Editor at Large @TheNatlInterest, Host 'The Bottom Line' @AJEnglish, Co-Chair, @GLOBSEC US Initiative, Editor, The Washington Note; Chair & CEO, @Widehall1769
Washington, DC
Joined September 2008
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Congrats to @ICI and Eric Pan on a fantastic run and a great next 9 months. The way ICI is perceived in the global finance community has had a huge lift under your tenure. Look forward to all that comes next.
ICI President & CEO Eric Pan will be stepping down from his role following his six-year tenure in which he strengthened ICI's influence in Washington and around the world, expanded its advocacy on behalf of funds and investors, and delivered significant policy achievements that have helped shape the future of the asset management industry. Pan will remain in the role until his successor can be found, with the plan of leaving by June 30, 2027.
Read more: bit.ly/4juWvky
The dark side was there, remains there. Chilling and worrisome
In 1992, Boris Yeltsin admitted the Soviets had a BW program. Months later, Frank Wisner — then Under Sec State — led a US delegation to Moscow to press Russia to come clean on its biological warfare program. Russia never did so.
What’s important in Wisner’s declassified speaking points (below) is the heavy emphasis on Russia’s plague weapons, including work on “genetic engineering and other techniques” & “to make plague bacteria resistant to antibiotics, and to make the agent more suitable for weaponization.”
The Irkusk institute is not mentioned by name, but rather indirectly as part of “the former USSR's anti-plague infrastructure” where agents were developed for biological warfare (p.4).
It is important that Russia release the details on what pathogen killed Dariya Shipilova, & whether offensive BW activities continue at the Irkutsk lab where she worked.
nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NS…
Steve Clemons retweeted
At the American Growth Summit, Chairman @JJovanovicUSA sat down with @TheNatlInterest’s @SCClemons to discuss how EXIM can strengthen U.S. competitiveness and help American companies win around the world. 🇺🇸
Oh GOD, where's Niala? She was just in Austin at #TribFest26 doing her podcast "Oh God Now What" with very interesting faith-focused types. But TUESDAY, she's in DC working with yours truly as a 'fireside chatter' conducting Washington's best discussions on all things economic at @Widehall1769's AMERICAN GROWTH SUMMIT -- with partners Citi, NVIDIA, Coinbase, Siemens, STATT & Tychos. Come join us. Check out everything here -- and register.
ags26.splashthat.com/1
See you at 8:15 am (come earlier than we tell you to). all best, Steve the OTHER fireside chatter
On @TeamPelosi, @mtgreenee says “well she threw me off my committee. She was a big villain in MAGA LAND…. But she wore high heels, she walked around with a pad and whipped her caucus. She got so much done. It made me so mad then. But damn, Nancy Pelosi got shit done.” #tribfest26
Terrorism impresario @peterbergencnn has written a truly brilliant chronicle of 25 years of the global war on terror, which has changed the sense of identity, the psychology, the standing of Americans in so many ways. The good news is that aggregate members of America’s military and national security leadership, the strategic class of the United States, essentially have blocked any other major 9/11 like attacks on the United States. The really bad news is that the ongoing repercussions of American decisions to invade Iraq, engage in forever wars, and to twist the first justifiable military actions against bin Laden and Afghanistan into a set of other wars and actions that had nothing at all to do with the original outrageous assault of 9/11, have cost more than $7 trillion and damaged American stature and standing in the world, with ongoing generational consequence. Here is a review in the New York Times. But I’ve read the book and it’s a stressfully necessary read for these times.
nytimes.com/2026/09/05/books…
Steve Clemons retweeted
Gulf leaders had hoped economic activity would bounce back after the summer. Instead they "expect the rest of the year will be a washout":
- passenger traffic at Dubai airport was down 31% in the first half of 2026, and hotel occupancy fell 24 points
- big events are being cancelled or moved: the Bahrain Grand Prix will take place in Malaysia; Saudi Arabia shifted an e-sports tournament to Paris
- residential property sales fell 31% in Dubai (and 59% for luxury properties)
- Asian countries, such as Singapore, are trying to attract firms that might want to leave the Gulf wsj.com/world/middle-east/th…
Steve Clemons retweeted
@POLITICO_AUS is now live
Check out the first ever Canberra Playbook here, where we explain How Keating Coached Albo on China and Trump, and much more! politico.com/newsletters/can…
RIP @Glen_Hansard. You made the world a much more pleasant place. One of my favorite conversations had with you - and then turned out you were a famous guy. To remind you all of one small but important slice of Glen's contributions, listen....
youtube.com/watch?v=k8mtXwta…
Steve Clemons retweeted
Overheard at the 2026 #AspenSecurity Forum:
@SCClemons, Editor at Large @TheNatlInterest: “[Rwanda’s] other partners are out there as well. So which do you like better: the United States partnership or the Russia partnership?”
Rwandan Minister of Interior @VBiruta: “We need all of them.”
@SCClemons: “You’re hedging your bets.”
Asked a question of @USTradeRep @jamiesongreer at @AspenSecurity in a session he did with @anjamanuel1 #AspenSecurity
Steve Clemons retweeted
Heard at the 2026 #AspenSecurity Forum
@SCClemons: “Isn't it a problem for you when non-economic types are either rewarding or punishing other nations for things that have nothing to do with the underlying economic realities, but are completely political?”
@USTradeRep: "We want economic policy to focus on the economics. At the same time, it is getting more and more difficult to divorce the economics from where countries actually sit vis-à-vis the United States.”
Steve Clemons retweeted
General Eisenhower wept in 1952 while discussing soldiers who had died under his command:
Steve Clemons retweeted
Want to dive deeper?
Don't miss tomorrow's event in #WashingtonDC for a discussion of the report's findings and recommendations with experts from @AtalantaTech, @TheNatlInterest, and more.
#SoftwareSecurity #Cybersecurity
Steve Clemons retweeted
Patients First 🏆 Thank you @SCClemons and @Widehall1769 for bringing healthcare leaders and innovators together for the Bold Bets Healthcare Summit. We had a great conversation on patient-first priorities, drug pricing, domestic manufacturing, insurance accountability, and health innovation. youtube.com/watch?v=3ph5_rnR…
I am devastated to learn that my friend @JoshuaBaer was tragically killed in the Laredo plane crash that happened yesterday. For someone with such a "disruptive mind" able to imagine immediate opportunities where most saw none to be so quickly taken from us, this is such a hard blow to the tech entrepreneur communities in Austin and DC, and to me personally. My sincere condolences to his family, to those he partnered with in his investments, to his colleagues and friends at @StationDC_HQ and @CapitalFactory. RIP Joshua.
apnews.com/article/texas-pla…
