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THE BRENT SCOWCROFT AWARD FELLOWSHIP To nurture and train a new generation of foreign policy leaders committed to bipartisan dialogue and a strong American purpose in the world Over two decades after the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, the relationship between the United States and Russia is again at a crossroads. Russian actions to annex Crimea and destabilize Ukraine have triggered global outrage and sanctions by the United States and European Union, and there is much debate regarding the Putin government’s future motivations in the region. The U.S.-Soviet relationship was the primary focus of the Aspen Strategy Group when it was founded in 1984, so it is fitting that we return to the U.S.-Russia relationship on the occasion of our 30th anniversary. Lt. General Brent Scowcroft, one of the original founders of ASG along with Joe Nye and Bill Perry, has spent much of his career deeply involved with this relationship. While in the Air Force, he was a Professor of Russian History at West Point and held various posts in government, including as the National Security Advisor to both Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush where he helped manage the resolution of the Cold War. General Scowcroft’s expertise and experience are invaluable contributions as the ASG returns to its roots. In recognition of General Scowcroft’s commitment to public service and his dedication to the Aspen Strategy Group over the years, the ASG launched the Brent Scowcroft Fellowship Award program. Now in its eleventh year, the fellowship has benefited over forty fellows. The program is designed to prepare a new generation of foreign policy practitioners to take a leading role in our increasingly complex world. This summer’s recipients of the award— Peter Walker Kaplan and Brandon Kist—are profiled on the following pages. We also reached out to all of the past Scowcroft Fellows for updates and have included their responses. This summer’s Brent Scowcroft Award Fellows are supported by the John Anson Kittredge Educational Fund. This support is provided, in part, as a tribute to the memory of the Fund's former chair, and longtime participant in the Aspen Strategy Group, Ernest May. More information on the fund can be found at: http://kittredgefund.org. CURRENT BRENT SCOWCROFT AWARD FELLOWS “I am a big believer in practical experience. It is one thing to talk about something and another thing to see it and do it firsthand. The Brent Scowcroft Award Fellowship has been invaluable because it has provided me a behind-the-scenes look at the thoughts and actions of people who have been and are “in the arena.” In few other places would I have had the opportunity to interact with and observe such varied groups of leaders in such candid settings. What I have been struck by most is the sense of purpose displayed by those I have met. Even after lifetimes of service and accomplishment, they are still actively engaged in confronting the pressing challenges facing our nation and our world. If I do run for political office someday, their example will be foremost in my mind.” BRANDON KIST Brandon Kist joined the Aspen Strategy Group as a Brent Scowcroft Award Fellow in May 2014 to assist with the Aspen Ministers Forum and ASG Summer Workshop. Prior to joining ASG, he worked with Professor Philip Zelikow at the University of Virginia to design and administer The Modern World: Global History since 1760, the first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) offered by UVa on the Coursera platform, as well as helped to support several other UVa MOOC efforts. He also researched foreign policy topics for Professor Zelikow’s future book on American foreign policy history and aided in the process of creating an undergraduate major in Global Studies. From July 2013 to June 2014, Brandon served as a part-time consultant to the Markle Foundation’s Initiative for America’s Economic Future in a Networked World. In this role, Brandon served as the rapporteur for all three meetings of the Initiative’s Working Group on Opportunities for Individuals and was the primary drafter of the summary report produced by this working group. He also contributed background research on the evolution of the American Dream and the current state of online and adaptive learning initiatives nationwide. Brandon received a BA in Government, with a minor in History, from the University of Virginia in 2012. His coursework focused on American government and foreign policy, in addition to substantial coursework in 19th and 20th century American and world history. During his time as a student at UVa, Brandon was involved as a tour guide for the University Guide Service, a counselor for the Honor Committee, a research intern for Professor Larry Sabato’s Center for Politics, and a Summer Orientation Leader. He was also an Echols Scholar and, in his fourth year, was selected by his peers to be a Lawn Resident. Brandon is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and is a fan of both the Cincinnati Reds and Cincinnati Bengals. He plays tennis, baseball, and basketball, and he enjoys exploring new cities on foot, reading, and learning how to cook. Brandon plans to return to Cincinnati at the conclusion of his Scowcroft Fellowship in order to run his father’s company and possibly get involved in local politics. He aspires to one day run for political office. “I think that one of the biggest shortcomings in the world is that people fail to see learning as a life-long endeavor. Every day, each person grinds through tedium engulfed in a non-apparent world of unknown facts and unconsidered perspectives. Quotidian life hardens us to this truth; Aspen makes it available to us. Aspen provides the leaders and shapers of society the all-too-rare opportunity of making contact with other minds, of exchanging and reflecting. The Strategy Group applies this to the discipline of foreign policy and does it with constant innovation and vibrant energy. I have just begun to reflect on the difference that actually makes: the people who make waves in the world, the same ones I admire so much, are opening their minds to new ideas. I think that’s a good first step to making the world a better place.” PETER WALKER KAPLAN Peter Walker Kaplan is a spring and summer 2014 Brent Scowcroft Award Fellow, honored to be supporting the Aspen Ministers Forum and the Strategy Group Summer Workshop. He hails from Larchmont, NY and is a recent graduate of Middlebury College, where he achieved his B.A. in geography with concentrations in Arabic, Middle Eastern geopolitics, and GIS. As a spatial and research analyst for the Woodrow Wilson School’s STEP in 2013, he digitized, analyzed, and created maps of changing land use patterns in South Africa in order to understand the effects of climate change on agriculture and demography. His products have informed STEP’s recent research and will be used for forthcoming reports. Peter’s environmental background is additionally rooted in his work with Pace’s Environmental Law Clinic, where he worked under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as an intern and Chinese translator. For the clinic, he translated correspondence for the establishment of waterkeeping programs in China’s Northwest Hubei Province and studied environmental ecology. Peter has also worked in journalism, having joined BuzzFeed’s political team as a political reporter. As a pioneering writer for its now-established ‘World’ vertical, he was tasked with creating world news that would go viral for an American audience without a strong interest in global issues. In order to do this, he wrote social media-derived pieces monitoring sociopolitical change during the Arab Spring; among his most popular pieces were “Instagrams of the Syrian Revolution” and “How Syria’s Dictator Creates an Alternate Reality on Facebook.” For the ‘U.S.’ vertical, Peter covered everything from Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s congressional contest with Bill Pascrell to Charles Barron’s contentious Brooklyn campaign. During his time at BuzzFeed, Peter was mentored by Ben Smith and Michael Hastings, who taught him not to bury the lede and to look for stories everywhere. During his time at Middlebury, Peter served as an orientation leader; an environmental consultant for the town of Middlebury, VT; a member of Middlebury’s marketing and concert committees; hosted a hip-hop radio show with foci on American pop culture and the female rap industry; played rugby; co-managed a coffee shop; made great friends and studied with smart, connected faculty. He is also a graduate of the C.V. Starr-Middlebury School Abroad in Amman, Jordan, where he studied Middle Eastern gender studies and the Arabic language. He speaks Arabic and Chinese, and has studied French. He looks forward to a career in law, sustainable development, and foreign policy, although he’ll see where life takes him. PAST RECIPIENTS OF THE BRENT SCOWCROFT AWARD FELLOWSHIP The thoughts and journeys of our former fellows Our previous Brent Scowcroft Award Fellows have overseen programming over the course of the past decade, and have been instrumental in the establishment of some of the Aspen Strategy Group’s newest initiatives: the U.S.-Brazil Strategic Dialogue, the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue, the U.S.-China Policy Dialogue, and the Aspen Ministers Forum. Having received the mentorship of ASG directors, deputy directors, and associate directors, the BSAF community is now seeded around the globe, pursuing projects from New York to Phoenix to London. We touched base with the 40-plus fellows who have received the award to see how the Fellowship affected their lives and careers.

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