By AMY HARDER
Nearly 1,400 people are slated to attend the United States Institute for Peace's "Passing the Baton 2009" conference on Thursday, which will feature outgoing officials such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley discussing "critical foreign policy challenges and opportunities facing the new administration as it transitions into power."
This is nearly twice as many attendees as USIP's first conference of this kind, which took place in 2001, and hundreds more than expected, said spokeswoman Lauren Sucher. She said that the Institute, which was established by Congress in the early 1980s, took pains to ensure that the conference was free so that anyone could attend.
Other noteworthy speakers include: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen, Commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. David Petraeus, World Bank President Robert Zoellick, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of Defense William Perry and former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.
James Jones, Barack Obama's nominee for national security adviser, is not on the speaker schedule, but is on the list of speakers' biographies. Sucher could not yet confirm whether Jones will attend.
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