Former Ambassador Susan Rice, Author of "Tough Love"

On the Death of al-Baghdadi and Syria:

• The killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is a significant milestone but does not signify the total defeat of ISIS, which remains a threat with an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 members still active.
• Rice warns that ISIS retains the capacity to reconstitute under new leadership or names, citing historical patterns in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria where groups "down" are not "out."
• She characterizes the withdrawal of roughly 1,000 U.S. troops from Northern Syria as a "substantial betrayal" of Kurdish and Syrian Arab forces who sacrificed 11,000 personnel in the fight.
• Rice argues the troop withdrawal undermines U.S. credibility with global allies and has ceded territory to Turkey, Russia, and the Assad regime.

Childhood and Family Dynamics:

• Rice describes an intense, traumatic childhood marked by screaming, physical altercations, and throwing objects between her parents, causing her and her younger brother to fear returning home from school.
• She intervened in conflicts as a child (ages 7–8) by attempting to mediate or physically separate them, a dynamic that shaped her professional skills in conflict resolution.
• Her parents' divorce was followed by a five-year public custody battle when she was 10, which taught her to control her own reactions to adversity while accepting she could not control others.
• The experience fostered a "growth mindset" and resilience, teaching her to "take a hit and keep running."

Early Career and Strategic Choices:

• At age 28, Rice declined an NSC role focused solely on Africa to avoid being "pigeonholed" as an African American woman in a white, male-dominated national security environment; she instead accepted a global UN position.
• Two years later, after proving her versatility, she accepted the Director of African Affairs role at the NSC.
• In 2009 (at age 32), she became Assistant Secretary of State, a role she accepted only after admitting she was pregnant and negotiating support for bringing her infant son to work, despite skepticism from senior staff.
• Her son's presence in the State Department challenged the culture of the era, with senior officials reportedly shocked by a 32-year-old breastfeeding secretary managing a baby in the halls.

Leadership Lessons and Professional Failures:

• Rice admits to shutting down all U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998 due to imminent al-Qaeda threat intelligence without notifying superiors, a security success that became a procedural failure due to lack of communication.
• Congressman Howard Wolf provided "tough love" early in her tenure, warning her that her hard-charging, impatient style would lead to professional failure unless she became more solicitous of senior colleagues' expertise.
• Rice credits this feedback with correcting her management style and enabling her future advancement.

Benghazi Aftermath and Personal Cost:

• Rice agreed to appear on five Sunday talk shows regarding the 2012 Benghazi attacks despite her mother's warnings and her own reluctance, using intelligence briefings that later proved incomplete.
• The subsequent political fallout labeled her as "untrustworthy" and "incompetent," causing severe emotional distress to her nine-year-old daughter, who experienced hallucinations interpreted as a stress reaction to parental conflict.
• Rice highlights that the "politics of personal destruction" affects not just the public figure but also family members and colleagues who did not sign up for the attack.
• She decided to withdraw from consideration for Secretary of State following the episode, later serving as National Security Advisor for President Obama.

The "Furies" and the Obama National Security Team:

• Rice served as National Security Advisor during the latter two years of the Obama administration, where the NSC leadership included an all-female team (Advisor, Deputy Advisor, Counterterrorism Chief, and Chief of Staff).
• President Obama nicknamed the team the "Furies" after Greek mythological figures who torment the immoral; Rice and her team initially objected to the sexist connotation but eventually accepted the moniker after Obama reframed it as a compliment regarding their efficacy.
• The team prided itself on transparent, open disagreements followed by unified execution, noting that external attempts to divide them based on gender were ineffective.

U.S.-China Relations and Future Outlook:

• Rice asserts that a cooperative U.S.-China relationship over the next decade requires a "radical change" on both sides and notes that Washington underestimates Chinese resolve and societal determination.
• During the Obama administration, the U.S. successfully balanced intense competition (economic, strategic, cyber) with cooperation on climate change (Paris Agreement), the 2015 cyber-espionage agreement, nuclear security, and global health.
• A 2016 meeting between Obama and President Xi included a stark, uncharacteristic warning from Xi that "China does not want a trade war... but if you bring us one we will fight to win."
• Rice warns that the U.S. is losing a "long game" against China due to an asymmetry in endurance and resolve regarding conflict.