Dr. Rita E. Hauser, Chairperson of the International Peace Institute, was featured as a panelist at the May 2009 “U.S.-Saudi Relations in a World Without Equilibrium” symposium in Washington, organized by the Committee for International Trade, Council of Saudi Chambers (CIT) and the New America Foundation (NAF). She spoke on the opening panel titled “A Forward Projection of What the Saudi-US Relationship Should Look Like and Needs to Achieve.”
The presentation is a part of a video of the complete panel discussion and Hauser’s portion starts at Time: 00:41:50.
Conference organizer Steve Clemons of the Foundation described the significance of the symposium this way:
“..Because of cultural dissimilarities and almost a purposeful “remoteness” that has become institutionalized in the US-Saudi relationship, except when behind closed doors — or perhaps in the privacy of the oval office or big estates here or there, or in Riyadh — the US-Saudi relationship remains “overly exotic” — and is not acted out in public view to the degree it should be. ”The conference that follows below will hopefully become a starting point for a more regular, public exchange of views on the key strategic and economic challenges that face the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the broader Middle East and international system. ”Whether many Americans want to acknowledge it or not, the fact is that the US-Saudi relationship is vital to America’s geostrategic and geoeconomic interests today — and like all diplomatic frameworks between key geostrategic players, this relationship as seen from both the American and the Saudi sides has warts and shortcomings. Nonetheless, it is not healthy to allow a vital relationship to be perceived and discussed through only very narrow lenses. ”What we have coming up on at this event is pretty significant in my view, and I am grateful to officials in the Obama administration and in the Saudi Kingdom — as well as other private sector speakers — for supporting the kind of open encounter we are promoting in this meeting..”
Speaker Biography:
Dr. Rita E. Hauser
Chairperson, International Peace Institute
Chair, Director’s Council, New America Foundation
Rita E. Hauser has been Chair of the International Peace Institute Board of Directors since 1993. Dr. Hauser is President of the Hauser Foundation. She is an international lawyer and was a senior partner for more than twenty years at the New York City law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. Dr. Hauser served on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 2001 to 2004. She was the founding chair of The Advisory Board of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy and is a trustee of the RAND Corporation. She serves as a director of many organizations, including: The International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and the RAND Corporation, among many others. She served on the Visiting Committee of the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University, and is vice-chairman of the Dean’s Advisory Board at Harvard Law School. Dr. Hauser was national co-chair of the last Harvard University Campaign. She holds advanced degrees from the University of Strasbourg in France, Harvard and NYU Law Schools and the University of Paris Law Faculty. She was awarded the Albert Gallatin Medal, the highest honor for public service of the New York University (2006), and the Vanderbilt Medal, the highest honor of the New York University School of Law (2004), as well as the Harvard Medal for distinguished service to Harvard University (1999).
