Election 2012 - Informing the National Security Agenda Event Series

The American Enterprise Institute, the Center for a New American Security and the New America Foundation are pleased to introduce Election 2012: Informing the National Security Agenda to this presidential campaign season. On March 15, the three organizations launched a series of campaign-season events aimed at illuminating the critical U.S. foreign and defense policy issues central to the 2012 presidential election.

The most recent event in the series, a debate between top-level surrogates of the Obama and Romney presidential campaigns, took place on October 10 and featured Dov S. Zakheim, Special Advisor on Foreign Policy and National Security for the Romney campaign, and Rich Verma, member of the National Security Advisory Committee for the Obama campaign.

The first seminar on March 15 explored America's role in the world and what strategies this might suggest for the elected commander-in-chief. Click here to watch video coverage of the March 15 event. Click here to view photos from the March 15 event.

The second event in the series, "The Pacific Century", explored America’s foreign policy relationship with new economic powerhouses in East Asia and featured Robert Kaplan and Patrick Cronin from CNAS. Click here to watch video coverage of the April 18 event.

The third event in the series on May 15 explored U.S. defense spending in the context of grand strategy and featured Michèle Flournoy, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and LTG David Barno, USA (Ret). from CNAS. Click here to watch video coverage of the May 15 event. Click here to view photos from the May 15 event.

The fourth event, "The U.S. and the Greater Middle East," took place on July 17 and featured remarks by Ambassador Dennis Ross. Click here to watch video coverage of the July 17 event.

The fifth event in the series, a debate between top-level surrogates of the Obama and Romney campaigns, took place on September 19 at Arizona State University. Click here to watch video coverage of the September 19 event.

On Twitter? Follow #natsecurity2012 for updates throughout the series.

About the series:

This fall's presidential election comes at a critical moment for the United States and the world.  The demands for U.S. leadership are substantial - particularly in the dynamic Middle East and Asia-Pacific - yet fiscal challenges are forcing reductions in American military power and defense spending, sparking new thinking about American engagement with the world. In this important election season, many Americans will look to the next U.S. president to repair the economy, but he will nonetheless inherit complicated military and diplomatic engagements and govern as commander-in-chief of the globe's most powerful nation. As a result, the discussion of national security issues must take a central role in the 2012 presidential election.

This event is the first in a series of four campaign-season seminars on the critical issues of U.S. foreign and defense policy, sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for a New American Security and the New America Foundation.

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