Passing the Baton 2025: Securing America’s Future in an Era of Strategic Competition

As America prepares to inaugurate Donald J. Trump as the 47th president, the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) is proud to host Passing the Baton 2025: Securing America’s Future in an Era of Strategic Competition. This flagship, bipartisan event will bring together national security leaders from across the political spectrum to mark the peaceful transfer of power and the bipartisan character of American foreign policy.

The online event will culminate in a ceremonial passing of the baton session between National Security Advisor-designate for President-elect Trump Michael Waltz and National Security Advisor to President Biden Jake Sullivan, who will discuss the critical foreign policy challenges facing the nation. Stephen J. Hadley, former U.S. national security advisor to President George W. Bush, will moderate the conversation.

The event will also include conversations with military leaders, members of Congress and other leading experts who will offer their insights on current challenges to U.S. national security and ways the United States can navigate this pivotal moment in global affairs.

USIP is pleased to host this bipartisan event with the American Enterprise Institute, Atlantic Council, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Center for American Progress and Heritage Foundation.

For more information about this event, including the full agenda, please visit

Speakers:

Ambassador George Moose, Acting President, U.S. Institute of Peace

Ambassador John Sullivan, Board Chair, U.S. Institute of Peace

Admiral Gary Roughead (Ret.), Former Chief of Naval Operations; Robert and Marion Oster Distinguished Military Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

The Honorable Kathryn Wheelbarger, Member, Board of Directors, U.S. Institute of Peace

Matthew P. Goodman, Distinguished Fellow, Director of the Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, and Director of the CFR RealEcon Initiative

Josh Lipsky, Senior Director, GeoEconomics Center, Atlantic Council

Ambassador Carla Sands, Vice Chair, Center for Energy and Environment, America First Policy Institute

Representative Brian Mast, Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Committee

Representative Gregory Meeks, Ranking Member, House Foreign Affairs Committee

Fred Kempe, President and CEO, Atlantic Council

James Carafano, Ph.D., Senior Counselor to the President and E.W. Richardson Fellow, The Heritage Foundation

The Honorable Tarun Chhabra, Special Assistant to the President, Senior Director for Technology & National Security, National Security Council, The White House

Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Kiron K. Skinner, Taube Family Chair Professor, Pepperdine University; W. Glenn Campbell Research Fellow, Hoover Institution; Advisor to the President, The Heritage Foundation

Ambassador Adrian Zuckerman, Of Counsel, DLA Piper

The Honorable Michael Waltz, National Security Advisor-designate for President-elect Trump

The Honorable Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to President Biden

Stephen J. Hadley, Former National Security Advisor

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The United States Institute of Peace is a national, nonpartisan, independent institute, founded by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical and essential for U.S. and global security. In conflict zones abroad, the Institute works with local partners to prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflict. To reduce future crises and the need for costly interventions, USIP works with governments and civil societies to build local capacities to manage conflict peacefully. The Institute pursues its mission by linking research, policy, training, analysis and direct action to support those who are working to build a more peaceful, inclusive world. Learn more about USIP