This week, the 2025 Aspen Security Forum: DC Edition brought together top national security voices, experts, business leaders, and innovators from across the political spectrum and around the globe in Washington, DC. We were proud to host over 250 in-person attendees, including many from our Rising Leaders Program, which fosters the next generation of national security and foreign policy leaders.
Private Session With Deputy National Security Advisor Andy Baker
Andy Baker, Deputy National Security Advisor
Moderator: Anja Manuel, Executive Director, Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum
The Aspen Security Forum was pleased to host an off-the-record discussion with Deputy National Security Advisor Andy Baker on the new National Security Strategy and the Trump administration’s approach to foreign policy.
Fireside Chat With Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska
Radmila Shekerinska, Deputy Secretary General, NATO
Moderator: Nick Schifrin, PBS NewsHour
“The advantage that NATO has and the advantage that we preserve is to be both strong and flexible. This is the winning formula.”
— Radmila Shekerinska
The View From Europe
The Future of European Security
Tristan Aureau, Director, Centre for Analysis, Planning, and Strategy, Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, France
Alejandro Cainzos, Head of Unit for External Economic Policy, Secretariat-General of the European Commission
Kersti Kaljulaid, Former President, Estonia
Robert Kupiecki, National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, Undersecretary of State, Poland
Oliver Linz, Director of Policy Planning, Federal Foreign Office, Germany
Moderator: Peter Spiegel, The Washington Post
“All autocracies will one day go to war because they are not bound by the public opinion of the citizens. Democracies will always win these wars because we have something to defend: our freedoms and our values.”
— Kersti Kaljulaid
Fireside Chat With Minister Denys Shmyhal
Denys Shmyhal, Minister of Defence, Ukraine
Moderator: Susan Glasser, The New Yorker
“Tomorrow’s security of Europe is today’s support for Ukraine.”
— Denys Shmyhal
Steve Biegun, Vice Chairman, National Endowment for Democracy; Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
Anja Manuel, Executive Director, Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum
Mike Pillsbury, Senior Advisor, The Heritage Foundation
Moderator: Steve Clemons, The National Interest
“Where we have chokepoint technologies like the most advanced chips or the most advanced equipment that makes the most advanced chips, we should be denying those to the Chinese with our allies.”
— Anja Manuel
Fireside Chat With Admiral Mike Mullen, USN (Ret.)
Admiral Mike Mullen, USN (Ret.), 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Moderator: Peter Spiegel, The Washington Post
“[The military] need[s] to be an apolitical outlet, and the leaders in the military, in my view, have a great deal of responsibility with respect to not just saying that, but making sure that [politicization] doesn’t happen, and pointing it out to the political leadership on both sides of the aisle that that’s not helping us.”
— Admiral Mike Mullen
The View From the Hill
Fireside Chat With Senator Dave McCormick
Dave McCormick, U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania, U.S. Senate
Moderator: Matthew Continetti, The Wall Street Journal
View from the Hill: House Armed Services Committee
Michael Turner, Member, House Armed Services Committee; U.S. Representative for Ohio’s 10th District, U.S. House of Representatives
Jason Crow, Member, House Armed Services Committee; U.S. Representative for Colorado’s 6th District, U.S. House of Representatives
Moderator: David Sanger, The New York Times
View From the Hill: Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party
John Moolenaar, Chairman, Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, U.S. House of Representatives
Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ranking Member, Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, U.S. House of Representatives
Moderator: Demetri Sevastopulo, Financial Times
Great Power Competition and American Grand Strategy
General David Berger, USMC (Ret.), 38th Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps
Kori Schake, Senior Fellow and Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
Kiron Skinner, Taube Family Chair of International Relations and Politics, School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University; Former Director of Policy Planning, U.S. Department of State
Moderator: Jim Sciutto, CNN
“We’re in a huge fight within the Western family and fights within the family are often the most bruising, but when they get resolved you come out stronger and better.”
— Kiron Skinner
Rising Leaders Program Discussions With Anne Applebaum and Susan Schwab
Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize Winning Author and Staff Writer at The Atlantic
Susan Schwab, Board Chair, National Foreign Trade Council; Former U.S. Trade Representative
Moderator: Emily Lawrence, Aspen Strategy Group Fellow
The Aspen Strategy Group hosted the Rising Leaders Program Class of 2025 for conversations with Anne Applebaum about her latest book, Autocracy, Inc. and with Ambassador Susan Schwab on U.S. trade policy.
Interested in becoming a Rising Leader? Applications for the Class of 2026 close at 11:59 PM ET on Sunday, December 14. Apply here!
Special Thanks to Our 2025 Partners
