Due to recent developments in the Middle East, NSC Coordinator McGurk and Ambassador Satterfield are unable to be in Houston on April 8. The event has been rescheduled for Wednesday, May 8, 2024. If you were already registered, your ticket has been transferred to the new date. For questions about your registration status, please contact the Baker Institute event team at BIPPevent@rice.edu.
As the Gaza conflict continues, how does the United States preserve and advance strategic national and partner interests? Join us for an armchair discussion between two top U.S. diplomats as they discuss critical issues and challenges facing the Middle East.
The event will feature Brett McGurk, deputy assistant to President Biden and the National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, and the Honorable David M. Satterfield, director of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues. The discussion will cover the conflict in Gaza, American efforts to provide humanitarian support, and the road map for achieving security in the region.
This discussion is presented as the inaugural event in the Baker Institute’s Al-Monitor Distinguished Speaker Series. Andrew Parasiliti, president and chief content officer at Al-Monitor, will deliver opening remarks.
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Al-Monitor Distinguished Speaker Series
The Al-Monitor Distinguished Speaker Series provides a forum to explore the most timely and pressing issues affecting the Middle East. Events are co-presented by Al-Monitor.com, a trusted and award-winning independent source of Middle East news and analysis.
Registration
This event is free, but registration is required.
In-person attendance is available for members of the Baker Roundtable. Click below to register for the livestream.
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Agenda
6:00 pm CDT — Armchair Discussion
6:45 pm CDT — Q&A Session
Participants
Opening Remarks
Andrew Parasiliti is president and chief content officer of Al-Monitor — a trusted and award-winning independent source of Middle East news and analysis. Parasiliti previously served as director of RAND’s Center for Global Risk and Security. Previous positions include executive director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies-US (Washington, DC) and corresponding director, IISSMiddle East (Manama); principal at the BGR Group; foreign policy advisor to Senator Chuck Hagel; director of the Middle East Initiative at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; and director of programs at the Middle East Institute.
Featured Speakers
Brett McGurk serves as deputy assistant to President Biden and National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa. He previously served as special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. Other experience includes deputy special presidential envoy, deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq and Iran in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, senior advisor in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs with a focus on Iraq and other regional initiatives, special advisor to the National Security staff, and as senior advisor to Ambassadors Ryan Crocker, Christopher Hill, and James Jeffrey in Baghdad. During the 2005 Bush administration, McGurk served as director for Iraq and then as special assistant to the president and senior director for Iraq and Afghanistan. McGurk is a graduate of Columbia University School of Law.
David M. Satterfield is the director of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and leads the institute’s Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East. In October 2023, he was appointed by President Biden as special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues, a post in which he is actively serving. Satterfield has more than four decades of diplomatic and leadership experience, including service as special envoy for the Horn of Africa, assistant secretary of state, National Security Council staff director, and as ambassador to Lebanon and Turkey and chargé d’affaires in Iraq and Egypt. Satterfield is a graduate of the University of Maryland and speaks Arabic, French, and Italian.