CFR Videos

Video segments with CFR fellows and other experts on vital foreign policy and national security topics.

9/11 Perspectives: Pursuing a Global Response to Terrorism

Speaker: Stewart M. Patrick

This video is part of a special Council on Foreign Relations series that explores how 9/11 changed international relations and U.S. foreign policy. In this video, Stewart M. Patrick, senior fellow and director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program at the Council on Foreign Relations, identifies the successes and lasting challenges in the international community's response to global terrorism since the attacks of September 11, 2001. "The world has made a lot of progress," says Patrick, "but it still has quite a bit of a ways to go to achieve real consensus and real solidarity in this fight."

See more in United States, 9/11, Terrorist Attacks

9/11 Perspectives: Transformation in U.S. Middle East Policy

Speaker: Steven A. Cook

This video is part of a special Council on Foreign Relations series that explores how 9/11 changed international relations and U.S. foreign policy. In this video, Steven Cook, Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations discusses how the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 transformed the United States' Middle East policy. Cook argues the attacks led to the conclusion that "authoritarian stability -- that is, relying on authoritarian leaders in the region to help create a political order that made it relatively easier for the United States to pursue its interests in the region -- was perhaps no longer appropriate." Instead, U.S. policy has been devoted from that point on to "fostering democratic change in the Middle East."

See more in United States, Middle East, 9/11

9/11 Perspectives: Splinters in the Global Islamist Movement

Speaker: Ed Husain

This video is part of a special Council on Foreign Relations series that explores how
9/11 changed international relations and U.S. foreign policy. In this video, Ed Husain, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, who was previously a member and strategist for radical Islamist organizations in London discusses the impact of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on Islamist extremism as well as global counter-terrorism efforts. "The most important thing that happened after 9/11," says Husain, "is not just the so-called 'War on Terror', but more importantly, the unspoken and often unheard developments within Islamist extremism globally." Husain argues that "the global Islamist movement then split into two, immediately after 9/11," into global jihadists like al-Qaeda on one side and non-violent extremists on the other.

See more in United States, 9/11, Terrorist Organizations

9/11 Perspectives: Echoes in Arab World

Speaker: Isobel Coleman

This video is part of a special Council on Foreign Relations series that explores how 9/11 changed international relations and U.S. foreign policy. In this video, Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow and Director of CFR's Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative, discusses how the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2011 influenced a debate over social and economic challenges and opportunities in the Middle East.

See more in United States, 9/11, Terrorist Attacks

9/11 Perspectives: Bush's Freedom Agenda

Speaker: Elliott Abrams

This video is part of a special Council on Foreign Relations series that explores how 9/11 changed international relations and U.S. foreign policy. In this video, Elliott Abrams, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses how the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2011 transformed the Bush administration. Abrams says 9/11 led then-president Bush to conclude that "bringing democracy and good governance to the Middle East was going to be critical in terms of fighting the sources of Islamic terrorism."

See more in United States, 9/11, Terrorist Attacks

9/11 Perspectives: How America Changed its Projection of Power

Speaker: Gideon Rose

This video is part of a special Council on Foreign Relations series that explores how 9/11 changed international relations and U.S. foreign policy. In this video, Foreign Affairs Editor Gideon Rose argues that the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States "unleashed U.S. power on the world." Rose says this resulted "not just in the Afghanistan campaign, but in the Iraq campaign eventually, in the Global War on Terror, and in the massive deployment of American resources, in power projection, and in an activist world role that wouldn't have been conceivable without the immediate trigger of a threat in the previous decade." He says the end of this decade saw a "chastened, less hubristic" U.S. attitude and a country confronting a host of domestic challenges.

See more in United States, 9/11, Terrorist Attacks

Cybersecurity and the Private Sector

Interviewer: Adam Segal
Interviewee: Edward Amoroso

AT&T's Chief Security Officer, Edward Amoroso, discusses the recent spate of cyberattacks and how governments and the private sector can help protect infrastructure and prevent future attacks with Adam Segal, Ira A. Lipman Senior Fellow for Counterterrorism and National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

See more in Defense/Homeland Security, Cybersecurity, National Security and Defense, Economics, Technology and Foreign Policy

Business Opportunities in Africa

Interviewer: Teresa Clarke
Interviewee: Nicky Oppenheimer

Nicky Oppenheimer, Chairman of De Beers, discusses how businesses can benefit from entering Africa, and contribute to sustainable growth and development in the continent. "Africa, I think, is going to be a hugely important continent in the future," says Oppenheimer, emphasizing that "America is currently a bit behind China. I don't think they should lose or slip back any further."

See more in Africa, Southern Africa, Botswana, United States, China, Defense/Homeland Security, Economics, Economic Development, Emerging Markets, Geoeconomics

Education Key to Building Afghan Security Forces' Capacity

Interviewer: Jonathan Karl
Interviewee: William B. Caldwell IV

Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell, head of NATO training efforts in Afghanistan, says 9 out of 10 Afghan security recruits are illiterate, and emphasizes the education role that has become a major component of NATO training. Caldwell expects NATO and U.S. forces to remain in Afghanistan well after 2014, when Afghan forces are planned to take on security leadership in the country.

See more in Afghanistan, Defense Strategy, Wars and Warfare, NATO

AIDS at 30: Getting Policy and Funding Right

Speaker: Laurie Garrett

On the heels of the 30th anniversary since AIDS was recognized, the UN General Assembly will meet to discuss the next course of HIV/AIDS funding. CFR Senior Fellow for Global Health Laurie Garrett traces the initial failures to contain the spread of AIDS, and calls on international policymakers to adequately fund the combat of the deadly disease.

See more in Health, Science, and Technology, Global Health, Health and Disease, Public Health Threats

EU's Rehn: Greek Aid Plan Days Away

European Union Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn expects negotiations on a new Greek aid plan between the EU, IMF, and Greek government will conclude "in the coming days," ahead of the EU finance ministers' meeting scheduled for June 20.

See more in Greece, EU

EU's Rehn backs Christine Lagarde for IMF Chief

Speaker: Olli Rehn

European Union Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn says French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde "would make a very good managing director of the IMF for the whole world, not only for Europe." "The European Union and its member states see that Christine Lagarde, the finance minister of France, has very strong professional qualifications and has earned the respect of her peers as the chairperson of the G20," Rehn said.

See more in Algeria, International Organizations, EU, IMF

Improving the Quality of Education

Interviewer: Isobel Coleman
Interviewee: Michael Barber

Sir Michael Barber, head of the Global Education Practice at McKinsey & Company argues that the key to improving educational systems is setting clear, internationally benchmarked standards, and attracting and training good teachers and school leaders.

See more in United States, Education

Slaughter: U.S. Not in Position to Use Force in Syria

Interviewer: Isobel Coleman
Interviewee: Anne-Marie Slaughter

Anne-Marie Slaughter, Former Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department discusses the actions taken by international actors in Libya, and why the same measures cannot be taken in Syria. Slaughter called the situation in Syria "heartbreaking" and said "it looks like in many ways it looks like this government might get away with the same kind of brutality that we saw 20 years ago." However, she argued that while the U.S. is doing everything in its power diplomatically, it is not in a position to use force in Syria.

See more in Syria, U.S. Strategy and Politics

China's Innovation Wall

Speaker: Adam Segal

Adam Segal, author of "Advantage: How American Innovation Can Overcome the Asian Challenge," discusses the policy changes needed to achieve the Chinese ambition to move from a model of "made in China" to one of "innovated in China."

See more in China, Air Transportation Security