To celebrate International Women’s Day, the Director of the Hoover Institution and the 66th Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, hosted a conversation with four of our leading female national security and foreign policy scholars: Elizabeth Economy, Rose Gottemoeller, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and Amy Zegart on March 8 from 2:15 - 3:30PM PT.
Each of these esteemed Hoover Fellows is releasing a book this year addressing the vital issues of our day. Through the lens of their own experiences, Secretary Rice and these scholars will discuss women's leadership, diversity, talent, and accomplishments in national security, as well as the challenges and rewards of working in this environment.
We honor the contributions of women at every level and in every facet of national security. Our Hoover Fellows’ commitment to continued research increasingly shapes the narratives, priorities, rules, and assessments of policy making.
WATCH THE DISCUSSION
About the BOOKS
The World According to China, by Elizabeth Economy
The World According to China explores China's ambitions to transform the international system by reclaiming contested territories, reshaping the geostrategic landscape, and reforming the system of global governance to reflect Chinese norms and values. It argues that China's well-defined and highly-coordinated foreign policy playbook has contributed to significant progress in realizing the country's strategic objectives, while at the same time creating the conditions that are likely to undermine its future success.
Negotiating the New START Treaty, by Rose Gottemoeller
An invaluable insider’s account of the New START treaty negotiations between the US and Russian delegations in Geneva in 2009 and 2010. It examines the crucially important discussions about the treaty between President Barack Obama and President Dmitry Medvedev, and it describes the tough negotiations needed to gain the support of the Senate for the treaty. And importantly, at a time when the US Congress stands deeply divided, it tells the story of how, in a previous time of partisan division, Republicans and Democrats came together to ratify a treaty to safeguard the future of all Americans. >> Book Details
Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women's Rights, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Deeply researched and featuring fresh and often shocking revelations, Prey uncovers a sexual assault and harassment crisis in Europe that is turning the clock on women’s rights much further back than the #MeToo movement is advancing it. No one in a position of power wants to admit that the eruption of sexual violence and harassment in Europe’s cities is linked to the arrival of several million migrants—most of them young men—from Muslim-majority countries. Pretending the problem doesn’t exist is the surest way to empower not only the far right but also the Islamists, whose solution entails even greater restrictions on female freedom. >> Book Details
Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence, by Amy Zegart
America’s spy agencies face a moment of reckoning. Although espionage has always been part of great power conflict, emerging technologies like AI, commercial satellites, and social media are empowering new enemies and opportunities, generating crushing volumes of data and tools to understand it, putting information at everyone’s fingertips, and creating powerful new decision-makers outside of governments. Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence is designed to be a fun read with a serious purpose: examining the history of the CIA and America’s 16 other intelligence agencies and assessing the challenges they confront in the digital age.
MODERATED BY
Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy. In addition, she is a founding partner of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm. Rice served as the sixty-sixth secretary of state of the United States (2005-2009) and as President George W. Bush’s national security adviser (2001 to 2005).
