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Before Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, planners at the Aspen Security Forum already had scheduled several discussions that would touch on the topic of political violence in this week’s agenda. Now, organizers say they are “doubling down” on the topic.
On Monday, forum organizers said in an email they were planning to issue a revised agenda in light of the events that transpired over the weekend. As of press time Monday, planners had not released an updated agenda.
Reached on Monday afternoon, Aspen Security Forum Executive Director Anja Manuel said event planners will increase their discussion of political violence in this year’s agenda because of the assassination attempt.
“The conversation around political violence, including in the U.S. and overseas, was already part of the many topics we were going to cover,” Manuel said. “And of course, we are doubling down on that. There are going to be a couple of changes to the schedule.”
This year marks the forum’s 15th anniversary. Each year, government officials, entrepreneurs and journalists gather for the event, where experts and practitioners publicly discuss pressing global security issues. This summer’s forum is scheduled to run from July 16-19 at the Aspen Institute campus. The forum is one of several events hosted by the Aspen Strategy Group, a sub-organization of the Aspen Institute.
At least one speaker, U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, will not attend the forum in light of Saturday’s events. Cheatle will instead attend the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin, according to reporting by the Washington Examiner. Cheatle was scheduled to speak in an event called “Phishing, Fakes, and Fraud: Tackling Transnational Crime and Enhancing Global Security.”
Secret Service personnel shot and killed Trump’s would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, after the 20-year-old shot the former president through the ear, barely missing his head, during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Critics have decried the incident as a security failure, drawing Cheatle into the national spotlight.
Manuel declined to say if any other speakers have canceled their plans to attend the forum.
As of Monday afternoon, guests at this year’s forum included high-ranking Biden administration officials like Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CIA Director William Burns and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
Manuel said the assassination attempt highlighted the importance of this year’s forum theme, “collaboration.” Manuel said sharp international and domestic division, as well as the oncoming U.S. and international elections, were a large inspiration for the forum’s themes and agenda.
National elections are scheduled to occur in at least 64 countries this year. In total, 2024 will see more voters head to the polls than any other year in history, according to reporting by Time magazine.
“That means a lot of chaos and upheaval,” Manuel said. “At the same time you have wars going on … and we've seen this cry with people looking for strong men and for being tough and calling survival of the fittest. So it really influenced our theme this year, which is around partnership and collaboration and the idea that even if we come from different perspectives, we're better off if we find solutions together.”
Manuel said the gathering will feature more international speakers than ever before.
Some of the key subjects in this year’s forum are U.S. competition with China, weapons and defense technology, the impact of artificial intelligence on elections, transatlantic relations and the future of the Middle East.
In addition to gathering people across borders, Manuel said the forum will focus on conversation across domestic divisions.
“The goal of the security forum is always to bring people out of their day-to-day, away from their egos and having to fight each other in Washington,” Manuel said, “and bring them to this beautiful place where you can be calmer, where you can reflect and where you can solve problems together … on foreign policy, partisanship should stop at the border.”
All of the events at Aspen Security Forum will be streamed live on YouTube, where they will be available to the public.