The US and the Middle East

Aaron David Miller, Jon Allen and Jackie Northam are global experts who have decades of experience helping the world make sense of conflicts in the Middle East. We are bringing them to our intimate Freeport Speech stage to help disentangle the complex conflict exploding in the region today.

Aaron David Miller is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focusing on U.S. foreign policy. Dr Miller served at the State Department as a historian, analyst, negotiator and advisor to Republican and Democratic secretaries of state, where he helped formulate U.S. policy on the Middle East and the Arab-Israel peace process. Ambassador Jon Allen spent his career as a Canadian diplomat and was Ambassador of Canada to Israel. He is currently a Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs in Toronto. Jackie Northam is a veteran International Affairs Correspondent for NPR.

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Net proceeds from this event to benefit Rozana United States (promoting access to quality healthcare through joint initiatives between communities in conflict)

Lead Sponsors for this event are Robert and Joan Carpenter Troccoli

Enjoy pre-lecture music for 30 minutes before the event

Detailed Bios

Aaron David Miller is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focusing on U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East. He holds a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Previously, he served 24 years at the State Department as a historian, analyst and negotiator, advising six secretaries of state on Arab-Israeli peace processes. A frequent contributor to CNN and major publications, he brings deep institutional knowledge of Washington's role in the region. 

Ambassador Jon Allen is a distinguished retired Canadian diplomat who served as Canada’s Ambassador to Israel from 2006 to 2010. Over a decades-long career, he also held postings in Mexico and India, and served as Canada's Ambassador to Spain. Currently a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, he provides vital international perspectives on diplomacy and Middle Eastern conflicts. He earned his Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from Western University and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Law from The London School of Economics.

Jackie Northam is NPR’s International Affairs Correspondent, reporting on critical geopolitical upheavals for the NPR network. With a storied four-decade career as a foreign correspondent, she brings vast on-the-ground experience covering Middle Eastern conflicts, the rise of powerful regional leaders and the broader global economic shifts affecting U.S. foreign policy.