2023 Conference on Diversity in International Affairs

LINDSAY: Hello, everyone. It is my great pleasure to welcome you all, both here in person in Washington, DC and joining us through the miracle of technology virtually, to the eleventh annual Conference on Diversity in International Affairs.

America’s racial and ethnic makeup has changed dramatically over the last five decades. The ethnic and racial makeup of America’s foreign policy community, however, has not. And the composition of that foreign policy community is not likely to change significantly without a dedicated effort to identify talented members of underrepresented groups, expose them to career possibilities in foreign policy, and actively recruit them to positions in the community. That is the reason we hold the conference on diversity in international affairs every year. We are seeking to highlight opportunities for careers in foreign policy and to help participants learn about the skills needed to succeed in a field that is critical to the country’s success in the world.

On that score, we encourage everyone here in person to attend the panels we are holding today and tomorrow. Many very talented people have agreed to share their experiences and insights on foreign policy with us. But just as important, we encourage all of...

ZAID: Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Zaid Zaid. I’m the head of U.S. Public Policy at Cloudflare, a cybersecurity and internet infrastructure company.

And I’m joined on stage by Merve Hickok, the president and research director for the Center for AI and Digital Policy, and also the founder of AIethicist.org; Evanna Hu, who is the chief executive officer and partner of Omelas—is that right?

HU: Uh-huh.

ZAID: She is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council. And then we have Jeff Wong, by video, who is the global chief innovation officer for Ernst & Young, and he’s an advisory board member for AI4All.

So I’m honored to be here today at the Twelfth Annual Conference on Diversity in International Affairs. Diversity is very important and dear to me. I’ve been involved in diversity issues in international affairs for at least thirty years, since I was in college, an undergraduate at Georgetown. And so—and I’ve been at this conference for a number of years, and I’m glad to see the room full of folks here today as well as the people online we here for this—have we here—we have here...

THOMAS: Good afternoon, everyone. Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Jessica Thomas, and I am director of strategic initiatives and diversity equity of inclusion business partner here at the Council on Foreign Relations. I’m also a 2017 fellow of the International Career Advancement Program, ICAP, and so pleased to have each of you here joining us for the Eleventh Conference on Diversity and International Affairs.

This annual conference brings together speakers and participants from a wide range of backgrounds, and groups that have been historically underrepresented in the foreign policy field. So, the conference aims to increase access to, and preparedness for, a career in foreign policy. We started off yesterday afternoon with insightful breakout sessions, including the myths of de-dollarization, including African democratic changes; and we closed out with an energizing conversation with keynote speaker, Senator Tammy Duckworth.

And just think: we’re just over halfway, so we still have more to go. And I’m so excited. I know I’m not the only one excited for the rest of this afternoon’s conference.

I want to, again, thank two terrific organizations with whom we’ve been collaborating to put this conference together. So, of course, ICAP, as I’ve mentioned before,...

ALLIBHOY: Good evening and welcome. Thank you for joining us for this closing session of this year’s Conference on Diversity in International Affairs.

My name is Faheen Allibhoy, and I’m the managing director and head of the J.P. Morgan Development Finance Institution. And I’m delighted to be here with Juan Zarate, who is the global co-managing partner and chief strategy at K2 Integrity. He is also the former U.S. deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism, among many other distinguished roles and positions in government and the private sector.

So I think, Juan, we had such an engaging catch-up yesterday.

ZARATE: I loved it.

ALLIBHOY: And I know today’s discussion will be equally rich. But if I may, I’d like to start a little bit with your origin story. You grew up in California, and then came out east for college. Would you mind sharing a little bit about that journey and what motivated you—the early motivations to come to international policy and affairs?

ZARATE: Perfect. First of all, thank you for moderating. I’m honored to be up here on stage with you. If you’ve seen Faheen’s biography, it’s remarkable. And it’s really an...