September 11, One Year Later: What's Ahead for an Altered Homeland

Transcript

MR. STROBE TALBOTT: Good morning to all of you. I want to thank you for coming out so early to help the Brookings Institution join the rest of the country in reflecting on September 11th and its aftermath.

During the course of the morning you're going to be hearing from a number of distinguished speakers and panelists. Those include Andy Kohut who is one of the world's great experts on public opinion and who has some data that he will be sharing with us that I think you will find to be both relevant and revealing. You're also going to be hearing from a number of Brookings scholars who have led this institution in its own response to September 11th.

In about a hour my colleague, E.J. Dionne, who is going to be introducing Andy Kohut and moderating the panel will tell you a bit more about the full program. But first it's my honor to introduce our lead-off speaker today. It's hard to imagine someone who's career as well as his present high post in government could be more appropriate to this occasion and also more appropriate to the mission of an institution like Brookings.

Paul Wolfowitz has achieved distinction and exercised leadership both in academe and in government. Between his stint as Secretary Wolfowitz he has been Dean Wolfowitz. In that latter capacity at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies just down the street he was a neighbor and a partner of this institution.

From my own vantage as a journalist who covered Paul when he served in the Defense and State Departments in the 1980s, I can testify that his powerful intellect was key to his effectiveness as a public servant. I associate him with a determination to make the pursuit of American interests one and the same as the advancement of American values.

He was, for example instrumental in helping guide the Philippines toward democracy, a project on which he worked very closely with our own Mike Armacost. As Ambassador to Jakarta, Paul was the point man in managing the U.S.' ties with the largest Islamic nation in the world. That last accomplishment is germane to one of the subjects that Jim Steinberg, Martin Indyk and others here at Brookings have put on the Brookings agenda since September 11th and that subject is America's relations with the Islamic world. That just happens to be the topic that Paul has chosen for his remarks this morning.

So ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming both to this podium and back to this neighborhood, Paul Wolfowitz.

[Applause]

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