Democracy, peace building and security scholars agreed that changes to the intelligence community and justice system in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya must happen first for democracy to take hold in those countries.
The discussion, hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace, focused on the state of security forces in Egypt, Tunisia, & Libya. All four Arab Spring countries are in a state of political transition with the army, police and intelligence services playing different roles in each.
Participants included; Robert Perito, director of the Security Sector Governance Center at U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) Querine Hanlon, National Defense University fellow at the Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding, Daniel Brumberg, senior program officer - Middle East and co-director of the Democracy Studies Program at Georgetown University, Hesham Sallam, co-editor of Jadaliyya and Manal Omar, director of the Iraq, Iran, and North Africa Programs (USIP).