Fireside Chat, Interview
Former Ambassador Susan Rice, Author of "Tough Love"
- ISIS is expected to remain a viable threat capable of reconstituting with new leadership, names, or enduring ideologies similar to patterns seen in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- Removing pressure on ISIS in Syria is predicted to allow Turkey, Russia, and Syria to reclaim territory to U.S. detriment.
- Withdrawing forces from Northern Syria is anticipated to send a "terrible message" regarding U.S. inconstancy to global partners and allies.
- Forging a cooperative relationship with China is expected to require a "radical change on both sides" over the "next decade."
- U.S. efforts will not succeed by simply increasing pressure because China is described as "playing a long game."
- There is a belief that Washington underestimates the nature of Chinese society, its current leadership, and their degree of resolve.
- The 2015 agreement on cyber theft of commercial property is noted to have held until 2017 or 2018 before the trade war began.
- China's message to the Obama administration that it "will fight to win" if provoked is expected to contrast sharply with previous diplomatic warmth.
- The speaker anticipates that the "politics of personal destruction" affect not only the target but also everyone connected to them.
- It is expected that the speaker's nine-year-old daughter experienced a "stress reaction" from hearing background noise regarding political attacks on her parents.
- Working in the national security environment on Africa is feared to result in being "pigeonholed" and not viewed as capable of broader work.
- Taking a job on a far-away region was anticipated as "untenable" for the speaker given her newborn family situation at the time.
- The experience of bringing a child to the State Department is expected to "freak a lot of people out" due to the conservative environment.
- Correcting leadership style after receiving "tough love" from Howard Wolf is viewed as necessary to achieve sufficient success in outcomes and reputation.
- Given current knowledge, the speaker expects she may not have accepted the Assistant Secretary job had she been her former self.