Halifax International Security Forum

The Halifax International Security Forum (also known as HISF or Halifax Forum) is an annual summit for international government and military officials, academic experts, authors and entrepreneurs, held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is organized by HFX, an organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. that describes itself and has been quoted as an "independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization". HFX addresses global security issues through various programs, with the Halifax International Security Forum serving as its flagship event. The 16th Halifax International Security Forum was held from 22 to 24 November, 2024.

History

HFX originated from the Halifax International Security Forum, which was founded in 2009 as a program within the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The forum received financial support from the Canadian government. In 2011, the forum became an independent organization, rebranding as HFX, with ''Foreign Affairs'' joining as a media partner.

The forum founders include Laura Bridge, Tom Clark, Dan Dugas, Dean Fealk, Marian Fernet, Renée Filiatrault, Joseph Hall, David Kramer, John MacDonell, George Macphee, Steve Markle, Duane Monea, Jeff Mullen, Paul Owens, Jay Paxton, Jonathan Tepperman, Jill Sinclair, Janice Gross Stein, and Jonathan Weisstub.

Organization

HFX is governed by an American-Canadian board of directors, including Dr. Janice Stein as Chair, Mark William Lippert as Vice Chair, Ahmet Taçyıldız as Treasurer, and members Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Joshua J. Omojuwa, and Dr. Luis Rubio. The President of the organization is Peter Van Praagh. HFX cooperates with institutional partners, including its founding partners: the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).

HFX receives funding from a diverse range of sources, including international organizations such as NATO and the European Union; technology companies like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, Apple, and YouTube; defense and aerospace firms including Anduril, CAE, and MDA; and other entities such as Ipsos, the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), and Pansophico. The organization's Club HFX: The Pro-Democracy Business Group includes ATCO, OYAK, Boeing, and Çalık Holding.

Programs

Halifax International Security Forum

The Halifax International Security Forum is HFX's flagship annual event, held at The Westin Nova Scotian in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The meeting brings together 300 delegates from over 70 countries and has been referred to by Canadian media as "The Davos of international security". This summit is the only event of its kind in North America. The 16th Halifax Forum was held from 22 to 24 November 2024.

Format

The annual forum starts Friday afternoon with an introduction and a first plenary. Friday evening features a gala dinner followed by off-the-record "night-owl-sessions". After the plenaries on Saturday, there are more than 20 dinner discussions on a variety of topics. Sunday morning starts with a 5K run followed by off-the-record breakfast sessions. The forum ends after the plenaries and closing remarks with a press conference Sunday afternoon.

Annual Themes

2023 forum

The 2023 Halifax International Security Forum was held from 17 to 19 of November 2023.

There were high-profile guests such as Canadian National Defence Minister Bill Blair and former Israel prime minister Ehud Barak. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and climate change were the main topics. The acronym CRINK (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea), coined by forum president Peter Van Praag, appeared in the titles of several discussions, including such as 'Never Mind the BRICS, Here’s the CRINKs'.

2022 forum

The 2022 Halifax International Security Forum was held from 18 to 20 of November 2022. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with the topic 'Why Ukraine Matters'.

2021 forum

The 2021 Halifax International Security Forum was held from 19 to 21 of November 2021.

It was feature the following on-the-record plenary panels:
* After the Fall--
* The Next 9/11: From Kabul or From California (or some lab we haven't heard of yet)?
* W.W.J.M.D? (What Would John McCain Want Us To Do?)
* #StandTogetherOnChina
* Post-Pandemic: Heed Expectations, Heal Globalization
* Fires and Landslides and Droughts: Oh My!
* China's Quantum Leap Backward
* --Keep the Faith

2020 forum

The 2020 Halifax International Security Forum was held from 20 to 22 November 2020.

2019 forum

The 2019 Halifax International Security Forum was held from 22 to 24 November 2019.

2018 forum

The 2018 Halifax International Security Forum was held from 16 to 18 November 2018.

2017 forum

The 2017 Halifax International Security Forum was attended by delegates from more than 80 countries. The forum celebrated 150 years of Canadian Confederation and the 100th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion. Along with Dalhousie University and Saint Mary's University, the forum hosted a public event on the future of global leadership with Tawakkol Karman, Bessma Momani, General Petr Pavel, and Jonathan Tepperman. The event was held prior to the official conference launch and was moderated by Tom Clark, former Global News host.

The forum was opened by Harjit Sajjan, Canadian Minister of National Defence, who gave the opening speech, followed by remarks from Michèle Coninsx, Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, and Scott Brison, president of the Treasury Board of Canada. The opening was followed by the first out of a total of three Halifax Chats that were scheduled throughout the forum. The first Halifax Chat with Minister Sajjan and Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg was moderated by Robin Shepherd and centered on Canada's role in European peacekeeping missions, the need for increased incorporation of women into the military, and the importance of ongoing American leadership in NATO.

The forum's opening panel, titled "Peace? Prosperity? Principle? Securing What Purpose?"," was hosted by Gideon Rose, editor of Foreign Affairs. The panelists Jane Harman, CEO of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Kay Bailey Hutchison, United States Permanent Representative to NATO, Margaret MacMillan, historian and professor at the University of Toronto, and Constanze Stelzenmüller, fellow at Brookings Institution, discussed how people's faith in democracy and international institutions was under threat, and what could be done to strengthen these institutions and address people's frustrations.

During a gala dinner at Pier 21, the 2017 Halifax Builder Award was presented to NATO and accepted by its Secretary General Stoltenberg. Remarks were made by Senator Jeanne Shaheen. The 2017 Forum also marked the announcement of the annual "John McCain Prize for Courage in Public Service", which will be awarded for the first time at the 2018 Forum.

Against the backdrop of an incident during a NATO military exercise in Norway, General Hulusi Akar, commander of the Turkish Armed Forces, stressed Ankara's commitment to NATO: "Turkey's alliance with NATO should not be undermined, and NATO is the most successful and most effective military organization that has existed throughout history."

A key topic at the forum was nuclear deterrence and diplomacy. In the second panel discussion entitled "Nukes: The Fire and the Fury" Steven Clemons, editor-at-large of ''The Atlantic'', moderated the conversation between General John E. Hyten, commander of US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), Bonnie Jenkins, the US State Department's Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs, Sung-han Kim, dean and professor of international relations at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS), and Moshe Ya'alon, former Israeli Minister of Defence. The conversation centered around the future of North Korea, Iranian nuclear capabilities and the role and politics of the United States in global nuclear deterrence. Hyten, in light of recent escalations of nuclear rhetoric, said: "The way the process works is this simple: I provide advice to the President. He'll tell me what to do and if it's illegal, guess what's going to happen? I'm going to say, Mr. President, it's illegal." The statement was quickly picked up by national and international media.

In a panel discussion entitled "Weaponizing Capital: One Belt, One Road, One Way", the panelists General Bryan Fenton, deputy commander of US Pacific Command (USPACOM), Edward Luce, Washington columnist and commentator for the Financial Times, Ong Keng Yong, chairman of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and US Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer discussed China's aim to take a larger role in world affairs and global trade through their One Belt One Road Initiative and examined what military and economic impact the initiative will have as Beijing expands its influence.

"Making Peace With Women" was the fourth panel discussion between Fauizya Ali, founder and president of Women In International Security (WIIS) in Kenya, Pastor Esther Ibanga, Jos Christian Missions International in Nigeria, human rights activist Tawakkol Karman from Yemen, who was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, Nancy Lindborg, president of the United States Institute of Peace, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the first woman in US history to be elected both a Governor and a United States Senator, and General Jonathan Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces. The talk was moderated by Nahlah Ayed from CBC News. The panelists discussed how women play vital roles in creating lasting peace from conflict, and the future of peacebuilding and where progress can be made for women throughout the world. At the beginning of the panel session the establishment of the "Halifax Peace With Women Fellowship" was announced for the fall of 2018.

During the second Halifax Chat, Abdullah Abdullah, chief executive of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, spoke with Robin Shepherd about the current state of Afghanistan and what the future holds, including continued improvements in the economy, security, and human rights.

"Open war is what we see in the Ukraine, and it breaks all rules of a civilized world," said Poland's Minister of National Defence, Antoni Macierewicz, in a panel titled "Rapprochement with Russia: Post-Putin Prep". The panel examined Putin's interferences in global affairs, including cyberwarfare and militaristic intervention in neighboring states, and cooperative solutions for addressing the threats Russia possesses to its neighbors and the world. Other panelists were Pavlo Klimkin, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Vladimir Milov, founder and president of the Institute of Energy Policy, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen. The conversation was moderated by POLITICO's columnist Susan Glasser.

In the panel "Satellite Armies: The Race in Space", panelists discussed the complexities and unknown potentials of satellites space weaponry, and how this final frontier needs new laws and regulations to address these potential unknowns. Jeanne Meserve moderated the conversation between Theresa Hitchens, Senior research associate at the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM), General Hyten, Commander of US STRATCOM, Julie Perkins, chief engineer of In-space vehicle propulsion systems for Boeing, and Rajeswari Rajagopalan, senior fellow and head of the nuclear and space policy initiative at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

The second day of the forum concluded with the third Halifax Chat featuring Eric Schmidt on the future of the digital world. Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet Inc., talked about Alphabet's efforts to curb the spread of false information on the internet, the increasing importance of artificial intelligence in global affairs, and future technological capabilities to address military needs.

A wide range of topics—from Afghanistan politics and the evolution of terrorism to the geopolitics of energy—were discussed during off-the-record dinner and late-night sessions.

The 2017 Forum was closed by two Sunday morning panels. The first panel, titled "Rebuilding the Middle East: From Civil War to Civil Society", was moderated by Abderrahim Foukara, D.C. bureau chief of Al Jazeera. "We are at risk of another civil war if the international community does not get Iraq engaged", said Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Department of Foreign Relations (DFR), commenting the panel's discussion on Western interventions in the Middle East in recent years and the ongoing attempts to build democratic institutions in the region. Along with specific interventions and requirements like education, investments, and planning, the two panel participants also discussed global trends. Tzipi Livni, Israel's former Foreign Minister, commented: "All over the world we see the erosion of democracy. We need to be united to address this."

The panelists of the final panel were Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of Sweden, Masashi Nishihara, president of the Research Institute for Peace and Security, Mayor Dale Ross, City of Georgetown, Texas, and Nicolas Tenzer, editor and director of ''Le Banquet'' as well as the founding president of the Center for the Study and Reflection of Political Action. The panel "Climate Change: Houston, We Have a Solution" addressed the importance of moving beyond the politics of climate change to find practical solutions. The participants discussed the technological advances necessary for these solutions. The panel was moderated by Tom Clark.

2016 forum

The 2016 Halifax International Security Forum was the first major international gathering after the US presidential election ten days earlier. It was attended by delegates from 70 countries. The forum started with a ministerial meeting on peacekeeping hosted by Canada's Department of National Defence and Canadian Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan with Hervé Ladsous, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, and Atul Khare, Head of the Department of Field Support.

The Canadian Minister of National Defence, Harjit Sajjan, held the forum's opening speech.

A key topic at the forum was democracy. In a panel discussion entitled "Make Democracy Great Again" the UK Secretary of State for Defence, Sir Michael Fallon, the professor of political science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Shlomo Avineri and the Turkish Minister for EU Affairs, Ömer Çelik discussed the western democratic model in the panel which was moderated by Jonathan Tepperman, managing editor of ''Foreign Affairs'' magazine. Fallon, against the backdrop of Brexit, said: "Although Britain is leaving the European Union we still have a role to pay in defending our European continent... and to continue to make democracy great again." Referring to the United States presidential election, he added: "...He (Donald Trump) knows from his election that we cannot take democracy for granted... This is no time for any of us to turn inwards".

"The West Block", the forum's opening panel discussion on democracy, peace and conflict, was hosted by Tom Clark of Global News. Clark interviewed Minister Harjit Sajjan, General Jonathan Vance and Paula Dobriansky. In light of statements made by Trump during the campaign suggesting a review of NATO, Dobriansky told the audience: "There's a lack of importance attached to not only the values but the alliances and also the institutions that preserved peace, stability and security post-World War II, no less the Cold War". Dobriansky mentioned pressure on NATO members to fulfill the agreed contributions would have increased no matter which candidate won. "It's not a new issue," Dobriansky said. Rose Gottemoeller, NATO's Deputy Secretary General, during a separate panel discussion entitled "NATO: Necessary", reported that Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg had a conversation with the US president regarding the issue. "The two men agreed about the enduring importance of the NATO alliance and the enduring importance of increased defense spending," Gottemoeller said. New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, also took part in the panel. Shaheen spoke about the role of the US Congress emphasizing: "There is strong support for NATO and I don't see that changing under President Trump."

The president-elect Donald Trump dominated most of the panel discussions. The panel "The Superpower's Enduring Priorities: Trade, Justice and the American Way" was an example for that. The panelists Rosa Brooks, professor of law and associate dean for graduate programs at Georgetown University Law Center, Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr., commander of the United States Pacific Command, Josef Joffe, publisher and editor of ''Die Zeit'' and moderator Gideon Rose, editor of ''Foreign Affairs'', discussed the uncertainty occurring within the international community as to how the new US president would govern and execute his presidency as well as the international implications.

A key topic under discussion during the conference was a statement made by Trump in previous debates about him favoring a torture method called waterboarding. Gideon Rose, editor of the magazine ''Foreign Affairs'', commented on the discussed topic. "Let me say how appalling and heartbreaking it is that we have to have a discussion about the possibility ... about whether the United States policy really will be not to engage in war crimes," he said. In this regard US Senator John McCain in a chat with US Senator John Barrasso emphasized that US congress had already banned the torture method. He went on to add: "I don't give a damn what the president of United States wants to do or anybody else wants to do, we will not waterboard. We will not torture people … It doesn't work."

Other panel discussions sought to address the war in Syria and growing global terrorism, climate change as both an environmental and economic threat, and the intersection of cyber security and national security and the shared responsibility between the government and private sector to develop policies that protect from existing and new cyber threats.

Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who served as 2016 Vice-Presidential Candidate, received the 2016 Halifax Builder Award.

2015 forum

The 2015 Halifax International Security Forum took place against the backdrop of the ISIS terror attacks in Paris and was attended by 300 delegates from 60 countries. The terror attack was the main topic of the forum discussions.

Harjit Sajjan, Canadian Minister of National Defence, gave the opening keynote. For Sajjan it was the first major public event he attended after his inauguration earlier that month. In his speech, Sajjan also addressed the situation of Syrian refugees and defended the government's plan to resettle 25,000 refugees in Canada. The minister described democratic societies welcoming Syrian refugees as a major strike against the ideology of Islamic terrorists. This sent a "great message to ISIS", Sajjan told the audience. The forum's opening session addressed the new objectives in Canada's foreign policy. During the US/Canadian panel discussion Sajjan supported targeting ISIS in Syria and Iraq with air strikes in preparation for a ground assault. as a preparation for ground troops. But the Afghanistan War veteran also warned about the "second and third effects" of indiscriminate bombings, a point with which all panelists agreed.

William E. Gortney, commander of US Northern Command, told the audience that "carpet bombing" was not the answer to terrorism. Jonathan Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces, said that "You can't carpet bomb your way to victory". Panelist John R. Allen, former Special Presidential Envoy for Defeating ISIS, who attended the panel and later had an additional appearance at the ''Halifax Chat'', emphasized the necessity to fight ISIS also financially and in the sphere of information warfare. Allen told the audience that for the US a massive ground operation was not on the agenda. He instead favored operations by combined special forces.

Speaking at a panel on global security threats, General Petr Pavel, chairman of the NATO Military Committee, stressed the need for "a much broader approach" to fight ISIS and called for a greater involvement of NATO without making it to a "NATO-led anti-ISIS operation".

Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr., commander of the United States Pacific Command, made the opening remarks for a panel discussion on China's ambitions in the Asia-Pacific region. Addressing the territorial disputes between China and its neighbors in the South China Sea, Harris emphasized that "the United States will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows and that the South China Sea is not, and will not be, an exception". He criticized Chinese efforts to develop man-made islands within disputed territories and called them a "Great Wall of Sand" and "Sandcastles in the Sea". Harris described China as a country which had abandoned Deng Xiaoping's philosophy of patience. "In fact, China has transitioned from a patient nation to a nation in a hurry", Harris told the audience. The Admiral expressed his belief that a conflict with China was not inevitable but emphasized the need to develop the bilateral relationship with a long-term perspective.

During the following panel discussion, Admiral Michael S. Rogers, commander of the United States Cyber Command, director of the National Security Agency and chief of the Central Security Service, blamed China for its cyber-attacks against the United States. Rogers described China as a nation which would hack private companies and share stolen intellectual property with Chinese companies. The admiral warned China that it also could be the target of cyber-intrusions and described the country as being "as vulnerable as any other major industrialized nation state". Rogers expressed his hope that China would refrain from future cyber-attacks against the US.

Further topics of the 2015 forum were current developments in the Muslim world, the European migrant crisis, and ways to cut off the financing for international terror networks.

2014 forum

The Russo-Ukrainian war was a key issue at the 2014 Halifax International Security Forum. Canadian Minister of National Defence Rob Nicholson, who also held the forum's opening speech, in a panel discussion called on Russia to get out of Ukraine describing the situation there as "completely unacceptable". He emphasized the Canadian commitment to oppose the conflict and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ignorance. "It's certainly my hope and the hope of everyone that he does get the message", Nicholson declared. "We are not going to let up on this… Whether it takes five years or 50, the people of Ukraine deserve the freedom that they deserve, that they fought for", the minister promised. Nicholson's cabinet colleague, Justice Minister Peter MacKay, called it "telling" that none of the delegates from Russia were representing their government. In view of the Russo-Ukrainian war Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves opposed Russian propaganda and warned that "many things that Europe often takes for granted are under threat today". Ilves also described the conflict's negative consequences for global nuclear disarmament as Ukraine in 1994 gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange of international security promises and "when it comes to guaranteeing their territorial integrity, nothing is done".

Less than a month after the terror attacks of Quebec and Ottawa, the forum's opening session addressed North American security. The session, moderated by Tom Clark, was recorded and was broadcast on ''The West Block