Progressive government should focus on during its first 100 days in office. Good morning. Welcome to the Cap National Security conference. It is wonderful to see so many friendly faces, former officials, advocates, Congressional Staff, and thought leaders. Thank you for joining us this morning. It feels a little bit like a family reunion, but this is more than a reunion. It is more than an average think tank conference. Advocates, Congressional Staff, and thought leaders. Thank you for joining us this morning. It feels a little bit like a family reunion, but this is more than a reunion. It is more than an average think tank conference. We all have an urgent task before us, to be ready to advance the progressive National Security and Foreign Policy agenda on day one of a new presidency, should we be so lucky in november. It is obvious there will be a lot of repair work to restore americas leadership in the world after donald trump. The last couple weeks have shown what danger might lie ahead. It will be no small task to fix from the has broken, erosion of our National Security institutions, to our credibility around the world, to the rampant corruption across our Foreign Policy. But today is not really about trump, and it is not about returning to the status quo. We need to be ambitious about an agenda that advances our interest and reflects our progressive values, and that unifies the American People across generations around a positive vision for our role in the world. In doing so, it will be important we revisit some of our perceptions stop some of our ambitions. This wont happen unless we are ready. Today kicks off a Cap Initiative to build a 100 day plan for National Security. Our goal today is to have a substantive and exchange for ideas in advancing a progressive vision across a number of areas, including ending the wars, managing our complex relationship with china, tackling Climate Change, rebalancing defense and diplomacy, and many more. We are thinking about executive action to major policy initiatives to building human capital. There are Big Questions for our community to take on. How do we responsibility we responsibly end wars . How do we ensure america can compete with china without ending up in a cold war . How do we address human rights while acknowledging steps necessary to ensure the rights of americans at home . How do we put diplomacy front and center in american foreignpolicy after years of atrophy and militarization . High for set the Bar International action on Climate Change . Todays discussions will certainly not cover the full waterfront of issues we collectively need to take on, but it is important to start somewhere. Most importantly, cap cannot do this alone. This effort complements a lot of work underway across the progressive community. I want to acknowledge our closest Partner Organizations here today, including National Security action, third war, Foreign Policy for america, truman project, and human rights first. We hope this conference will generate ideas for all efforts across the community. I am grateful for how strong and collaborative it is, even when we have a range of viewpoints. One thing is certain, there is a lot of passion in this room, and i am excited for cap to be part of it. I want to give you a few logistical notes. You will be divided into binary sessions and breakouts. This is the morning session. We will have a keynote conversation with ambassador smith after the breakouts. Given the venue capacity constraints, we tried to allocate Breakout Sessions based on receiving availability. Your badge contains the schedule for the day, as well as directions for which rooms you will be in. Room will be on the record and open to the press. Breakout sessions will be off the record and not for tweeting or according. Or quoting. Your hashtag information is on your badge. I would like to welcome to the stage max hoffman, our associate director at the center for American Progress. He will introduce the first panel of the day. [applause] max good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for being here today. It is essentially impossible to reflect on our topic for the day, the critical first 100 days of a Progressive Administration, without a nod to the frenetic and productive first three months of Franklin Roosevelts first term, which gave us the concept itself. Fdr assumed office with one in four americans out of work, the nations banks shuttered. The International System was in tatters, torn apart by economic depression, crippling war debt and trade wars. By the time roosevelt took his oath, hitler was chancellor of germany, mussolini firmly ensconced in italy, japan had begun its expansionist path and a crisis in neighboring cuba, often forgotten, augured a new new and potentially costly u. S. Intervention. Roosevelt and his aides responded with persistent experimentation. Above all, the president insisted, try something. It is in that spirit that we are here today. To assess the critical problems and priorities we hope will create a new Progressive Administration a year from now. Many daunting challenges are clearly visible already and will be discussed in the Breakout Sessions. There will almost certainly be unpleasant surprises in the months to come. Most of us share the sense our system is badly frayed. We cant ask Kerry Hopkins what their secret was in 1933, but we have the next best thing. Along with our moderator, our three speakers were integral to the last time a progressive president took office. In 2009, amid financial crisis and two wars. Share theirm to thoughts on this critical first 100 days and the balancing act that will confront the next president. Michele flournoy is the cofounder and former ceo of the center for new american security. She was under secretary of defense for policy from 2009 to colead president obamas transition team. Dennis mcdonagh, senior principal of the markle foundation. Denis oversaw the Strategic Communications in the first year of president obamas term before serving as assistant to the president and Principal DeputyNational Security advisor from 2010 to 2013, when he assumed the role of white house chief of staff, where he served for the remainder of the term. Ambassador susan rice, distinguished visiting research fellow. Ambassador rice has been integral to two president ial transitions, serving president clinton and serving on the National Security council from 1993 to 1997. Ambassador rice served as president obamas un ambassador, before she became National Security adviser in 2013, where she too remained by the end of the term. Here experience from this remarkable career are captured her recent book tough love, which is well worth a read. Join me in welcoming this distinguished group of public servants. [applause] welcome to our first opening panel. Im excited to welcome you here. I have worked closely with everyone on the stage. They are tremendous policymakers and human beings. Thank you for joining us today. You all served on the front end of administrations. Some of you served all eight years of an administration. You have seen the full arc of Foreign Policy under a progressive president. The first 100 days is usually a very hectic time for presidencies. Campaigns get focused before they enter the west wing. As you reflect on your time in the first 100 days of a presidency, what would be your practical recommendations for how we should all be thinking about planning for that. I realize the 100 day contracts is somewhat arbitrary, but they are useful in terms of creating momentum and ideas at the beginning of the presidency. I ask you to reflect on that. Mr. Nough is mcdonough it is great to see so many familiar faces. It is an honor to be up here with michele and susan. Three things. It is all about the people and the ability to execute on campaign promises, which is the name of the game. You have to have people in place. If you are waiting to think about people until the first 100 days, it is too late, which is why it is so important for work you are doing focusing on the transition, the work people like the partnership for Public Service are working on interestingand also ideas out there, including trying to aggregate a new tech book so that we are able to shorten the distance between Silicon Valley and washington in terms of getting tech talent into the government. One is people. Two is recognizing it is going to be hard. Max said this is what we do as democrats or progressives. Republicans screw stuff up, and we have to fix it. Wilson, you with can start with roosevelt, you can go to truman, who built institutions that won the cold war, kennedy restored american standing and hope and optimism in institutions. President carter, who again restored hope in the institutions, and president clinton, who brought us out of the depths of real economic malaise into being able to capitalize on the fall of the soviet union and ultimately president obama stopping us from falling into a Great Depression as we came out of the deepest recession since the Great Depression. It is hard. Our ideas, our people, our commitment are the best ones. That has been proven over time. The fact that you are rolling up your sleeves today to get those ideas and people ready means it will be less hard, but still really hard. Not 3, but it is hard to overstate the damage that has been done to our alliances, to our standing in the world, and while we are basically standing still, china and others are not. Make maximum use of the time now to ensure when the bell rings on those 100 days, that we make maximum use of that period. It is great to see so many friends and colleagues in the audience. Good morning to everyone. I agree with denis that personnel is key, the most critical thing to have right by the end of the first 100 days, which means starting to think about personnel before there is a transition, utilizing it to maximum effect. The transition is incredibly short. It will go by in a nanosecond. There are lots of nuts and bolts practical planning that needs to be done. Personnel, number one. Two, i suggest only a handful of early critical policy initiatives. I think you can get sucked into a morass and fail to execute adequately if youve got a huge menu of things you are trying to do all at once at the outset. Four or five big things, domestic and international, that you aim to prioritize, makes better sense. Tactical things like the budget. Practical things like the budget. The Prior Administration will leave behind a budget that is garbage, that bears no resemblance to your priorities, but having an early sense to what you want to use the money for is absolutely key. Basic things also, like knowing what the calendar is coming up, what are the events, the meetings, things you absolutely have to confront, not only in the first 100 days, but the first six months, and being prepared to hit the ground running for each of those things. Thinking carefully how you do outreach to friends and partners and allies. The sequence of initial phone calls, of meetings, of travel by the president sends important messages, and you want to be extremely deliberate about that, especially now, given how much damage has been done to these relationships. It is critical to be intentional. We only have one president at a time. The Trump Administration violated that flagrantly during the transition to detrimental to honorbut we need it, because it is the only way our government can function responsibly. And finally i say, in stark contrast to what the incoming Trump Administration did, it is important to spend time with your predecessors, and to get the briefings that you need. You may not agree with them. They may not be as forthcoming, but spending time with your counterpart to understand where things are and where the landmines lay is vitally important. As we know from our experience at the end of the Obama Administration, in the entirety of the National Security apparatus, the only meetings that occurred of any substance between counterparts were between me and National Security advisor michael flynn. Not the state, not the other critical agencies. You can imagine the kind of deficit that leaves an incoming administration. Let me add my thanks for convening us all. Thank you. I agree with everything that has been said. Surprise. On the people point, one of the things that establishes us his we want to National Security cadre that looks like america. You have to put in work to make sure it becomes a reality. Now is the time to do that work. I want to give a shout out to an Organization CalledLeadership Council for women in national literallywhich is looking for qualified midlevel and senior women so when the next president says i want a diverse National Security cadre, they are actually qualified women and hopefully people of color ready to be considered for the top jobs in the National Security country. Security cadre. We have to make sure we live our values when we govern. Now is the time to build intellectual capital on the policies we want to use to govern. You cant wait until the transition time. It is way too short. This is what we should be doing in terms of think tanks and others to start developing, a prioritized agenda for the most important areas where we want to signal change, that we are changing direction. One of my favorites is the notion of, if we are worried about strategic competition, why arent we investing here at home in drivers of american competitiveness . The s p agenda, the research and development, smart immigration policy, those are all issues that transcend the domestic Foreign Policy divide. What does the agenda look like . That is a primary area. How do we send a reassuring signals to allies, that this is a new era. The last thing i will note is, agenda,et that early we have to be cognizant, coming from being in the get your you have to arms around this quickly and you inheriting potential crises. You need to get a quick sense of what comes down the pipe, what explodes in the early part of my watch. How do we make sure we are positioned . Those are some specifics to add to the great frameworks laid out. From a diplomatic perspective, you talked about having the first two or three bi g plays. Unyou are an incoming ambassador we wont make you do it twice, dont worry. Why not . [laughter] from a diplomatic perspective, picking up on the allies, what would you think are the biggest moves we need to make in the first 100 days . I dont think we should underestimate the difficulty of restoring these relationships and renewing them. That is not easy. People are frustrated. They have lost trust, they are impatient. The depth of their disaffection with the United States is deep and real, and will take, in my judgment, the work of more than a single new administration over eight years to restore and repair. Being reminded how deep that damage is, and how much patience, state work, humility that to restore it is critically important. Allies, vitally important. How do we go about that . Certainly the european allies need extraordinary reassurance. So does canada. Asian allies. We have traditionally thought of these groups of alliances as distinct, the asian allies, north atlantic allies. With trump making everything extremely transactional and bullying, we not only have to try to repair in the most practical sense the damage, but we have to think about how we view our alliances anew. If we could envision a renewal of our vows to nato. [laughter] or, you know, you stand up and reconnect. Go back to the altar and apologize for your transgressions. [laughter] ms. Rice i think we need something almost akin to that in diplomatic terms, but we need to toreasingly look at ways knit together our asian and north atlantic partnerships not only on the security front but politically, diplomatically, and that is where i suggest some real rebuilding. I would suggest for two reasons that a new president seriously considering sending as ambassadors to the critical european partners, career ambassadors. That is a typical, but what that would do apart from a very steady and apolitical hand is send a critical message to a deeply beleaguered Foreign Service and Career Civil Service , that they count, and we are doing business differently. In the same vein, i think we need an early aggressive initiative to restore capacity and morale to the state department. We should be looking at legislative assistance to bring back many of those who have t not necessarily because they wanted to, but had them to pick up where they left off. That is a complicated thing bureaucratically and it would require legislative relief. It is absolutely essential. We cant repair the damage that has been done to our career foreign and civil service. State, but across the board. Without deliberate urgent steps that enable us to recoup the talent that we could still recoup. A couple other things. In the