Middle East Update with Geoffrey Kemp and Molly Williamson

Chautauqua Institution is proud to partner for a 32nd year with Geoffrey Kemp of the Center for the National Interest to present the annual Middle East Update, a program that brings together foreign policy experts on the grounds of Chautauqua to discuss issues facing the region. Kemp's conversation partner in 2026 will be another Chautauqua favorite, Molly Williamson of the Middle East Institute, the leading Washington-based institution focused on the Middle East, delivering non-partisan insights, analysis and recommendations to thought leaders and policymakers. Geoffrey Kemp is senior director of Regional Security Programs at the Center for the National Interest. He served in the White House during the first Reagan administration as special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for Near East and South Asian affairs on the National Security Council Staff. Prior to his current position, he was a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he was director of the Middle East Arms Control Project. Molly Williamson speaks extensively on energy, economic and demographic factors affecting foreign policy formulation, U.S.-Middle East relations, especially regional unrest, the Israel-Palestine conflict, Iran and nuclear challenges, and the interagency process. She has been a frequent lecturer at Chautauqua on both the Amp stage and for the Road Scholar group travel program based at the Athenaeum Hotel, as well as universities, World Affairs Councils and business associations throughout the country. Williamson is a retired Foreign Service Officer, having served six presidents, achieving the rank of Career Minister. She is a scholar with the Middle East Institute and the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, adjunct professor at the Defense Institute of Security Cooperation, a consultant, frequent guest lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, and the National Joint Staff College.