FDD Events Podcast

The global economy has entered a period of fundamental realignment. As the Trump administration deploys tariffs to reshape trading relationships and redefine economic alliances, policymakers worldwide are adapting to a new reality in which economic security and national security have become inseparable. At the forefront of this effort are America’s tools of positive economic power – the institutions that are already mobilizing U.S. public and private capital, financing critical infrastructure, and expanding trade relationships. Yet new capabilities are essential, including coordinated interagency economic packages designed to stabilize transitioning regimes in countries such as Venezuela, and potentially Iran and Cuba – with clear guardrails to ensure that U.S. economic engagement advances strategic objectives without compromising American values or long-term interests.How is positive economic power evolving in response to the current moment? How can the responsible agencies complement sanctions and export controls, and more seamlessly integrate their responses? And what tools and capacities does the United States need to deploy economic power effectively?To discuss the evolving architecture of American economic statecraft, please join FDD for a fireside chat with Ben Black, CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), chairman of the Senate Subcommittees on Financial Services and General Government; National Security and International Trade and Finance; and State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development. The conversation will be moderated by Elaine Dezenski, senior director and head of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power, with introductory remarks by Daniel Swift, senior research analyst at FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power.For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2026/09/15/us-economic-statecraft-in-a-realigned-world/

As the 2026 UN General Assembly convenes in New York, FDD experts will preview the administration's UN reform priorities and the major issues on this year's agenda. Richard Goldberg will discuss implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2803 establishing the Board of Peace, the Secretary-General selection process, and U.S. efforts to close agencies like UNRWA and consolidate overlapping UN bureaucracies. Ben Cohen will assess Zelenskyy's prospects for rallying support at UNGA and the UN's response to Iran's human rights crisis ahead of an October Fact-Finding Mission briefing. Richard Goldberg is an FDD Senior Advisor specializing in international organizations who previously served in senior roles at the White House National Energy Dominance Council, the Interior Department, and the White House NSC. Ben Cohen is an FDD Research Fellow focusing on international organizations, including the UN, and a former foreign correspondent who reported from conflict zones across Europe, Asia, and Africa.For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/09/10/previewing-the-2026-un-general-assembly/

For decades, American universities have served as engines of innovation, scientific discovery, and economic growth – institutions now targeted by the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to acquire technology, talent, and research with potential military applications. Through its military-civil fusion strategy, Beijing systematically works to eliminate the distinction between civilian and military research, enabling breakthroughs developed in academic settings to support China’s defense modernization and strategic ambitions.Congress, federal agencies, and some university leaders have taken important steps in recent years to strengthen research security and improve transparency surrounding foreign funding, talent recruitment programs, and research partnerships. However, significant vulnerabilities remain.To discuss the evolving research security landscape, please join FDD for a conversation featuring House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Senator Jim Banks (R-IN). Moderated by FDD Senior Fellow Craig Singleton, the conversation will examine the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to leverage American universities for strategic gain and potential safeguards in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act.For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2026/07/14/countering-the-ccps-exploitation-of-us-academic-research/

As NATO leaders prepare to convene in Ankara on July 7-8, the alliance faces a set of questions that will shape its future stability and America's role within it. From the Trump administration's push to shift rather than share the defense burden to the level of Western support for Ukraine, the decisions made in Ankara will carry lasting consequences.FDD experts Bradley Bowman, Sinan Ciddi, and Cameron McMillan brief journalists ahead of the summit, drawing on their work tracking America's force posture in Europe, Turkey's foreign policy, and the broader contest between the free world and the Axis of Aggressors: Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/07/02/previewing-the-nato-summit-in-ankara/

The Palestinian statehood narrative rests on a foundation that FDD’s Hussain Abdul-Hussain argues was constructed, not inherited. In The Arab Case for Israel, he traces Palestinian national identity to 1964 and inter-Arab rivalry, not ancient roots, and contends that the “lost state” narrative is a vision for a Middle East without Israel, not a recoverable past. U.S. pressure on Iran’s nuclear program, Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah, and the demonstrated dividends of the Abraham Accords have cracked open a moment of genuine regional realignment. Hussain’s argument isn’t academic — it’s a call for Arab leaders to seize that window and embrace normalization publicly, before it closes.Join FDD for a policy conversation on what Arab-Israeli peace actually requires, and whether the region is ready to get there. FDD research fellow and author Hussain Abdul-Hussain will be joined by Morgan Ortagus, former U.S. deputy Presidential Envoy to the Middle East, in a discussion moderated by David Schenker, Taube senior fellow and director of the Rubin Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute.For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2026/06/11/the-arab-case-for-israel-history-mythology-and-pathways-to-peace/