This week, the U.S. and Israel intensified their air campaign against Iran as Tehran targeted regional energy infrastructure, French President Emmanuel Macron met with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo, and the Artemis II mission launched the first crew of astronauts to go on a journey around the moon in over fifty years.
Read more below.
2026 Aspen Security Forum: Application to Attend Now Open!
The Aspen Strategy Group will host the 2026 Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, CO from the evening of Tuesday, July 14 to midday Friday, July 17. Our flagship Forum will feature an array of decision-makers and thought leaders from Washington, DC and around the world. We will have very limited seating for the public; if you are interested in attending in person, please apply to attend below.
All of our sessions will be livestreamed. You can register here to receive the link for our livestreamed content.
Sponsorship opportunities are available for ASF. If you are interested or want to learn more, please contact Deb Cunningham at deb.cunningham@aspeninstitute.org.
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Condoleezza Rice interviewed by Margaret Hoover at Auburn University: “Auburn Kicks Off Signature Speaker Series With Condoleezza Rice and Margaret Hoover”
Nicholas Burns interviewed for Fox Business’ The Claman Countdown: “‘Difficult’ for NATO Allies to Join War, but Doesn’t Mean They Aren’t ‘Valuable’: Former Ambassador”
Anja Manuel interviewed by Jason Bordoff for the Center on Global Energy Policy’s Columbia Energy Exchange podcast: “Anja Manuel on the Next Era of Great Power Competition”
Kay Bailey Hutchison interviewed by Major Garrett for CBS News’ The Takeout: “Iran War Is for U.S. Security, Trump’s Former Ambassador to NATO Says”
William J. Burns interviewed by Dan Kurtz-Phelan for The Foreign Affairs Interview podcast: “America in a World of Upheaval”
Chris Coons interviewed by Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz for Bloomberg’s Balance of Power: “Sen. Coons Calls Trump Iran Approach ‘Chaotic’”
Mark Esper interviewed by Melissa Lee and Michael Santoli for CNBC’s Closing Bell: Overtime: “U.S. Strategic Goals Are Less Clear in Iran War, Impacting Allies Support”
Michèle Flournoy interviewed by Joe Kernen for CNBC’s Squawk Box: “We Could End Up With an IRGC-Dominated Regime That’s as Hard-Line as Any Before It”
Michael Froman interviewed by Carl Quintanilla and Sara Eisen for CNBC’s Squawk on the Street: “Iran Can Continue to Wreak Havoc on the Global Economy”
Jane Harman and Karim Sadjadpour interviewed by Jake Tapper for CNN’s The Lead
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “The Iran War Is a Hostage Crisis”
Meghan O’Sullivan quoted by Tim McDonnell for Semafor: “The Iran War’s Energy Security Legacy”
Daniel Poneman interviewed John Wagner for the Nuclear Energy and National Security Coalition’s Atomically Speaking podcast: “Advanced Reactor Technology: A Conversation With Dr. John Wagner, Director of the Idaho National Laboratory”
Jack Reed quoted by Morgan Phillips for Fox News: “Pentagon Cites ‘Meritocracy’ as Reported Officer Promotion Removals Draw Democratic Criticism”
David E. Sanger for The New York Times: “How Trump Boxed Himself In on Iran”
Anne-Marie Slaughter and Stephen B. Heintz for Project Syndicate: “Building the Middle-Power World Order”
Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer for The Long Game podcast: “Iran War Endgame: Trump’s Speech, Hormuz, and the Nuclear Threat”
Philip Zelikow quoted by Martin Sandbu for the Financial Times: “The Decapitation Dilemma”
Post of the Week
Young Leaders Spotlight
Features from ASG Rising Leaders and Former Fellows
María Fernanda Bozmoski (‘26) for the Atlantic Council’s Dispatches: “Will Trump Focus on Nicaragua Next After Venezuela and Cuba?”
William Chandler (‘26) et al. for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP: “Tariff Refund Mechanism Takes Shape After Supreme Court’s IEEPA Ruling”
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Munir Ahmed and E. Eduardo Castillo for AP News: “Pakistan Says a New Round of Peace Talks With Afghanistan Is Underway in China”
Gavin Blackburn for Euronews: “Russian Oil Tanker Docks in Cuba After U.S. Allows Passage Despite Energy Blockade”
CBS News: “U.S. Returns Chinese Drug Fugitive in Rare Extradition, Beijing Says”
David Charter and Larisa Brown for The Times: “Can Trump Pull Out of NATO? What a U.S. Exit Would Mean for Europe”
Mike Cherney for The Wall Street Journal: “China Is Building Another Massive Base in the South China Sea”
France 24: “Macron Hails France-Japan Ties After Talks in Tokyo With PM Takaichi”
Camilla Hodgson and Michael Pooler for the Financial Times: “U.S. Secures Rare Earths Supply as Part of $565mn Loan to Brazil Mining Group”
Le Monde: “G7 Ministers Call for Stabilizing Energy Markets Amid Middle East War”
Ruth Maclean for The New York Times: “He Led Congo for 18 Years. Now, He’s a Hunted Man”
Nikkei Asia: “South Korea and Indonesia Sign Agreements on Minerals and Tech”
Lior Soroka for The Washington Post: “Israel Mandates Death Penalty for West Bank Palestinians Who Kill in Terrorist Acts”
Adela Suliman for BBC News: “Cuba to Release More Than 2,000 Prisoners, As Pressure From U.S. Mounts”
Patrick Sykes and Arsalan Shahla for Bloomberg: “Iran Strikes More Gulf Targets as Trump Warns of Further Attacks”
From the Archives
Revisit our featured book talk on A Life in the American Century by Joseph S. Nye, Jr. from the 2024 Aspen Security Forum.
Featured Book Talk: A Life in the American Century
Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Then Co-Chair, Aspen Strategy Group and Dean Emeritus, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University
Moderator: Niamh King, Director, Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum
To read more about the life and legacy of Dr. Nye, please read the Aspen Strategy Group’s tribute to him here.
Book of the Week
Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence
By Sebastian Mallaby
“Hassabis has given Sebastian Mallaby a great deal of his time, sitting for over thirty hours of conversation. But Mallaby has also drawn from Hassabis’s detractors, such as his estranged cofounder Mustafa Suleyman; from his rivals, such as OpenAI’s leading scientist Ilya Sutskever; and from academic pioneers who now fear for human survival, such as Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton. The result is a revelatory account of a singular figure and his company and a profound reckoning with this protean field as it leaps from the periphery to the center of our consciousness….Despite Hassabis’s pivotal role inside Google’s engine room, this is not a Silicon Valley story. Hassabis deals with the Valley and takes its money, but remains outside and furiously critical of it, lambasting its leaders in conversation with Mallaby. The end of this race cannot be known, but as this great book shows us, Hassabis’s quest to will a new form of cognition into the world is a defining story for our era.”
Around the Institute
“On April 2nd, the Religion & Society Program opened applications for Aspen’s first Religion Fellows—ten rising leaders (ages 25-40) who are ready to engage more deeply with religious pluralism and advance positive change in their workplaces and communities. Each fellow will receive $15,000 to create and implement a pluralism project, as well as the opportunity to network with other leaders, learn from advisors and program staff, and connect with exceptional religious and social leaders from around the country.
Applicants should have demonstrated experience in working in one or more of five thematic areas: Climate, Clerical Leadership, Media, Nonprofit Leadership, and Social Trust. They should also be leaders who have shown a strong capacity to work across differences—and who are energized by opportunities to listen, learn, and cooperate respectfully with those from other traditions.”
Applications close on May 1, 2026 at 11:59 PM EDT.
Podcast of the Week
Frank Cogliano joined Kelly McFarland for Georgetown University’s Diplomatic Immunity podcast: “Road to 250: Thomas Jefferson’s Foreign Policy”
Join Our Team!
The Aspen Strategy Group is seeking a Scowcroft-Nye Fellow with a strong interest in foreign policy and national security. Join our small, fast-paced, collaborative team and contribute to the main pillars of our work, including the Aspen Security Forum, the Rising Leaders Program, and Track II Dialogues.
Thank you for sharing this opportunity with your networks.
