Aside from being America’s most prolific, acclaimed, and respected
documentary film maker, Ken Burns is an astute observer of
American political life, both past and present. Known for his dogged
commitment to pursuing the truth through locating and uncovering
primary source documents, Ken Burns has had dramatic influence
not only as the greatest documentarian of the day, but also as an
influential thinker and analyst of American life.
In this America at a Crossroads program Pulitzer Prize winning writer,
columnist and broadcast journalist, Patt Morrison, will engage with
Ken Burns, the country’s greatest filmmaker and popular historian,
about the current state of American life, politics and where, through
his special lens, he sees America headed.

Since 2011, Aluf Benn has been the Editor in Chief of Haaretz, the
longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. Haaretz,
founded in 1918, describes itself as “an independent daily newspaper
with a broadly liberal outlook both on domestic issues and on
international affairs.” Aluf Benn holds an MBA degree from the
Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a
degree from Tel Aviv University. At Haaretz, Benn has served as an
investigative reporter and head of the news division. His articles have
been published in a variety of international newspapers, including the
NY Times, The Guardian, Foreign Affairs and Newsweek. He is a
highly respected journalist and an astute observer and analyst of the
war in Gaza, of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and the broader politics
of the Middle East.

Benn will be in conversation with award winning NPR broadcast
journalist Madeleine Brand.

This program features the dynamic duo of two renowned journalists
who have covered national politics, elections and presidencies for
decades. They will be discussing their observations and analysis of
the 2024 Elections in conversation with Madeleine Brand of NPR’s
affiliate KCRW.
Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent for The New York
Times and a political analyst for MSNBC Baker has covered five
presidencies: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald J.
Trump and now Joe Biden. There are few reporters who are more
conversant than Peter Baker with presidencies and presidential politics
Susan Glasser has served as the top editor of several Washington
publications, including Politico, where she founded the award-
winning Politico Magazine, and Foreign Policy, which won three National
Magazine Awards, among other honors, during her tenure as editor in
chief. Previously, she worked at the Washington Post as editor for national
news and oversaw coverage of the impeachment of Bill Clinton, served as
a reporter covering the intersection of money and politics, spent four years
as the Post’s Moscow co-bureau chief, and covered the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. She edited Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, early in her
career.

The featured speakers for this program, Dana Stroul and Michael Singh,
both previously advised American presidents and secretaries of state on
the Middle East. They are now on the faculty of The Washington Institute
(TWI), for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel American think tank based in
Washington, D.C., focused on the foreign policy of the United States in the
Near East.
Dana Stroul served under President Biden as Deputy Assistant Secretary
of Defense for the Middle East, the pentagon’s top civilian official with
responsibility for the region. Currently, Stroul is Director of Research and
Senior Fellow of TWI.
Michael Singh was Senior Director for Middle East Affairs in the President
George W. Bush White House; prior to that position Singh was a director on
the National security Council staff and served as special assistant to
Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice. Currently, sing is
a Managing Director and Senior Fellow at TWI.
Stroul and Singh will discuss the current war in Gaza and the broader
question of Israel-Palestinian relations and prospects for peace. They will
be in conversation with award winning broadcast journalist Warren Olney.

Sarah Longwell, a Republican political strategist, is the founder and
producer of The Bulwark, a conservative anti-Trump news and opinion
website launched in 2018. Together with Bill Kristol and Charlie Sykes,
Sarah has consistently presented outstanding podcasts, programming and
articles for Republican never-Trumpers, a movement which Longwell
helped to form and continues to lead. Longwell is the founder of
Republican Voters Against Trump, which spent millions of dollars to defeat
then-President Donald Trump in 2020. She also heads Republicans for the
Rule of Law which advocated for the impeachment and removal of Trump
in 2019. Sarah Longwell, and The Bulwark continue to pursue their
mission of warning of the dangers to our democracy posed by MAGA and
Trump.

Simon Rosenberg is a highly regarded Democratic political strategist and
commentator with more than 3 decades of experience in national politics
and television news. He has built a new home for his political analysis,
commentary, and live political discussions at Hopium Chronicles, an
engaging new project on the Substack media platform. In 2022 Rosenberg
was the single political analyst who refuted the notion that the 2022 election
would result in a “red wave”…and he got it right.

Simon and Sarah were guests on America at a Crossroads in December,
2023 looking ahead to the 2024 elections. Now that the 2024 elections are
upon us, we have asked them to return to take A Close(r)Look at the
2024 Elections. It will be fun, exciting and informative. Moderated by
LAists’ Larry Mantle

Gidi Grinstein has spent most of his career promoting Israeli-Palestinian
and regional peace in the Middle East. In his recent book (In)Sights:
Peacemaking in the Oslo Process thirty Years and Counting, Grinstein
illuminates systemic issues relating to the failed efforts to arrive at a two-
state solution. Ambassador Dennis Ross, a frequent guest on America at a
Crossroads, and longtime US Special Middle East Coordinator, described
(in)Sights as the single best book on understanding the issues …
illuminating new dimensions” and said it was an “essential [read] for future
US peace intervention.”

Since October 7, America at a Crossroads has invited a variety of veteran
diplomats, journalists, and scholars to provide occasional briefings about
the situation in the Middle East, focusing on the hostages, the Gaza War,
and on US engagement and diplomacy in the region.

On September 16, Gidi Grinstein, a foremost expert on Israeli-Palestinian
relations, the Oslo Process and the Permanent Status Agreement, will be
joining America at a Crossroads to provide our 17 th Israel in Crisis a briefing
since the heinous attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Grinstein will discuss the status and progress of hostage and cease fire
negotiations and his views on what the future holds in terms of Israeli
Palestinian relations.

Since October 7, America at a Crossroads has invited a variety of veteran
diplomats, journalists, and scholars to provide occasional briefings about
the situation in the Middle East, focusing on the hostages, the Gaza War,
and on US engagement and diplomacy in the region.
On September 12, expert Middle East analyst Aaron David Miller, a senior
fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a
commentator on the subject for CNN, MSNBC and Bloomberg will be
joining America at a Crossroads to provide our 16 th Israel in Crisis a briefing
since the heinous attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Miller spent 24 years working with and often leading the Middle East team
at the US Department of State. He has advised both Democratic and
Republican presidents and secretaries of state and has participated in
American efforts to broker agreements between Israel, Jordan, Syria and
the Palestinians.
Miller will discuss the status and progress of hostage and cease fire
negotiations.

The severe uptick in antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents on college
campuses since the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel has been widely
documented. In late 2023, Stanford University’s President appointed our
America at a Crossroads guests, Larry Diamond, a senior fellow both at
Stanford’s Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for
International Studies and Professor Jeffrey Kosseff, to co-chair a
Committee to study antisemitism and anti-Israel bias on campus. The
Committee conducted more than 50 different listening sessions and as
many individual interviews; hundreds of undergraduates, graduate
students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents participated. The Committee
issued a Report that they found widespread and pernicious antisemitism as
well as a failure on the part of the University to respond to complaints. This
program reviews the findings contained in the Stanford Report and the
speakers discuss similar findings on other campuses. A key element of the
Committee’s work was to make recommendations as to what must be done
to address this serious and growing problem.