After 11 years as director of FSI, I am stepping down at the end of December. It has been an honor to have led this dynamic institute for over a decade, and I am immensely proud of our accomplishments. Looking ahead, I will remain at Stanford as a professor and senior fellow at both FSI and the Hoover Institution. Read my farewell letter here and my last report to the FSI Advisory Council summarizing my tenure as director here. 

President Trump’s decision to engage directly with Putin is the right move. You cannot negotiate the end of a war by talking to only one side. But his strategy of appeasement has not worked. In fact, it has the opposite effect. Putin has pocketed concessions offered earlier in the year and then asked for more. If ending the war is still the goal, there are better strategies that the Trump Administration can pursue.