2026 Middle East Forum Policy Conference | Gregg Roman: What Is the Middle East Forum?

Description

At the 2026 Middle East Forum Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., MEF Executive Director Gregg Roman delivered a defining address on what the Middle East Forum has become - and what the next stage of its work requires.

For more than three decades, MEF has challenged the assumptions of the foreign policy establishment, identified threats before they reached the center of public debate, and turned serious research into action. In this address, Roman explains why the Forum is no longer simply a policy institute, but an applied research organization built to produce outcomes: designations, debarments, defunded networks, freed dissidents, legal evidence, reframed policy, and pressure where it matters.

Roman lays out MEF’s model of early warning, investigation, and action across legislative, executive, legal, media, academic, and grassroots channels. He also outlines the fights ahead - from Iran, Hezbollah, Qatar, Syria, and Lebanon to domestic Islamist networks and the larger contest over political modernity.

The address was delivered at MEF’s Fourth Annual Policy Conference, “America the Unpredictable: Making Sense of the Middle East in a New Era.”

Subscribe for more conversations with leading analysts on the Middle East and beyond.