On June 7, 2013, the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations and the U.S.-GCC Corporate Cooperation Committee are hosting a public affairs briefing “Crisis Syria: Going Where?” featuring Ms. Mona Yacoubian, Senior Advisor, Middle East and Project Director, Pathways to Progress, Stimson Center; Mr. Ian Pannell, Correspondent, BBC News; Professor David Des Roches, Senior Military Fellow, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University; Ms. Sharon Waxman, Vice President, Public Policy and Advocacy, International Rescue Committee; and Professor Paul Sullivan, Professor of Economics, National Defense University and Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University. Dr. John Duke Anthony, Founding President & CEO, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, will serve as moderator.

DATE & TIME:

Friday, June 7, 2013
10:00 – 10:30 a.m. – Coffee & Tea / Networking
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Specialist Remarks / Q&A

LOCATION:

Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-369
45 Independence Ave SW
Washington, DC 20515

REGISTRATION:

The event is free but R.S.V.P. (acceptances only) via email to rsvp@ncusar.org is required.

Please note: seating capacity is limited. Include the following information when you R.S.V.P.:
Name:
Company:
Title:
Phone:
Email:

If you have any questions you can call the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations at (202) 293-6466.

Ms. Mona Yacoubian

Ms. Mona Yacoubian joined the Stimson Center in 2011 where she is Senior Advisor, Middle East, and directs “Pathways to Progress: Peace, Prosperity and Change in the Middle East,” a joint initiative with the George C. Marshall Foundation. Ms. Yacoubian also co-directs the Stimson-US Institute of Peace Lebanon Working Group. She previously served as a Special Advisor and Senior Program Officer on the Middle East at the US Institute of Peace, where her work focused on Lebanon and Syria as well as broader issues related to democratization in the Arab world. From 1990-1997, she served as the North Africa analyst at the US Department of State.

Mr. Ian Pannell

Mr. Ian Pannell is a Correspondent for BBC News who has reported on Syria since 2011. His work was recognised in February 2013 by the Royal Television Society where it won the International News Coverage award for what the judges called “outstanding courage in its eye-witness reporting from the front line but also great humanity in its portrayal of ordinary people caught up in the midst of a violent civil war.” In 2001 he was part of the BBC’s Emmy Award winning team in Afghanistan reporting on the US-lead war against Al-Qaeda. He was posted to Cairo from 2005-2008, during which time he reported on the wars in Iraq and Lebanon, for which he was recognised with an International Emmy Award in 2006.

Professor David Des Roches

Professor David Des Roches is a Senior Military Fellow at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, U.S. Department of Defense/National Defense University. He was formerly the Director of the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs, U.S. Department of Defense, responsible for defense policy concerning Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

Ms. Sharon Waxman

Ms. Sharon Waxman joined the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in August 2012 as Vice President of Public Policy and Advocacy, and head of the IRC’s office in Washington, DC. She leads the organization’s global advocacy efforts, which draw on the first-hand knowledge of IRC humanitarian aid teams in 40 countries around the world and 22 U.S. refugee resettlement offices. Ms. Waxman served in the U.S. State Department from 2009 to 2012 as Deputy to the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. Before joining the State Department, she served as Senior National Security Advisor to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy for 11 years.

Professor Paul Sullivan

Dr. Paul Sullivan is Professor of Economics at the National Defense University and an Adjunct Professor of Security Studies at Georgetown University. He is a columnist for Turkiye Gazetesi of Istanbul, Turkey and for the UB Post of Ulan Baator, Mongolia. Dr. Sullivan is a Global Expert at the UN Alliance of Civilizations and an Adjunct Senior Fellow, Future Global Resource Threats, at the Federation of American Scientists. He is a regular contributor to the National Journal Expert Blogs on “Energy and Environment” and “National Security.”

Dr. John Duke Anthony

Dr. John Duke Anthony is the Founding President & CEO of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, and currently serves on the State Department Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and its subcommittee on Sanctions. During the fall 2012 semester he served as Dean’s Chair in International Studies and Political Science at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, where he taught a course on “Politics of the Arabian Peninsula.” Dr. Anthony is the only American to have been invited to each of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s Ministerial and Heads of State Summits since the GCC’s inception in 1981.