CENTER INAUGURATES WILLIAM J. CASEY INSTITUTE WITH SYMPOSIUM ON EMERGING CRISIS IN THE CASPIAN BASIN

(Washington, D.C.): As Deputy Secretary of State Strobe
Talbott and Deputy National Security Advisor Sandy Berger paid a
high-level visit to Azerbaijan yesterday, the Center for Security
Policy convened a prestigious symposium to explore the enormous
strategic and economic implications of the emerging crisis in the
Caspian Sea basin. These actions indicate the growing
appreciation, both inside the Clinton Administration and among
informed non-governmental experts, of the great stakes associated
with this crisis.

This symposium — the first in a series of semi-annual
meetings to be convened alternatively in Washington and New York
under the auspices of the new William J. Casey Institute
of the Center for Security Policy — highlighted the
nexus between international energy, financial, trade and
technology developments and evolving U.S. national security
interests evident in this strategic region. Addressing
the intersection of such disciplines will be the special focus of
the Casey Institute, just as it was the life-long preoccupation
of the distinguished Wall Street financier, lawyer and public
servant for whom the Institute is named.

Among the more than sixty participants in this half-day
symposium were representatives of the Departments of Defense,
State and Energy, diplomats, industry experts, senior
congressional staff and members of the press. The lead discussant
in the first session was Senator Jon Kyl,
a member of the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources and
Intelligence committees who is rapidly emerging as the U.S.
Senate’s most thoughtful expert on national security matters.
Senator Kyl has long been a distinguished member of the Center’s
Board of Advisors; in 1994, he was the recipient of its
“Keeper of the Flame” award. In the course of the Casey
Symposium, Sen. Kyl provided a valuable strategic overview of the
vast oil reserves of the Caspian Basin — and the urgent need for
increased attention to the subject on the part of both American
policy-makers and the public at large.

A second session concerning the extraction and transmission of
the Caspian’s oil reserves was addressed by Dr. T. Don
Stacy, Chairman and President of Amoco Eurasia Petroleum
Corporation. Amoco Eurasia is a leading member of the Azerbaijan
International Operating Company (AIOC) consortium developing
Azerbaijan’s oil reserves. Dr. Stacy provided a detailed
technical presentation of the physical location, size and
geo-political complexities associated with bringing to market
what he characterized as potentially the world’s
second-largest oil reserves — and a key
energy resource for the industrialized nations in the 21st
Century.

The discussion during the third session considered how U.S.
national security and economic interests in the region might be
best protected. It was led by former Assistant Secretary of
Defense for International Security Policy Richard Perle.

Mr. Perle argued that the United States has interests
virtually everywhere around the globe, in particular in such
areas as the Caspian Sea where secular governments (like that of
Azerbaijan) are seeking to emerge from decades of Communist
misrule and aspiring to become secure elements of the Western
financial and trading systems.

Roger W. Robinson, Jr., a former Vice
President at Chase Manhattan Bank and Senior Director for
International Economic Affairs at the Reagan National Security
Council who will be the first holder of the Casey Institute’s William
J. Casey Chair, summarized the key points emerging from
the Symposium as follows:

• The strategic importance of the region demands far
  greater and more sustained priority in the U.S. and
  Western policy-making process than it has received to
  date.
• Russian intentions with respect to controlling
  Caspian Sea oil and gas — which increasingly are being
  actualized in partnership with Iran — are considerably
  more aggressive than has previously been
  appreciated in Washington and other Western capitals. In
  this connection, Moscow has been exploiting U.S.
  preoccupation with developments in the Taiwan Straits,
  the Middle East and the Balkans to advance its agenda of
  reasserting hegemony over the Caucasus and Central Asia.
• A more robust and balanced U.S. policy
  approach needs to be implemented forthwith. This
  will require demonstrating priority American interest and
  engagement in the region and improving relations with
  regional actors in addition to Armenia. Specifically, the
  United States needs to pursue concrete measures designed
  to bolster Western-oriented secular Muslim states —
  notably, Turkey and Azerbaijan. Such steps
  should include: reciprocal head-of-state meetings, direct
  and indirect U.S. assistance flows, encouragement of
  American investment in the region and security-related
  discussions.

The Casey Institute will shortly release href=”96-C94at1.html”>highlights of the Symposium. To
receive a copy, please contact the Center.

Immediately after the Symposium’s conclusion, the Center for
Security Policy hosted an elegant luncheon at which William J.
Casey was posthumously awarded the Center’s prestigious
“Freedom Flame” award. This event was the occasion of a
major address on foreign and defense policies by Steve Forbes. href=”96-R28at.html”>Excerpts of Mr. Forbes’ extraordinary
remarks will be circulated tomorrow, together with
particulars on the distinguished company that participated in the
Casey “Freedom Flame” luncheon.