Please note this is a hybrid event - you have the option to attend in person or virtually. Registrations are required for all attendees. For in-person attendees, the event will run from 5:30 - 7:45 pm and will include a reception with finger food and cash/credit card bar. The live stream will begin around 5:45 pm (virtual attendees will be sent a link for the event via email).
Fifty years after the end of the war in Vietnam, and thirty years after normalization of relations between the United States and Vietnam, what characterizes U.S.-Vietnam ties today? A pinnacle of cooperation was reached beginning in 2023 when the U.S.-Vietnam relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, sparking further cooperation in economic, security, and other areas.
To unpack and understand the scope and depth of current ties, DACOR welcomes three panelists to talk about their work with Vietnam. Amb. Ted Osius, president and CEO of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, and ambassador to Vietnam 2014-2017, will reflect on his service in Vietnam, and outline current dynamic trade relations. Susan Hammond, daughter of a Vietnam veteran, is the executive director of War Legacies Project, which addresses the ongoing impacts of unexploded ordinance and Agent Orange. Ms. Hammond will share the challenges and rewards of coordinating humanitarian programs in Vietnam. Hien Le is assistant director of the Vietnam Public Policy Program at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University. Ms. Le has been integrally involved in academic and cultural exchange programs for two decades. She will reflect on the power of academic partnerships, including the Fulbright University Vietnam, in forging enduring ties between the United States and Vietnam.
Former ambassador Ted Osius is President & CEO of the US-ASEAN Business Council. Founded in 1984, the Council represents 180 of the largest American businesses in Southeast Asia through its headquarters in Washington, DC, and its seven regional offices. A diplomat for thirty years, Ambassador Osius served from 2014 to 2017 as U.S. ambassador to Vietnam.
A diplomat for thirty years, Ambassador Osius served from 2014 to 2017 as U.S. ambassador to Vietnam. Leading a team of 900, Ambassador Osius devised and implemented strategies to deepen economic, security and cultural ties between the two countries. In October 2021, Osius published his most recent book, Nothing Is Impossible: America’s Reconciliation with Vietnam, with a Foreword by former Secretary of State John Kerry, covering the two countries’ 25-year journey from adversaries to friends and partners.
After his departure from government, Osius joined Google Asia-Pacific as Vice President for Government Affairs and Public Policy, covering 19 Asian nations from Google’s Singapore headquarters. Earlier, he was a senior advisor at the Albright-Stonebridge Group and the first Vice President of Fulbright University Vietnam. Osius was associate professor at the National War College and Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
As a diplomat, Osius served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Political Minister-Counselor in New Delhi, India. Osius also served as deputy director of the Office of Korean Affairs at the State Department, regional environment officer for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and senior advisor on Asia and trade to Vice President Al Gore. He also served in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, and at the United Nations.
Ambassador Osius has authored numerous articles on Foreign Service tradecraft and U.S.-Asia policy. He wrote The U.S.-Japan Security Alliance: Why It Matters and How To Strengthen It (CSIS/Praeger 2002) as a fellow at the Japan Institute for International Affairs (日本国際問題研究所). While at CSIS, he published “Global Swing States: Deepening Partnerships with India and Indonesia” (Asia Policy, January 2014), Enhancing India-ASEAN Connectivity and A US-Indonesia Partnership for 2020.
Ambassador Osius earned a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, a Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and an Honorary Doctorate from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education. He was the first U.S. ambassador to receive the Order of Friendship from the President of Vietnam. He serves on the Asia Foundation’s Board of Trustees and is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy.
Ambassador Osius speaks Vietnamese, French and Italian, and a bit of Japanese, Indonesian, Hindi, Thai, Tagalog and Greek. He and his husband, Clayton Bond, have a son and a daughter.
Susan Hammond, the daughter of a U.S. Vietnam veteran, became interested in post-war Southeast Asia after traveling to Viet Nam, and Cambodia in 1991. In 1996, after earning her MA in International Education from NYU, Susan returned to Viet Nam to study Vietnamese. She became involved in fostering mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia and addressing the long-term impacts of war while working as the Deputy Director of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development from 1996 to 2007. During this time, she lived in New, York, Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos. In 2007, Susan returned to her home state of Vermont and founded War Legacies Project to continue addressing the long-term health and environmental impacts of war including the impacts of Agent Orange on Vietnam and the Lao PDR. In 2019, she received the Vietnam Order of Friendship medal for her more than two decades of work in Viet Nam.
Hien Le is the Assistant Director of the Vietnam Public Policy Program at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute (WEAI), Columbia University. In this role, she strategizes, executes, and manages policy research projects and dialogues with the central government of Vietnam in collaboration with Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management.
Before joining WEAI, Hien was the Program Manager for the Vietnam Program at Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center from 2015 to 2024, where she led the Vietnam Executive Leadership Program and managed academic partnerships between the program and institutions in Vietnam and the United States. From 1998 to 2015, she served as a Press and Information Specialist at the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. During this tenure, she facilitated numerous high-profile events, visits, and exchange programs that strengthened U.S.-Vietnam relations following normalization.
Her deep commitment to U.S.-Vietnam relations continues to drive her efforts to foster collaboration and mutual understanding through public diplomacy. Hien holds a B.A. in English from Hue University of Sciences and an M.A. in International Relations from Harvard University.
Location
Setting: Hybrid DACOR Bacon House OR Online 1801 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 UNITED STATES
Amb. Ted Osius President & CEO, US-ASEAN Business Council Susan Hammond Founder, War Legacies Project Hien Le Assistant Director, Vietnam Public Policy Program, Weatherhead Easat Asian Institute
