Evening With Dean James Steinberg

Difficult Transitions: The Pitfalls of Managing National Security
During a President’s First Year in Office

Monday, March 24, 2008, 6:00 p.m.
Lone Star Room
Frank Erwin Center

Reception to follow.

Throughout our history, the first year of a new presidential administration has posed particularly acute challenges, and since the dawn of the nuclear age, these challenges have had a life or death quality. From the Bay of Pigs under President Kennedy through the “Black Hawk Down” incident under President Clinton and the EP-3 incident under President Bush, U.S. Presidents have had little opportunity for a leisurely period of settling in.

The next President will take office at an extraordinarily delicate and dangerous time in American history. He or she will face an ongoing conflict in Iraq with U.S. troops still engaged, our ground forces over-extended, and few good options on how to stabilize the situation and prevent wider conflict. There remain active nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea that threaten to destabilize their regions and undermine the global non-proliferation regime. Our nation faces a continued high-level terrorist threat, fueled by the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan and social, cultural, and religious divisions from Europe to South East Asia.

How will a new President tackle these obstacles, maintain policy, and fulfill his or her campaign promises? Dean Steinberg will explore the history of presidential transitions from campaigns to governing, dissect the problems faced by a new administration, and offer solutions to improve the process.

Before becoming dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs in 2006, James Steinberg was the vice president and director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., where he supervised a wide-ranging research program on U.S. foreign policy. He previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor to President Bill Clinton.

Please return the postcard enclosed with your invitation or email your RSVP to friends@lbjlib.utexas.edu by March 14 to indicate your attendance. Tickets are required and will be mailed to those who RSVP affirmatively. Guest tickets may be purchased and picked up at the event.

The Frank Erwin Center is located at 1701 Red River, between 15th Street and MLK, Jr. Blvd. Free and handicapped parking will be available in the Erwin Center parking lot located adjacent to the building (reserved lot 108 in the diagram enclosed). The entrance to the parking lot is on Red River, just south of the entrance to the Erwin Center. Please enter the Erwin Center through the entrance on Red River Street. The Lone Star Room is directly inside the front entrance, to the right.