As the grounding of the Ever Given tanker starkly showed, events in the Red Sea can have outsize or unexpected global effects. A source of food and water security for the region’s biggest players, the sea also holds tremendous economic and strategic potential for the United States, China, and other external powers. At the same time, it struggles with deep problems such as political fragility, massive migration, smuggling, and war. Even so, Washington has not yet internalized it as a distinct, emerging region, instead remaining bound by existing diplomatic and military seams.
To discuss ways of formulating a more holistic policy toward the Red Sea, The Washington Institute is pleased to announce a virtual Policy Forum with Vice Adm. John Miller, Ambassador Susan Ziadeh, Ambassador Tibor Nagy, and Elana DeLozier, author of the Institute’s new Transition 2021 memo on the region.
Watch a live webcast of this event starting at 12:00 noon EDT on Thursday, April 15, 2021.
Vice Adm. John W. “Fozzie” Miller, U.S. Navy (Ret.), is president and CEO of the Fozzie Miller Group and a principal partner in Global Alliance Advisors. Previously, he served as head of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command until 2015, a role that included commanding the Combined Maritime Forces and the U.S. Fifth Fleet.
Susan L. Ziadeh served for twenty-three years in the U.S. State Department, most recently as deputy assistant secretary for Arabian Peninsula affairs (2014-2016). She has also served as ambassador to Qatar and in various roles at the U.S. embassies in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Bahrain.
Tibor Nagy recently retired from a three-decade foreign service career that included more than twenty years in posts across Africa. Among other roles, he served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs (2018-2021), ambassador to Ethiopia (1999-2002) and Guinea (1996-1999), and deputy chief of mission in Nigeria (1993-1995), Cameroon (1990-1993), and Togo (1987-1990).
Elana DeLozier is the Rubin Family Fellow in The Washington Institute’s Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy, where she specializes in Yemen, the Gulf states, and nuclear proliferation. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at Georgetown University. She is the author of the Transition 2021 memo, The Case for a Holistic U.S. Policy Toward the Emerging Red Sea Region.
The Policy Forum series is made possible through the generosity of the Florence and Robert Kaufman Family.