As 2025 comes to a close, we want to share our gratitude for your support of our work this year.
At the Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum, our core mission is to convene decision-makers and thought leaders from across political parties to address today’s most pressing national security and foreign policy issues. As the geopolitical environment becomes more complex, our work is more important than ever, and we appreciate all those who play a role in it.
We are pleased to share some of the highlights from our public and private convenings this year below. Looking ahead, we hope you will be able to join us virtually or in person for next year’s Aspen Security Forum from Tuesday, July 14 to Friday, July 17 in Aspen, Colorado.
Thank you, again. We wish you happy holidays and a wonderful New Year!
Warm regards,
The Aspen Strategy Group
Forum Highlights From Aspen and DC
We were honored to welcome over 100 speakers and moderators from over 20 countries to our stages in Aspen and Washington, DC this year. This included ASG Co-Chairs Condoleezza Rice, 66th U.S. Secretary of State and Nicholas Burns, Former U.S. Ambassador to China; Andy Baker, U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor; Adam Boehler, Special Envoy for Hostage Response, U.S. Department of State; Senator Dave McCormick (R-PA); Senator Chris Coons (D-DE); Senator Mark Warner (D-VA); Congressman Mike Turner (R-OH); Congressman Jason Crow (D-CO); Andrius Kubilus, European Commissioner for Defence and Space, European Commission; Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore; Baiba Braže, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia; Jonathan Black, Deputy National Security Advisor, Cabinet Office, UK; Denys Shmyhal, Minister of Defence of Ukraine; Radmila Shekerinska, Deputy Secretary General, NATO; Balázs Orbán, Political Director of the Prime Minister of Hungary; Robert B. Zoellick, Former U.S. Trade Representative, Former President, World Bank; Admiral Mike Mullen, 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; General David Berger, 38th Commandant, Marine Corps; Kiron Skinner, Former Director of the Office of Policy Planning, U.S. Department of State; Comfort Ero, President & CEO, International Crisis Group; Dan Senor, Host, Call Me Back podcast; Elbegdorj Tsakhia, Former President of Mongolia; Kersti Kaljulaid, Former President of Estonia; Claudia Ruiz Massieu, Former Foreign Minister of Mexico; Michael Herzog, Former Ambassador of Israel to the U.S.; many ASG members; and more!
Aspen Strategy Group Summer Workshop
The Aspen Strategy Group convened its annual Summer Workshop in Aspen, CO. The meeting brought together over fifty ASG members and invited experts from the fields of government, academia, journalism, and business to discuss the great power competition between the U.S. and China.
Our discussions this summer focused on the rapidly evolving U.S.-China relationship at a time of major upheaval in the international system. This year’s meeting aimed to assess what is happening inside China, reevaluate what our goals for U.S.-China relations should be, and develop actionable recommendations for how to achieve them. The sessions covered China’s internal dynamics, America’s end goals, the evolving economic competition, the Taiwan challenge, the technological rivalry, and the balance of military power, among other subjects.
Celebrating Five Years of the Rising Leaders Program
In 2021, the Aspen Strategy Group launched the Rising Leaders Program, which brings together young professionals to contribute to the conversation on critical foreign policy and national security issues while honing their leadership skills. The year-long program gives participants the unique opportunity to learn from key decision-makers—and, most importantly, each other—under the aegis of the Aspen Strategy Group. Celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, the Rising Leaders Program has a robust alumni network of over 150 young professionals and counting.
The 2025 cohort of Rising Leaders joined us for an exciting year of programming, which included their participation at the Aspen Security Forums, a bespoke Gildenhorn Rising Leaders Aspen Seminar, and regular conversations with foreign policy experts. We were pleased to feature members of the Class of 2025 onstage at the DC Forum to discuss their capstone papers.
Private Convenings and Strategic Dialogues
The Aspen Strategy Group was pleased to host many off-the-record convenings with our partners this year. In DC in May, we hosted a strategic dialogue on transatlantic relations in partnership with the Munich Security Conference, which was chaired by ASG Executive Director Anja Manuel and MSC Foundation President Wolfgang Ischinger. We also hosted several private roundtables on U.S.-China policy, emerging technologies, and other topics throughout the year.
2025 Publications
The Aspen Strategy Group Summer Workshop tackled one of the most pressing issues of our time: the evolving U.S.-China relationship. We were proud to publish Meeting China Anew: Rethinking Assumptions and Redefining U.S.-China Strategy in a Shifting Global Landscape, a collection of essays reflecting the ideas emanating from the workshop’s discussions. This publication includes original essays as well as pieces informed by the sessions that have since been published in external outlets. This compilation questions underlying assumptions about the relationship, examining areas of competition such as technology, trade and economics, military power, and more.
The Aspen Strategy Group was pleased to release On the Rise: Perspectives on Foreign Policy, the capstone project of the Rising Leaders Program Class of 2025. Authors addressed pressing national security issues such as AI governance, strategic competition in the Arctic, economic security in Latin America, the race for a lunar base, and more.
Thank You to Our Partners
As the year winds down, we are grateful for our partners who supported the Aspen Security Forum in 2025. Thank you for making our work possible!
Should you wish to learn more about how to get involved with our work in 2026, please reach out to Deb Cunningham at deb.cunningham@aspeninstitute.org
