Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.

Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder

New Speakers Announced for the 2026 Aspen Security Forum

One of the world’s premiere national security and foreign policy gatherings, the 2026 Aspen Security Forum takes place July 14-17.

Washington, DC, & Aspen, CO, July 1, 2026 – The Aspen Strategy Group today announced new speakers appearing at the 2026 Aspen Security Forum (ASF). 

From July 14-17, ASF will bring together speakers, including domestic and international government officials, business executives, leading academics, and noted journalists from around the world to Aspen, Colorado.

Among the speakers confirmed:

  • Jarrod Agen – Assistant to the President & Executive Director, National Energy Dominance Council, The White House
  • Thomas Emanuel Dans – Chairman, United States Arctic Research Commission
  • Thomas J. Barrack – U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye, Special Envoy for Syria and Iraq, U.S. Department of Stater 
  • John Cornyn – U.S. Senator for Texas, U.S. Senate
  • Chris Murphy – U.S Senator for Connecticut, U.S. Senate
  • Fatih Birol – Executive Director, International Energy Agency
  • Annalena Baerbock – President, United Nations General Assembly; Former Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Germany
  • Robert Lighthizer – Former United States Trade Representative; Chairman, Department of War Defense Policy Board
  • Robert O’Brien – Chairman, American Global Strategies; 27th U.S. National Security Advisor
  • Robert Thomson – Chief Executive, News Corp
  • David van Weel – Minister of Justice and Security, The Netherlands
  • Theo Francken – Minister of Defense and Foreign Trade, Belgium
  • General Eirik Kristoffersen – Chief of Defence Norway, Norwegian Armed Forces
  • Belén Martínez Carbonell – Secretary-General, European External Action Service
  • Albert Ramchand Ramdin – Secretary General, Organization of American States
  • Kaupo Rosin – Director General, Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service
  • Pasi Rajala – Political State Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defence of Finland, Prime Minister’s Office of Finland
  • General Christopher Cavoli (Ret.) – 20th Supreme Allied Commander Europe; 19th Commander, U.S. European Command; Partner, Valor Equity Partners
  • General Bryan Fenton (Ret.) – 13th Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, U.S. Department of War
  • General Timothy Dean Haugh (Ret.) – 4th Commander, U.S. Cyber Command; 19th Director, National Security Agency; Founder, The Haugh Way
  • Karl Rove – Senior Advisor & Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush
  • Marc Thiessen – Co-Host, What the Hell Is Going On; Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
  • Iván Duque Márquez – Former President of Colombia 2018 – 2022, Government of Colombia
  • Rahm Emanuel – Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan
  • Salam Fayyad – Professor of Public Policy, Princeton University; Former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority
  • Mark T. Esper – 27th U.S. Secretary of Defense; Partner, Red Cell Partners
  • Jane Harman – Former Member, U.S. Congress 
  • Wolfgang Schmidt – Former Federal Minister, Germany
  • Leopoldo López – Co-Founder, World Liberty Congress
  • Colonel Jack Jacobs – Medal of Honor Recipient, National Medal of Honor Museum
  • Comfort Ero – CEO & President, International Crisis Group
  • Talal Al Kaissi – Group Chief Global Affairs Officer, G42; Chief Executive Officer, Core42 
  • Meghan O’Sullivan – Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
  • Elizabeth Economy – Hargrove Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
  • Kori Schake – Director, Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
  • Heather Pringle – Chief Executive Officer, Space Foundation
  • Stephen E. Biegun – Vice Chairman, National Endowment for Democracy
  • Daniel Poneman – Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy; Co-Chair, Nuclear Energy Innovation Sub-Committee

Conversations from ASF will be led by prominent members of the media including Jacqui Heinrich (Fox News Channel), Steve Clemons (The National Interest), David Ignatius (The Washington Post), Mary Louise Kelly (NPR), Courtney Kube (NBC News), Lara Seligman (The Wall Street Journal), Andrea Mitchell (NBC News), David Sanger (The New York Times), Gideon Rachman (Financial Times), and Tommy Vietor and Ben Rhodes (Pod Save the World).

The speaker list can be viewed online here. Additional speakers will be announced on the site and in our newsletter in the coming days. Organizers will release the agenda and additional programming next week. Members of the media are invited to apply for a limited number of press credentials here.

The Aspen Security Forum is organized by the Aspen Strategy Group, which is co-chaired by Condoleezza Rice and Nicholas Burns, and led by Executive Director Anja Manuel and Director Niamh King.

Members of the media with questions, and those seeking to bring cameras or other AV equipment, should contact [email protected] and [email protected].

Please subscribe to The Weekly Leaf— the place for all things ASG. Here you will find a collection of articles from our members, plus content from leading journalists and national security experts. We also share ASG updates and announcements, upcoming events, and a book or podcast of the week. 

The Aspen Security Forum (ASF) is the premier national security and foreign policy conference in the United States. Presented by the Aspen Strategy Group, ASF has provided a nonpartisan public venue for domestic and global leaders to discuss the key national security and foreign policy issues of the day since 2010. For more information, visit https://www.aspensecurityforum.org/