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About this session
Retired Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and a strategic advisor to GoSecure, delivers a keynote on the geopolitics and leadership of the pandemic moment. He places COVID-19 against past pandemics to argue it is highly transmissible but relatively low in lethality, then surveys the winners and losers he expects. China, he says, will emerge stronger under a coherent one-belt-one-road strategy, pressing Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea, drawing closer to Russia and continuing intellectual-property theft such as fighter-jet stealth designs. Europe comes out neutral-to-positive after Brexit; Russia stays neutral with a weak long-term hand; Iran and North Korea go quiet until after the US election; and the United States, he judges, comes out weakened by its pandemic response and political gridlock. On cyber he flags election interference, attacks on vaccine supply chains and the exploding Internet of Things attack surface, and calls for a dedicated US cyber force. The closing third turns to leadership, using Franklin Roosevelt as a model of team-building, calm, communication and mastery of detail, and argues for innovation, two-way communication, messy 'peloton' collaboration, resilience and shared democratic values, ending on the line that a leader is a dealer in hope.
In his keynote, "Geopolitics and Leadership in the Time of Coronavirus," Admiral Stavridis will lay out the strategic global landscape, addressing both winners and losers as we work through the challenges of the virus -- including the impact on cybersecurity. He will also illuminate the leadership qualities we need to overcome all of the difficult hurdles ahead.
Key takeaways
- Read the pandemic as a geopolitical accelerator: expect China to gain ground, Europe to hold or improve, and Russia, Iran and North Korea to bide their time.
- Treat cyber as the standing threat behind the headlines, from election interference to intrusions into vaccine supply chains, and build a dedicated cyber force to match adversaries who already have one.
- Remember the Internet of Things multiplies the attack surface faster than the population grows; more connected devices means more exposure to defend.
- Lead with Roosevelt's toolkit: build teams, stay calm, communicate as a two-way bridge rather than a megaphone, and master the detail.
- Value messy 'peloton' collaboration and imperfect international institutions; tune them up rather than scrapping them, and anchor leadership in resilience and shared democratic values.
Speakers
Admiral James G. Stavridis
Admiral James Stavridis is an Operating Executive of The Carlyle Group, following five years as the 12th Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. A retired 4-star officer in the U.S. Navy, he led the NATO Alliance in… Read moreRead less
Admiral James Stavridis is an Operating Executive of The Carlyle Group, following five years as the 12th Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. A retired 4-star officer in the U.S. Navy, he led the NATO Alliance in global operations from 2009 to 2013 as Supreme Allied Commander with responsibility for Afghanistan, Libya, the Balkans, Syria, counter piracy, and cyber security. He also served as Commander of U.S. Southern Command, with responsibility for all military operations in Latin America from 2006-2009. He earned more than 50 medals, including 28 from foreign nations in his 37-year military career.
Earlier in his military career he commanded the top ship in the Atlantic Fleet, winning the Battenberg Cup, as well as a squadron of destroyers and a carrier strike group – all in combat. In 2016, he was vetted for Vice President by Hillary Clinton and subsequently invited to Trump Tower to discuss a cabinet position in the Trump Administration.
Admiral Stavridis earned a PhD in international relations and has published nine books and hundreds of articles in leading journals around the world. His 2012 TED talk on global security has close to one million views. Admiral Stavridis is a monthly columnist for TIME Magazine and Chief International Security Analyst for NBC News, and has tens of thousands of connections on the social networks.
