been a possibility, but USIP spokeswoman Lauren Sucher confirmed that he would not, due to schedule conflicts and his focus on the transition.

UPDATE: Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not speak as scheduled, but he did attend the evening reception.