The Weekly Leaf
This week, U.S. forces withdrew from Iraq after a two-decade military presence in the country, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were “strong indications” that Iran was involved in a suspected terrorism plot at a UK airbase, a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was diverted to Saudi Arabia following a stabbing in the cockpit, and President Trump hosted top AI executives at the White House.
Read more below.
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Condoleezza Rice interviewed by Will Cain for Fox News’ The Will Cain Show: “Condoleezza Rice Sees AI as a ‘Very Positive Development’”
Nicholas Burns interviewed by Leila Fadel for NPR’s Morning Edition: “Former U.S. Ambassador to China on Xi Jinping’s Visit to Washington”
Anja Manuel for The Hill: “Americas First: Trump and Latin America”
Anja Manuel and Janet Napolitano delivered keynote remarks at the 45th Annual Federal Bar Association Luncheon
Chris Brose interviewed by Roger Zakheim for the Ronald Reagan Institute’s Reaganism podcast: “Reaganism With Chris Brose: Russia, Iran, and Laboratories of the Modern Battlefield”
Kurt Campbell quoted by Peter Hartcher for The Sydney Morning Herald: “How Trump’s Grovelling Emboldens China and Imperils the Asia Pacific”
Elizabeth Economy interviewed Glenn Tiffert for the Hoover Institution’s China Considered podcast: “China in the Arctic: How Real Is the Threat?”
Michael Froman and Lauren Leader interviewed by Jonathan Lemire for MS NOW’s Morning Joe
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “The Good, Bad, and Dangerous in Hegseth’s Pentagon Overhaul”
Dina Powell McCormick interviewed by Jim Cramer for CNBC’s Mad Money
David Petraeus interviewed by Robin Young for WBUR’s Here & Now: “Ret. Gen. David Petraeus on U.S. Withdrawal From Iraq”
Daniel Poneman interviewed Siegfried Hecker for the Nuclear Energy and National Security Coalition’s Atomically Speaking podcast: “Doomed to Cooperate: A Conversation With Dr. Siegfried ‘Sig’ Hecker”
David E. Sanger for The New York Times: “Trump’s Voluntary AI Policing Echoes What Biden Did. But Is It Enough Today?”
Jake Sullivan interviewed by Aaron David Miller at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: “Can the U.S. Still Lead in Today’s World?”
Post of the Week
Features from ASG Rising Leaders and Fellows
Maria Fernanda Bozmoski (‘26) for The National Interest: “How to Protect the Panama Canal”
Liana Fix (‘23) joined Judy Dempsey and moderator Paul Taylor at Carnegie Europe: “How Will Germany’s Rearmament Change Europe?”
Jessica Ji (‘26) et al. for the EvalEval Coalition: “Mapping Evaluation Cards to Emerging AI Governance Requirements in California, the EU, and the UK”
Clara Kaluderovic (‘26) quoted for Focus Taiwan: “Taiwan Needs to Learn Resilience Lessons From Ukraine”
Katherine Ntiamoah (‘26) for SoftPower/FulStories: “Soft Power Through the Eyes of the Generation Training Gen Z”
Michael Salazar (‘25) for The Cipher Brief: “Setting Terms With America’s Tech Giants”
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Alexandre Aublanc and Simon Roger for Le Monde: “Morocco Appoints Its First Woman Prime Minister, Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri”
Steff Chávez for the Financial Times: “U.S. Deploys Thousands of Troops to Middle East as Donald Trump Weighs Strikes on Iran”
Ian Duncan and Cat Zakrzewski for The Washington Post: “Trump Urges Public to Trust Industry Self-Policing of AI Technology”
Miranda Jeyaretnam for TIME: “U.S. and China to Cut Tariffs on $60 Billion of Goods”
Steve Kopack for NBC News: “G7 Countries to Release up to 100 Million Barrels of Diesel and Crude Oil Reserves”
Eddy Micah Jr. and Silja Fröhlich for DW: “Can Anyone Broker a New Peace Between Tigray and Ethiopia?”
Anat Peled, Jon Gambrell, and Summer Said for The Wall Street Journal: “Pilot-on-Pilot Stabbing Forces Emergency Landing of Israel-Bound Plane”
Paul Seddon and Richard Wheeler for BBC: “Brexit Referendum ‘Possible’ in Labour Election Manifesto, Says Burnham”
Jessica Sharkey, Fiona Hamilton, and Duncan Gardham for The Times: “British-Iranian Man Arrested Over RAF Fairford ‘Terrorism Plot’”
Erika Solomon, Falih Hassan, and Eric Schmitt for The New York Times: “After Two Decades, U.S. Forces Leave Iraq to an Uncertain Future”
Greg Sullivan for Bloomberg: “Putin Says Russia May Use Full Arsenal If Kaliningrad Attacked”
Filip Timotija and Ellen Mitchell for The Hill: “7 Takeaways From Hegseth’s Address to Officers: Warfare’s Future, Faith, and a New Base”
Elbegdorj Tsakhia and H.R. McMaster at the Hoover Institution: “Democracy Without Shelter: How Mongolia Holds The Line”
Paul Wiseman for the AP: “From Motorcycles to Booze, U.S. Ban on $1 Billion Worth of Canadian Imports Goes Into Effect”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation on how AI is reshaping cyber threats, the risks facing vulnerable infrastructure, what government and industry can do to get ahead of the curve, and more from the 2026 Aspen Security Forum.
Agents of Change: AI Diffusion, Digital Sovereignty, and Security
Timothy Haugh, 4th Commander, U.S. Cyber Command; 19th Director, National Security Agency; Founder, The Haugh Way
Talal M. Al Kaissi, Group Chief Global Affairs Officer, G42; Chief Executive Officer, Core42
Moderator: David E. Sanger, The New York Times
Book of the Week
This Cursed Beautiful Land: A Russian-American Story
By Evan Gershkovich
“In March 2023, a year after Russia invaded Ukraine, Evan Gershkovich met with a union boss connected with a Russian tank factory. As the journalist sat with his source in an empty restaurant in an industrial city 900 miles east of Moscow, a squad of masked agents charged in, blindfolded Evan, and dragged him into an unmarked van. The agents were from the FSB, Putin’s powerful security service, and the successor to the Soviet-era KGB…. Interrogated for hours after his arrest, Evan was told he was being charged with spying and thrown in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison—a pawn in a geopolitical chess match.
After his world suddenly shrunk to a tiny, cement-walled cell, Evan did something remarkable: he continued reporting. For the next sixteen months, he documented a life in Russia that few Westerners will ever experience: its sprawling prison system, with its own vocabulary and customs—and surprising pockets of humanity.
In writing by turns riveting and humorous, Evan brings readers inside the events leading to his arrest, his nearly 500 days in Russian prisons, and the blockbuster, multi-country prisoner swap that freed him. More than a prison memoir, This Cursed Beautiful Land is an extraordinary, deeply reported chronicle of a misunderstood people and their land—marked at once by stunning beauty and a haunting history.”
Featured Opportunity
For the first time, NobleReach is recruiting two Scholars cohorts at once.
Applications for the February 2027 cohort close October 14. Applications for the August 2027 cohort close December 9.
NobleReach Scholars are recent graduates who spend a year in paid tech, AI, cybersecurity, and business roles with government agencies and mission-driven companies. Whether you want to apply, hire a Scholar, or know someone who should, there’s a place for you below.
Scholars earn a full salary from their employer, usually $70,000 to $90,000, plus a one-time $18,000 stipend from NobleReach. The year starts with a bootcamp in Washington, D.C. Each Scholar gets a mentor from government or industry and meets with the full cohort in person during the year.
Questions? Email apply@noblereach.org
Podcast of the Week
Anna Bower, Tyler McBrien, and Michael Feinberg joined Scott Anderson for the Lawfare Institute’s Rational Security podcast: “The ‘Techs Appeal’ Edition”
Join Our Team!
The Aspen Strategy Group is seeking a Program Manager to oversee and manage our main leadership initiatives: the Rising Leaders Program (RLP), which is now in its sixth year, and the Albright International Leaders Program (AILP) which will be launched in 2027. While the focus of the role will be on these leadership programs, the Program Manager will also contribute across the other pillars of our work including the Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum.
This position is set in a very collaborative, ambitious, dynamic-team, and fast-paced environment. As the ASG team prepares for each new cohort/class of leaders, meeting, program, and project, the Program Manager is given a high level of responsibility and ownership to manage the responsibilities and portfolio assigned to them. We seek candidates with the ability to work both efficiently as part of a team and independently to ensure the success of the ASG’s various activities.
Thank you for sharing this opportunity with your networks.
