American credibility is in jeopardy. For decades, the United States has struggled to communicate an effective message to the world. The post-9/11 era demonstrates serious inadequacies in America’s ability to build relationships with foreign audiences and out-communicate those who wish to do it harm.

These problems have continued through successive administrations and have allowed adversaries to capitalize on inconsistencies between America’s rhetoric and its policies.

Join us for a lunch discussion with introductory remarks from Secretary Chuck Hagel as we discuss the steps necessary to establish a new and effective American message to the world.

Keynote Speaker:

Secretary Chuck Hagel was the 24th Secretary of Defense, serving from February 2013 to February 2015. He is the only Vietnam veteran and the first enlisted combat veteran to serve as Secretary of Defense.

Some of Hagel’s current commitments include service on the Board of Trustees of RAND; Advisory Board of Corsair Capital; Senior Advisor to GALLUP and to the McCarthy Group; Centennial Scholar, Georgetown Walsh School of Foreign Service; Distinguished Scholar, University of Nebraska at Omaha; Distinguished Statesman at the Atlantic Council; Board of Directors of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS); Director and Founding Member of the American Security Project; and Advisory Board Chairman of the HillVets Veterans Organization.

Hagel served two terms in the United States Senate (1997-2009) representing the state of Nebraska. Hagel was a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; and Intelligence Committees. He Chaired the Foreign Relations International Economic Policy, Export and Trade Promotion Subcommittee; and the Banking Committee’s International Trade and Finance, and Securities Subcommittees. Hagel also served as the Chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and the Senate Climate Change Observer Group.

Previously, Secretary Hagel was a Distinguished Professor at Georgetown University, Co- Chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, Chairman of the Atlantic Council. He served as a member of the Secretary of Defense’s Policy Board, Secretary of Energy’s Blue Ribbon Commission on the Future of Nuclear Power, Systemic Risk Council Board of Directors; and as a member of the Board of Directors of Chevron.

Panelists:

Mohamed Younis manages the direction of analysis and research featured on Gallup’s digital news page

As editor in chief, Mohamed leads the Gallup News team. For the past 10 years, Mohamed has led some of Gallup’s largest global and regional studies on social, political and economic issues. His research at Gallup has focused on geopolitics and the shifting global order, U.S. foreign policy, state stability, youth employment challenges, and relations between Muslim communities and Western societies.

Mohamed provides briefings to world leaders and institutions on Gallup’s research and provides expert insights to television, radio and print media worldwide. Since 2012, Mohamed has led Gallup’s initiatives on situational intelligence and open-source monitoring. He leads a team of strategic advisers who monitor and consult on real-time geopolitical shifts around the world. Mohamed is a member of the Virginia State Bar, has studied and worked in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and is fluent in Arabic.

Dokhi Fassihian is the Executive Director of Reporters without Borders USA

Before joining Reporters Without Borders, she led the Middle East and North Africa division at Freedom House where she oversaw the organization’s regional portfolio. Fassihian also led the Democracy Coalition Project, where she monitored the state of democracy and human rights around the world and tracked the foreign policies of governments on international human rights priorities. She has facilitated the work of civil society coalitions on a broad range of thematic, emergency, and chronic human rights situations and led successful international campaigns at the UN Human Rights Council and UN General Assembly. Fassihian has also worked on elections, civil rights in the post 9/11 period, and U.S. national security.

Fassihian holds a B.A. from George Mason University and an M.A. in international relations and Middle East Studies at the John Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. She has lived and worked in Iran and Egypt.

Dr. John Glenn is the Policy Director of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition

John Glenn joined the USGLC after serving as Director of Foreign Policy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, where he led Transatlantic Trends, an annual survey of foreign policy attitudes in the United States and Europe, and oversaw GMF’s foreign policy grantmaking and programming. His background also includes academic expertise as executive director of the Council for European Studies and project manager at the Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University. He is adjunct faculty at the Elliott School for Public Affairs at George Washington University and has written numerous books, articles, and policy briefs, as well as appears in the media regularly as a commentator on international affairs. Dr. Glenn holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in sociology from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College.

Matthew Wallin leads ASP’s research on public diplomacy and strategic communications.

Wallin completed his Masters in Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California in 2010. While at USC, his studies focused on the public diplomacy implications of military conflict, and viral communication by non-state actors. Prior to that, he received his B.A. in Political Science with a focus in international relations from California State University, Long Beach.

Wallin is the author of the report “A New American Message”.