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From April 30 to May 3, GMF hosted the 2009 U.S. Marshall Forum on Transatlantic Affairs. This was the first Marshall Forum to be held in Washington, DC, and offered GMF the opportunity to welcome nearly 90 MMFs from across the United States and Europe back to GMF's headquarters.

The Forum opened on Thursday evening with welcome remarks from GMF President Craig Kennedy and Victor Reinoso, Deputy Mayor for Education, District of Columbia.  Dana Milbank, political commentator for the Washington Post, gave the crowd an irreverent perspective on the current political scene in the context of the Forum's theme, "The first 100 days of the Obama administration: Implications for the United States and Europe."

Over the following three days, the conference covered a range of topics relevant to the transatlantic relationship.  Panels discussed such diverse topics as climate and energy security, the 2009 NATO Summit, current developments in the European Union, data security, the challenges faced in Iraq and Afghanistan, monetary and fiscal responses to the financial crisis, higher education access and completion, and health care.  Additionally, GMF's Comparative Domestic Policy Program sponsored a reception highlighting the work of the Transatlantic Cities Network, and GMF introduced a new Fellowship program that is in development.  This program, run in partnership with the UN Alliance of Civilizations, would work on the MMF model and expose young leaders from North America and Europe to Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond.

Keynote speakers for the weekend included Paula Dobriansky, former Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs; Tim Adams, Managing Director of the Lindsay Group; Nick Burns, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs; and Catherine Raggio, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Disabilities.

Podcast interviews with some of the speakers and participants at the 2009 U.S. Marshall Forum are available for download below:

Michael Grubb comments on the U.S. climate debate, upcoming COP15


Tim Adams gives historical reasoning for the current financial crisis


Nick Burns explains the state of U.S. diplomacy today


Paula Dobriansky on the state of transatlantic and global affairs


German parliamentarians Steffen Kampeter (CDU) and Otto Fricke (FDP) on the financial crisis

The host committee for the Forum included Mike Abramowitz, Alyssa Ayres, Rob Bogart, Claire Carlin, Helga Flores Trejo, Ernesto Hernandez, Tom Hickey, Carrie Horn, Seth Hurwitz, Randall Kempner, Gary Norman, Neil Peretz, Price Roe, Joost Taverne, Howard Ways, and Josh Wyner.

The 2009 European Marshall Forum will take place October 22-25 in Berlin.  Invitations and further details will come later this summer.  We have also selected the host cities for the next two U.S. Marshall Forums: Raleigh, NC (2010) and Chicago, IL (2011).  If you are interested in helping these host committees, please contact The Marshall Memorial Fellowship Program at GMF.