Dennis Wilder is a senior fellow in the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues and assistant professor of the practice in Asian studies at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service. He is also a visiting professor of the practice at the Bush School of Government, Texas A&M (Washington DC campus). Wilder has had a decorated public service career, serving in roles such as National Security Council director for China and East Asian Affairs and as the senior editor of the President's Daily Brief.

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The project examines the future of American foreign policy by attempting to articulate the strategic environment any future administration will likely face in the year 2030. Lissner and Rapp-Hooper hope to generate concrete, forward-looking, and non-partisan policy perscriptions by examining current trends in global order, the economy, technology, and security, and marshaling serious expertise and rigorous research across these fields.

Rebecca Lissner is a senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy and director of the Future of American Strategy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Lissner most recently served as deputy assistant to the president and principal deputy national security advisor to the vice president in the Biden-Harris administration. Previously, Lissner served as acting senior director and director for strategic planning on the National Security Council.

Mira Rapp-Hooper is a visiting fellow at Brookings, where she researches and writes on national security and strategy issues in Asia. She is also a senior advisor at The Asia Group. Rapp-Hooper most recently served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for East Asia and Oceania at the White House National Security Council, where she was the top White House advisor on the region. From 2021 to 2023, she served as Director for Indo-Pacific Strategy at the NSC.

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In August 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported on a classified U.S. intelligence assessment that Vladimir Putin may test NATO's resolve with a limited territorial incursion or debilitating attack on critical infrastructure. Two weeks later, Ben Szovati Coulter traveled to Finland to research how critical energy infrastructure operators are preparing for a potential conflict. Drawing on fieldwork in Helsinki and interviews with Finland’s National Emergency Supply Agency, intelligence service, defence command, grid operator, and power producers, this presentation examines how the country’s public and private sectors coordinate on national security, in the context of Finland's “comprehensive security" model. The presentation will also explore the limits of Finland’s preparedness, including gaps in undersea cable repair capacity, shortages of grid components, and unclear responsibility for defending civilian infrastructure against drones. It concludes by examining the dilemma of how much security the state should fund in a competitive electricity market.

Ben Szovati Coulter is a junior at Yale University studying global affairs and Chinese. This past summer, he interned in Washington, D.C. at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), where he worked on export controls, critical mineral supply chains, and federal AI policy. He also researched energy grid security in Finland with support from the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs. As a research assistant to Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld at the Yale School of Management, Ben investigates foreign corporate assets in Russia and the Kremlin’s efforts to evade sanctions. He also serves as co-president of the Yale Alexander Hamilton Society, Yale’s largest international affairs student organization. His research interests include U.S.-China relations, export control policy, energy grids, and electric vehicle manufacturing.

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The series pairs practitioners from government and industry with Yale professors to deliver joint, hour-long lectures on subjects of mutual expertise. Practitioners discuss events or policy initiatives in which they participated, and academics cover related insights or results generated by their research.

The lectures are open to the Yale community.

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The series pairs practitioners from government and industry with Yale professors to deliver joint, hour-long lectures on subjects of mutual expertise. Practitioners discuss events or policy initiatives in which they participated, and academics cover related insights or results generated by their research.

The lectures are open to the Yale community.

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Higgins will participate virtually.

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The series pairs practitioners from government and industry with Yale professors to deliver joint, hour-long lectures on subjects of mutual expertise. Practitioners discuss events or policy initiatives in which they participated, and academics cover related insights or results generated by their research.

The lectures are open to the Yale community.

View on site | Email this event

View on site | Email this event

The series pairs practitioners from government and industry with Yale professors to deliver joint, hour-long lectures on subjects of mutual expertise. Practitioners discuss events or policy initiatives in which they participated, and academics cover related insights or results generated by their research.

The lectures are open to the Yale community.

View on site | Email this event