Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has seen it all in the span of his career, in which he earned two purple hearts in Vietnam, served in the U.S. Senate during the post-9/11 era, and prepared the United States to meet emerging threats while serving in the Obama Administration. On April 27, he’ll join us to discuss the new threats awaiting the United States and the world in the coming decades; how the United States can pursue a consistent defense strategy abroad with hyper-partisan politics at home; and Secretary Hagel’s advice for the new administration and its Department of Defense.
Join Perry World House and the Penn Biden Center for a wide-ranging conversation on the United States, the future of defense policy, and security priorities for the Biden administration with former U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.
SPEAKER
Chuck Hagel was the twenty-fourth Secretary of Defense, serving from February 2013 to February 2015. He is the only Vietnam veteran and the first enlisted combat veteran to serve as Secretary of Defense. Prior to his leadership at the Pentagon, Hagel served two terms in the United States Senate (1997-2009) representing the state of Nebraska. Some of his current commitments include service on the Board of Trustees of RAND; Senior Advisor to GALLUP; Centennial Scholar, Georgetown Walsh School of Foreign Service; and Distinguished Scholar, University of Nebraska at Omaha. Hagel is the author of the book, America: Our Next Chapter, and a graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
MODERATOR
Trudy Rubin is the foreign affairs columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, a member of The Inquirer’s editorial board, and a Visiting Fellow at Perry World House. In 2019, Ms. Rubin received the Overseas Press Club of America’s Flora Lewis Award for Best Commentary in international affairs. In 2017, and 2001, she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. She is the author of Willful Blindness: The Bush Administration and Iraq. Ms. Rubin has special expertise on the Middle East, South Asia and Russia. In recent years, she has written from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia, Ukraine, Afghanistan. Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank, Turkey, France, Italy, Britain and Germany. Before coming to The Inquirer, she was the Middle East correspondent and national correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor and a staff writer for The Economist. She is a graduate of Smith College and The London School of Economics. In 2007 she was awarded the Smith College Medal for distinguished achievements by an alumna.
