Pivot Point: New Directions for American Security - Panelist Bios

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Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill, President, BGR International
Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill joined BGR in November 2004 after serving as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Planning under President George W. Bush. In this position, Ambassador Blackwill was responsible for government-wide policy planning to help develop and coordinate the mid- and long-term direction of American foreign policy. He also served as Presidential Envoy to Iraq and was the Administration's Coordinator for U.S. policies regarding Afghanistan and Iran. Ambassador Blackwill went to the National Security Council after serving as the US Ambassador to India, 2001-2003, and is the recipient of the 2007 Bridge-Builder Award for his role in transforming US-India relations. Each year the U.S.-India Business Council confers “The Robert Dean Blackwill Award” to an individual who has made a major contribution to business interactions between the United States and India. BGR is a premier strategic consulting and government affairs firm in the United States and worldwide. Current BGR international clients include the Governments of India and Qatar; the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq; Reliance Industries (India's largest company); NASSCOM (India's National Association of Software and Service Companies); AT&T; Citi; Alfa Bank (Russia's largest private bank); and Lockheed Martin. Prior to reentering government in 2001, Blackwill was the Belfer Lecturer in International Security at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. During his 14 years as a Harvard faculty member, he was Associate Dean of the Kennedy School, taught foreign and defense policy and public policy analysis, and was Faculty Chair for executive training programs for business and government leaders from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Palestinian Authority, Israel and Kazakhstan, as well as military General Officers from Russia and the People's Republic of China. From 1989 to 1990, Ambassador Blackwill was Special Assistant to President George H.W. Bush for European and Soviet Affairs, during which time he was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany for his contribution to German unification. Earlier in his career, he was the U.S. Ambassador to conventional arms negotiations with the Warsaw Pact, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs. The author and editor of many books and articles on Transatlantic relations, Russia and the West, the Greater Middle East and Asian security, he is Counselor to the Council on Foreign Relations; a member of the Executive Committee, a Trustee and on the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies; a member of The Aspen Strategy Group; a member of the Trilateral Commission; and on the boards of the Nixon Center and Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Shawn Brimley, CNAS Fellow
Shawn Brimley is the Bacevich Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Mr. Brimley was awarded the 1LT Andrew J. Bacevich, Jr., USA Fellowship on June 27, 2007 in honor and memory of 1LT Andrew Bacevich, who died during combat operations for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Prior to joining CNAS, he was a Research Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he worked on a variety of projects including Beyond Goldwater-Nichols. His current research focuses on American grand strategy, Iraq, Afghanistan, and U.S. defense policy and planning. In addition to newspaper commentary, he has published articles in the journals Orbis, Democracy, Joint Force Quarterly, Parameters, and Armed Forces Journal. He is also a regular contributor to Democracy Arsenal, a popular foreign policy blog. Mr. Brimley holds a B.A. in history, and two graduate degrees in security studies.

The Honorable Carol M. Browner, Principal, The Albright Group LLC
Carol M. Browner brings her background as Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Cabinet-level position she held for eight years, to her role as a Principal of The Albright Group LLC and of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets. Utilizing her expertise to position clients from a broad range of sectors, Ms. Browner, an attorney, provides strategic counsel in the critical areas of environmental protection, climate change, and energy conservation and security. Leading the EPA from 1993 to 2001, she was the longest-serving Administrator in the history of the $7 billion, 18,000 employee agency. In that position, Ms. Browner developed partnerships with business leaders, community advocates, and all levels of government. She is widely known for championing common-sense, cost-effective solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental and public health challenges. Ms. Browner currently serves on the board of several non-profit organizations, including as chair of the National Audubon Society, one of the nation’s oldest environmental organizations, and as a member of the Board of the Directors of the Center for American Progress, the Alliance for Climate Protection and the League of Conservation Voters. She earned her B.A. and J.D. from the University of Florida.

Sharon Burke, CNAS Senior Fellow
Sharon Burke is a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Prior to joining CNAS she was the Director of the National Security Project at Third Way. In that capacity, Ms. Burke advised candidates for office and members of Congress on the full range of national security issues, including the Iraq War, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and America’s role in the 21st century world. Previously, she served as a high-level advisor in the U.S. government on the Middle East, South Asia, and strategic communications, including as a member of the Policy Planning Staff at the Department of State, a Country Director in the Department of Defense’s Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, and a speechwriter to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Secretary of Defense William Cohen. She also worked in Congress’s Energy and Materials program of the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, helping to produce a multi-year study of energy in developing countries. Ms. Burke received medals for Exceptional Public Service from the Department of Defense and the Superior Honor Award from the Department of State. She serves on the Leadership Team of the American Assembly’s Next Generation Project, served as the Middle East Advocacy Director at Amnesty International USA, and is the author of numerous reports, including Beyond Bush: A New Strategy of Constriction to Defeat Al Qaeda and its Allies. Ms. Burke graduated from Williams College and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she focused on international energy policy and earned a Certificate of Middle Eastern Studies. At Columbia, she also was a Zuckerman Fellow, an International Fellow, and a recipient of a Foreign Language and Areas Studies grant for Arabic.

Ambassador Nicholas Burns, Former Undersecretary for Political Affairs, U.S. State Department
Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns was the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the Department of State’s third ranking official from March 17, 2005 until February 29, 2008. Appointed by President Bush, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 17, 2005 and was sworn into office by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. As Under Secretary, he oversees U.S. policy in each region of the world and serves in the senior career Foreign Service position at the Department. Prior to his current assignment, Ambassador Burns was the United States Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. As Ambassador to NATO, he headed the combined State-Defense Department U.S. Mission to NATO at a time when the Alliance committed to new missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war against terrorism, and accepted seven new members. From 1997 to 2001, Ambassador Burns was U.S. Ambassador to Greece. During his tenure as Ambassador, the U.S. expanded its military and law enforcement cooperation with Greece, strengthened our partnership in the Balkans, increased trade and investment and people-to-people programs. From 1995 to 1997, Ambassador Burns was Spokesman of the Department of State and Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Secretary Madeleine Albright. In this position, he gave daily press conferences on U.S. foreign policy issues, accompanied both Secretaries of State on all their foreign trips and coordinated all of the Department’s public outreach programs. Mr. Burns, a career Senior Foreign Service Officer, served for five years (1990-1995) on the National Security Council staff at the White House. He was Special Assistant to President Clinton and Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia Affairs. He had lead responsibility in the White House for advising the President on all aspects of U.S. relations with the fifteen countries of the former Soviet Union. Under President George H.W. Bush, he was Director for Soviet (and then Russian) Affairs. During this time, he attended all U.S. – Soviet summits and numerous other international meetings and specialized on economic assistance issues, U.S. ties with Russia and Ukraine, and relations with the Baltic countries. He was a member of the Department’s Transition Team in 1988, and served as Staff Officer in the Department’s Operations Center and Secretariat in 1987-1988. Mr. Burns began his Foreign Service career in Africa and the Middle East. He was an intern at the U.S. Embassy in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Vice Consul and Staff Assistant to the Ambassador in Cairo, Egypt between 1983-1985, and then Political Officer at the American Consulate General in Jerusalem from 1985 to 1987. In this position, he coordinated U.S. economic assistance to the Palestinian population in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Mr. Burns has been awarded the State Department’s Superior Honor Award for outstanding performance three times, the Department’s James Clement Dunn Award for Excellence in 1994, and in 2000 the Charles E. Cobb Award for Trade Development by an Ambassador. He has been decorated by the governments of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania for his work in securing withdrawal of Russian military forces from the Baltic region in the 1990s and for helping to secure their admittance to NATO. Mr. Burns was born on January 28, 1956. Raised in Massachusetts, he earned the Certificat Pratique de Langue Francaise from the University of Paris (Sorbonne) in 1977. He subsequently earned a B.A. in European History from Boston College in 1978, graduated Summa Cum Laude and was elected Phi Beta Kappa. He then received an Masters degree with distinction from John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1980 in International Economics and American Foreign Policy. He has received honorary doctorates from eight American universities. In 2001, he was given the Public Service Award by the Boston College Alumni Association. In 2002, he was presented the Woodrow Wilson Award for Distinguished Government Service by the Johns Hopkins University. He was named Communicator of the Year by the National Association of Government Communicators in 1997. Before entering the Foreign Service, Mr. Burns worked as Program Officer at A.T. International, a non-profit organization specializing in economic assistance for Third World Countries. Mr. Burns is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Order of St. John and a life-long member of Red Sox nation. He speaks French, Arabic, and Greek.

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Dr. Kurt Campbell, CNAS CEO and Co-Founder
Dr. Kurt Campbell was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) in January 2007. He concurrently serves as Director of the Aspen Strategy Group and the Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Washington Quarterly, and is the Founder and Principal of StratAsia, a strategic advisory company focused on Asia. Prior to co-founding CNAS, he served as Senior Vice President, Director of the International Security Program, and the Henry A. Kissinger Chair in National Security Policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Previously, Dr. Campbell served in several capacities in government, including as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia and the Pacific, Director on the National Security Council Staff, Deputy Special Counselor to the President for NAFTA, and as a White House fellow at the Department of the Treasury. He was also associate professor of public policy and international relations at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Assistant Director of the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. Dr. Campbell has received the Department of Defense Medals for Distinguished Public Service and for Outstanding Public Service. He serves on several boards, including Aegis Capital, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the U.S.-Australian Leadership Dialogue, the Reves Center at the College of William and Mary, STS Technologies, Civitas, the 9-11 Pentagon Memorial Fund, and New Media Strategies. Dr. Campbell is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Wasatch Group, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Dr. Campbell is coauthor of Hard Power: The New Politics of National Security, principal author of To Prevail: An American Strategy for the Campaign against Terrorism (CSIS, 2001), coeditor of The Nuclear Tipping Point (Brookings, 2004), the author or editor of several other books, and has contributed extensively to journals, magazines, and newspapers. He has also been a contributing writer to The New York Times, a frequent on-air contributor to NPR's All Things Considered and a consultant to ABC News. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and in the Chief of Naval Operations Special Intelligence Unit. He received a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego, a certificate in music and politics from the University of Erevan in the Soviet Union, and a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University as a Marshall scholar.

Derek Chollet, CNAS Senior Fellow
Derek Chollet is a Senior Fellow at The Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He is also a non-resident fellow in the Brookings Institution’s Global Economy and Development Program and an adjunct associate professor at Georgetown University. Previously, he was foreign policy adviser to Senator John Edwards (D-N.C.), both on his legislative staff and during the 2004 Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign. During the Clinton administration, he served in the U.S. State Department in several capacities, including Chief Speechwriter for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke and Special Adviser to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott. He has also assisted former Secretaries of State James A. Baker III and Warren Christopher with the research and writing of their memoirs, Holbrooke with his book on the Dayton peace process in Bosnia, and Talbott with his book on U.S.-Russian relations during the 1990s. He has been a Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin and a visiting scholar and adjunct professor at The George Washington University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the boards of the Woodrow Wilson House and the Truman National Security Project. He is the author or coeditor of numerous books on American foreign policy, including The Road to the Dayton Accords: A Study of American Statecraft (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), and Bridging the Foreign Policy Divide, coedited with Tod Lindberg and David Shorr (Routledge, 2008). His forthcoming book, America Between the Wars: From 11/9 to 9/11, coauthored with James Goldgeier, will be published in summer 2008 by Public Affairs. His commentaries and reviews on U.S. foreign policy and politics have appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, Washington Monthly, and many other books and publications throughout the United States and Europe. He received a B.A. from Cornell and has pursued graduate work at Columbia University.

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 The Honorable Dr. Richard J. Danzig, Sam Nunn Prize Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Mr. Danzig was sworn in as the 71st Secretary of the Navy on November 16, 1998. He served as Under Secretary of the Navy between November 1993 and May 1997. In the period between these two jobs, he and his wife lived in Asia and Europe while Mr. Danzig served as a Traveling Fellow of the Center for International Political Economy and as an Adjunct Professor at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs. Mr. Danzig was born in New York City in 1944. He received a B.A. degree from Reed College, a J.D. degree from Yale Law School, and Bachelor of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Upon his graduation from law school, Mr. Danzig served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White.  Between 1972 and 1977, Mr. Danzig taught contract law at Stanford and Harvard Universities. He also was awarded a Prize Fellowship of the Harvard Society of Fellows, and a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship. From 1977 to 1981, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, first as a Deputy Assistant Secretary and then as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Reserve Affairs and Logistics. In 1981, he was awarded the Defense Distinguished Public Service Award.  From 1981 to 1993, Mr. Danzig was a Washington, D.C., partner of the national law firm of Latham & Watkins. He served as Deputy Chair of the firm's International Practice Group, and also as Director of its Japan Group. He was also a Director of the National Semiconductor Corporation, a Trustee of Reed College, and interim Director of Litigation and then Vice Chairman of the International Human Rights Law Group. During this time, Mr. Danzig was co-author of the book, National Service: What Would It Mean?, that contributed to the development of America's present civilian National Service system.  Mr. Danzig and his wife, Andrea, reside in Washington DC where Mrs. Danzig has an active practice as a psychotherapist. They have two adult children, David and Lisa.

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LTG Karl Eikenberry, Deputy Chairman of the NATO Military Committee
Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry is the Deputy Chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Military Committee in Brussels, Belgium. His previous assignment was Commander of the Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan. His operational posts include service as commander and staff officer with mechanized, light, airborne, and ranger infantry units in the continental United States, Hawaii, Korea, and Italy. He has served in various strategy, policy, and political-military positions, including Director for Strategic Planning and Policy for U.S. Pacific Command; U.S. Security Coordinator and Chief of the Office of Military Cooperation in Kabul, Afghanistan; Assistant Army and later Defense Attaché at the United States Embassy in Beijing, China; Senior Country Director for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia in the Office of the Secretary of Defense; and Deputy Director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Army Staff. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, has earned master’s degrees from Harvard University in East Asian Studies and Stanford University in Political Science, and was a National Security Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He earned an Interpreter’s Certificate in Mandarin Chinese from the British Foreign Commonwealth Office while studying at the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence Chinese Language School in Hong Kong and he has an Advanced Degree in Chinese History from Nanjing University in the People’s Republic of China. His military awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished and Superior Service Medals, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Ranger Tab, Combat and Expert Infantryman badges, and master parachutist wings. He has received the Department of State Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards, Director of Central Intelligence Award, Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, Czech Republic Meritorious Cross, Hungarian Alliance Medal, French Legion of Honor, and Afghanistan’s Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan and Akbar Khan Medals. He has published numerous articles on U.S. military training, tactics, and strategy, on Chinese ancient military history, and on Asia-Pacific security issues. He was previously the president of the Foreign Area Officers Association and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has a commercial pilot’s license and instrument rating, and also enjoys sailing and scuba diving. He is married to Ching Eikenberry.

 

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Michèle Flournoy, CNAS President and Co-Founder
Michèle Flournoy was appointed President of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) in January 2007. Prior to co-founding CNAS, she was a Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where she worked on a broad range of defense policy and international security issues. Previously, she was a distinguished research professor at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University (NDU), where she founded and led the university’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) working group, which was chartered by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop intellectual capital in preparation for the Department of Defense’s 2001 QDR. Prior to joining NDU, she was dual-hatted as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Threat Reduction and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy. In that capacity, she oversaw three policy offices in the Office of the Secretary of Defense: Strategy; Requirements, Plans, and Counterproliferation; and Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasian Affairs. Ms. Flournoy was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in 1996, the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service in 1998, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 2000. She is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, the Executive Board of Women in International Security, and the Board of the Institute for Defense Analysis. She is a former member of the Defense Policy Board and the Defense Science Board Task Force on Transformation. In addition to several edited volumes and reports, she has authored dozens of articles on international security issues. Ms. Flournoy holds a B.A. in social studies from Harvard University and an M.Litt. in international relations from Balliol College, Oxford University, where she was a Newton-Tatum scholar.

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Dr. Colin Kahl, CNAS Fellow and Georgetown Professor
Colin Kahl is a Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He is also an assistant professor in the Security Studies Program in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he teaches international relations, international security, American foreign policy, civil and ethnic conflict, and terrorism. He is a regular consultant for the Department of Defense on stability operations, counterinsurgency, and strategy, and he has been a consultant for the U.S. Government's Political Instability Task Force (formerly the State Failure Task Force) since 1999. From January 2005 to August 2006, he was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in the office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability Operations where he worked on issues related to counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, and responses to failed states, and conducted research on U.S. operations in Iraq, including a summer 2006 "lessons learned" study in Baghdad. His previous research analyzed the causes and consequences of violent civil and ethnic conflict in developing countries, focusing particular attention on the demographic and natural resource dimensions of these conflicts. His book on the subject, States, Scarcity, and Civil Strife in the Developing World, was published by Princeton University Press in 2006, and related articles and chapters have appeared in International Security, the Journal of International Affairs, and various edited volumes. He has published articles on U.S. policy and military conduct in Iraq in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and International Security, and he is completing a book manuscript entitled The Culture of Calamity: Norms, the U.S. Military, and the War in Iraq. From 1997 to 1998 Kahl was a National Security Fellow at the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University. He received his B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan in 1993, and his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2000.

Robert Kaplan, CNAS Senior Fellow
Robert Kaplan, a prolific and influential writer for The Atlantic Monthly, joined the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) as a Senior Fellow in March 2008, after serving as the Class of 1960 Distinguished Visiting Professor in National Security at the United States Naval Academy. Kaplan, who will continue to write for The Atlantic Monthly, is now writing a book for CNAS on the future of the Indian Ocean region and its importance for the future of energy supplies, national security and global primacy in the 21st century. Robert Kaplan has written extensively on a range of foreign policy and national security issues for The Atlantic Monthly from 100 countries. He is the best-selling author of twelve books on international affairs and travel including: Hog Pilots: Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground (2007); Imperial Grunts (2005), Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus (2000); The Coming Anarchy: Shattering the Dreams of the Post Cold War (2000); An Empire Wilderness: Travels Into America's Future (1998); The Ends of the Earth (1995); The Arabists: The Romance of an American Elite (1993); and Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History (1993); all of which grew out of Atlantic articles. Besides The Atlantic Monthly, Kaplan’s essays have appeared on the editorial pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times. He has been a consultant to the U.S. Army’s Special Forces Regiment, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Marines. He has lectured at military war colleges, the FBI, the National Security Agency, the Pentagon's Joint Staff, major universities, the CIA, and business forums. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman calls Kaplan among the four “most widely read” authors defining the post-Cold War era (along with Francis Fukuyama, Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington, and Yale Professor Paul Kennedy). He is the recipient of the 2001 Greenway-Winship Award for Excellence in international reporting and in 2002, and he received the United States State Department Distinguished Public Service Award. Kaplan has been writing as a foreign correspondent for more than 25 years, and his over two-decades' worth of traveling and reporting experience – much of which he has accumulated in the world's most difficult and dangerous places – inform even his briefest contributions. His writing always combines on-the-ground reporting, a rich academic context, a deep regard for the past, and an abiding concern for the future.

Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Brian Katulis is a Senior Fellow at American Progress. At the Center, his work examines U.S. national security policy in Middle East with a focus on Iraq. He is also a Senior Advisor to the Center’s Middle East Progress project. Prior to joining the Center, Katulis lived and worked in the Middle East for the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House, including projects in Egypt, Iraq, and the Palestinian territories. From 2000 to 2003, he worked as a senior associate at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. He has published articles in The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Christian Science Monitor among other publications. Katulis received a graduate degree from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs.

Gen Jack Keane, USA (Ret.), Former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army
General Jack Keane is Senior Managing Director and co-founder of Keane Advisors, LLC, a private equity and consulting firm. He serves as a national security analyst for ABC News and speaks throughout the nation on national security and leadership. Still active in national security, General Keane conducted a personal assessment of the security situation in Iraq for senior defense officials in 2004 and 2005 and will conduct another assessment in 2006. He has been elected to the Board of Directors of Metlife, General Dynamics and Allied Barton Security. He is a senior advisor to Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co., one of the nation's largest private equity firms and is an advisor to the Chairman & CEO of URS Corporation. He is also a member of the Secretary of Defense's Policy Board, a commissioner on the Congressional Commission on the National Guard and Reserves (lasting 1 yr in duration), a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, director of the George C. Marshall Foundation, director of the Knollwood Foundation, a member of the Executive Committee, Pentagon Memorial Fund, chairman of the Terry Maude Foundation and chairman of Senior Executive Committee, Army Aviation Association of America. General Keane, a four-star general, completed 37 years in public service in December 2003, culminating as acting Chief of Staff and Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army. As the chief operating officer of the Army for 4½ years, he directed one million, five hundred thousand soldiers and civilians in 120 countries, with an annual operating budget of $110 billion dollars. General Keane was in the Pentagon on 9/11 and provided oversight and support for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. General Keane is a career paratrooper, a combat veteran of Vietnam, decorated for valor, who spent much of his military life in operational commands where his units were employed in Somalia , Haiti , Bosnia and Kosovo. He commanded the famed 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and the legendary 18th Airborne Corps, the Army's largest war fighting organization. General Keane graduated from Fordham University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy from Western Kentucky University. He is a graduate of the Army War College and the Command and General Staff College. General Keane and his wife Theresa, who have been married for over 40 years, have two adult sons Matthew and Daniel.

William Kristol, Editor, The Weekly Standard
William Kristol is founder and editor of The Weekly Standard, a journal of politics and ideas located in Washington, D.C. He is also a regular panelist on Fox News Sunday, a contributor for the Fox News Channel, and columnist for the New York Times. Before starting the Weekly Standard in 1995, Mr. Kristol led the Project for the Republican Future, where he helped shape the strategy that produced the 1994 Republican congressional victory. Prior to that, Mr. Kristol served as chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle during the first Bush Administration, and to Education Secretary William Bennett under President Reagan. Before coming to Washington in 1985, Mr. Kristol was on the faculty of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (1983-1985) and the Department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania (1979-1983). Mr. Kristol has published widely in areas ranging from foreign policy to constitutional law to political philosophy. He has co-edited several books, including The Neoconservative Imagination (with Christopher DeMuth, 1995), Educating the Prince: Essays in Honor of Harvey Mansfield (with Mark Blitz, 2000), Present Dangers (with Robert Kagan, 2000), Bush v. Gore: The Court Cases and the Commentary (with E. J. Dionne, Jr., 2001), and The Future is Now: America Confronts the New Genetics (with Eric Cohen, 2002). He is the co-author, with Lawrence Kaplan, of the best-selling 2003 book, The War Over Iraq. Mr. Kristol received both his A.B. (1973) and Ph.D. (1979) from Harvard University.

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Dr. Suzanne Maloney, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Suzanne Maloney is a Senior Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, where her research focuses on energy, economic reform and U.S. policy toward the Middle East. Since joining Brookings, Maloney has published several articles in publications including The National Interest, Current History, Newsweek International, and the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs. Dr. Maloney has launched a new book project on Iran’s political economy since the Islamic Revolution, and is co-authoring a set of policy recommendations on Iran for the next U.S. administration as part of a joint project of the Saban Center and the Council on Foreign Relations. The U.S. Institute of Peace will publish her monograph on Iran’s relationship with the Muslim world, entitled Iran’s Long Reach, in 2008. Maloney regularly briefs U.S. Government policymakers as well as university and private sector audiences, and has testified before the National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Prior to joining Brookings, Maloney was a member of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff, covering Iran, Iraq, the Gulf States and broader Middle East issues. Her career includes positions at ExxonMobil Corporation, where as Middle East Advisor she worked on regional business development, political risk analysis, and corporate outreach and communications. Maloney directed the 2004 Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on US Policy toward Iran, chaired by Zbigniew Brzezinski and Robert Gates, and received a prestigious CFR International Affairs Fellowship as well as numerous academic distinctions. Maloney holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and has studied in Cairo, London and Tehran.

John Melia, Executive Director, Wounded Warrior Project
Wounded when the Marine Corps helicopter he was riding in exploded and crashed in the seas off Somalia in 1992, John Melia suffered burns and other injuries which resulted in his medical retirement from active duty in 1995. Seven years later, as troops began coming home wounded from combat in Afghanistan, he recalled what it was like to arrive at a stateside hospital with nothing but the hospital gown on his back. With his wife and two daughters, John started delivering backpacks filled with toiletries, clothing items, CDs and other comfort items to hospitalized troops injured in Afghanistan. That was 2002 and the start of Wounded Warrior Project. But John, who also served during the Persian Gulf War, had lots of veterans among his friends, and many wanted to get involved. The impetus grew further as America became involved in Iraq. “We all realized that there was nobody uniquely focused on this generation of veterans.” What John describes as “one wounded guy helping another” has evolved into America’s foremost advocate for those who come home with physical, psychological, and spiritual wounds from today’s wars. The backpack program is still there. But under John’s direction, WWP provides powerful rehabilitation opportunities that help wounded troops rebuild their strength, their confidence, and their lives. Under a partnership John and others forged with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, WWP representatives provide expert representation to our nation’s newest disabled veterans as they file claims for benefits from the government they served. A native of Seekonk, Massachusetts, John served as an Infantry Corporal with 1st Marine Division. He holds a number of military decorations including the Combat Action Ribbon and Navy Achievement Medal. John earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of the State of New York in 1994. Wounded Warrior Project was not John’s first venture in the world of veteran’s advocacy. In 1996, he worked as a national service officer and national appeals officer with the Disabled American Veterans, supervising the DAV’s Roanoke, Virginia office for a time. He also worked as a senior national service officer for the Paralyzed Veterans of America and as a rating specialist for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He and his wife have two children.

Dr. James Miller, CNAS Senior Vice President and Director of Studies
Dr. James N. Miller is Senior Vice President and Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Previous positions include serving as Senior Vice President at Hicks and Associates, Inc. (2000-2007); Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Requirements, Plans, and Counterproliferation Policy (1997-2000); assistant professor at Duke University (1992-1997); and senior professional staff member for the House Armed Services Committee (1988-1992). He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Combating WMD Panel of DoD’s Threat Reduction Advisory Committee. He has served as an advisor to the Defense Science Board, as senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and as senior associate member at St. Antony’s College, Oxford. In 2000 he received the Department of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. Dr. Miller received a B.A. degree with honors in economics from Stanford University, and Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

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Lt Gen Greg S. Newbold, USMC (Ret.), Managing Director, Torch Hill Capital

Lieutenant General Gregory S. Newbold (USMC, Ret.) joined Torch Hill Investment Partners as a Managing Partner in January, 2005.  As a managing partner, he assists in the direction of the firm as it invests in companies focused on the security of our homeland.  As a Marine Corps officer, his assignments included command of infantry units at the platoon, company, and battalion level, and also command of a Marine Expeditionary Unit of 2000 Marines. When he commanded the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, this force was in the vanguard of the U.S. engagement in Somalia. Newbold also served as the Commanding General of the 23,000 Marines and sailors of the First Marine Division from 1998-2000.  In his last position on active duty, he served as Director of Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  In this capacity, he coordinated the overseas deployments and operations of the 1.4 million personnel of the U.S. military from August 2000 to October 2002. Newbold also serves on the board of directors of Camelbak, LLC, Nortel Government Solutions, the Center for a New American Security, and on the Board of Advisors for The Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund and the Bob Woodruff Family Fund for service members who have suffered brain injuries.

 
Dr. Joseph Nye, University Distinguished Service Professor, Harvard University
Joseph S. Nye Jr., University Distinguished Service Professor, is also the Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations and former Dean of the Kennedy School. He received his bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Princeton University, did postgraduate work at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, and earned a PhD in political science from Harvard. He has served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Chair of the National Intelligence Council, and Deputy Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology. His just published his latest book 2008, The Powers to Lead (Oxford University Press). In 2004, he published Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics; Understanding International Conflict (5th edition); and The Power Game: A Washington Novel. In addition, he has published many articles, op-eds and chapters in several books.

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The Honorable Dr. William J. Perry, Chairman of the CNAS Board of Directors
William Perry is the Michael and Barbara Berberian Professor at Stanford University, with a joint appointment at FSI and the School of Engineering. He is a senior fellow at FSI and serves as co-director of the Preventive Defense Project, a research collaboration of Stanford and Harvard Universities. He is an expert in U.S. foreign policy, national security and arms control. He was the co-director of CISAC from 1988 to 1993, during which time he was also a professor (half time) at Stanford. He was a part-time lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at Santa Clara University from 1971 to 1977. Perry was the 19th secretary of defense for the United States, serving from February 1994 to January 1997. He previously served as deputy secretary of defense (1993-1994) and as under secretary of defense for research and engineering (1977-1981). He is on the board of directors of LGS Bell Labs Innovations and several emerging high-tech companies and is chairman of Global Technology Partners. His previous business experience includes serving as a laboratory director for General Telephone and Electronics (1954-1964); founder and president of ESL Inc. (1964-1977); executive vice-president of Hambrecht & Quist Inc. (1981-1985); and founder and chairman of Technology Strategies & Alliances (1985-1993). He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. From 1946 to 1947, Perry was an enlisted man in the Army Corps of Engineers, and served in the Army of Occupation in Japan. He joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1948 and was a second lieutenant in the Army Reserves from 1950 to 1955. He has received a number of awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1997), the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal (1980 and 1981), and Outstanding Civilian Service Medals from the Army (1962 and 1997), the Air Force (1997), the Navy (1997), the Defense Intelligence Agency (1977 and 1997), NASA (1981) and the Coast Guard (1997). He received the American Electronic Association's Medal of Achievement (1980), the Eisenhower Award (1996), the Marshall Award (1997), the Forrestal Medal (1994), and the Henry Stimson Medal (1994). The National Academy of Engineering selected him for the Arthur Bueche Medal in 1996. He has received awards from the enlisted personnel of the Army, Navy, and the Air Force. He has received decorations from the governments of Albania, Bahrain, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Poland, Slovenia, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. He received a BS and MS from Stanford University and a PhD from Penn State, all in mathematics.

John Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress
John Podesta is the President and Chief Executive Officer of American Progress. Podesta served as Chief of Staff to President William J. Clinton from October 1998 until January 2001, where he was responsible for directing, managing, and overseeing all policy development, daily operations, Congressional relations, and staff activities of the White House. He coordinated the work of cabinet agencies with a particular emphasis on the development of federal budget and tax policy, and served in the President's Cabinet and as a Principal on the National Security Council. A frequent guest of Sunday morning news programs, Podesta is known for his straight talk, acerbic wit, and fierce defense of the Clinton Administration – which he also served from 1997 to 1998 as both an Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff. Earlier, from January 1993 to 1995, he was Assistant to the President, Staff Secretary and a senior policy adviser on government information, privacy, telecommunications security and regulatory policy. Podesta is currently a Visiting Professor of Law on the faculty of the Georgetown University Law Center, a position he also held from January 1995 to 1997. He has taught courses on technology policy, congressional investigations, legislation, copyright and public interest law. Podesta is considered one of Washington's leading experts in technology policy, and has written a book, several articles and lectured extensively in these areas. Podesta has held a number of positions on Capitol Hill including: Counselor to Democratic Leader Senator Thomas A. Daschle (1995-1996); Chief Counsel for the Senate Agriculture Committee (1987-1988); Chief Minority Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks; Security and Terrorism; and Regulatory Reform; and Counsel on the Majority Staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee (1979-1981). In addition, in 1988, Podesta founded with his brother Tony, Podesta Associates, Inc., a Washington, D.C. government relations and public affairs firm. A Chicago native, Podesta worked as a trial attorney in the Department of Justice's Honors Program in the Land and Natural Resources Division (1976-1977), and as a Special Assistant to the Director of ACTION, the federal volunteer agency, (1978-1979). He has served as a member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and the United States Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy. Podesta is a 1976 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, and a 1971 graduate of Knox College.

 

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The Honorable Mitchell B. Reiss, Vice Provost for International Affairs, The College of William & Mary
Mitchell Reiss is currently Vice Provost for International Affairs at the College of William & Mary, where he teaches at both the Law School and in the Government Department. He served as Director of Policy Planning at the Department of State under Colin Powell from 2003 to 2005 and as Special Envoy to the Northern Ireland Peace process from 2003 to 2007, with the rank of Ambassador. From 1995 to 1999, he helped start and manage the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), where he was also the chief negotiator. Reiss was a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., where he started their nonproliferation and counterproliferation programs. Previously, he was the Special Assistant to National Security Advisors Colin Powell and Brent Scowcroft as a White House Fellow. He has consulted for a variety of U.S. Government agencies and departments, the Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories, philanthropic foundations and financial organizations. He has written numerous books and articles on international security, testified frequently before Congress, and appeared on television and radio in the U.S. and overseas. He has degrees from Williams College, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Columbia Law School and Oxford University.

 

Ambassador Dennis Ross, Counselor and Ziegler Distinguished Fellow, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Ambassador Dennis Ross is The Washington Institute's counselor and Ziegler distinguished fellow. For more than twelve years, Ambassador Ross played a leading role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process and dealing directly with the parties in negotiations. A highly skilled diplomat, Ambassador Ross was U.S. point man on the peace process in both the George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. He was instrumental in assisting Israelis and Palestinians to reach the 1995 Interim Agreement; he also successfully brokered the 1997 Hebron Accord, facilitated the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty, and intensively worked to bring Israel and Syria together. A scholar and diplomat with more than two decades of experience in Soviet and Middle East policy, Ambassador Ross worked closely with Secretaries of State James Baker, Warren Christopher, and Madeleine Albright. Prior to his service as special Middle East coordinator under President Clinton, Ambassador Ross served as director of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff in the first Bush administration. In that capacity, he played a prominent role in U.S. policy toward the former Soviet Union, the unification of Germany and its integration into NATO, arms control negotiations, and the 1991 Gulf War coalition. During the Reagan administration, he served as director of Near East and South Asian affairs on the National Security Council staff and deputy director of the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment. Ambassador Ross was awarded the Presidential Medal for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service by President Clinton, and Secretaries Baker and Albright presented him with the State Department's highest award. A 1970 graduate of UCLA, Ambassador Ross wrote his doctoral dissertation on Soviet decision making, and from 1984 to 1986 served as executive director of the Berkeley-Stanford program on Soviet International Behavior. He received UCLA's highest medal and has been named UCLA alumnus of the year. He has also received honorary doctorates from Amherst, Jewish Theological Seminary, and Syracuse University. Ambassador Ross has published extensively on the former Soviet Union, arms control, and the greater Middle East, contributing numerous chapters to anthologies. In the 1970s and 1980s, his articles appeared in World Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Orbis, International Security, Survival, and Journal of Strategic Studies. Since leaving government in 2001, he has published in Foreign Policy, National Interest, Washington Quarterly, and Foreign Affairs. Mr. Ross is also a frequent contributor to the Financial Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and U.S. News and World Report, as well as a foreign affairs analyst for Fox News Channel. His book The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, August 2004) offers comprehensive analytical and personal insight into the Middle East peace process.

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David E. Sanger, Chief Washington Correspont, New York Times
David E. Sanger is Chief Washington Correspondent for the New York Times and is one of the newspaper's senior writers. In a 25-year career at the paper, he has reported from New York, Tokyo and Washington, covering a variety of issues surrounding foreign policy, globalization, nuclear proliferation, Asian affairs and, since 2001, the arc of the Bush presidency. Twice he has been a member of Times reporting teams that won the Pulitzer Prize. Before covering the White House, Mr. Sanger specialized in the confluence of economic and foreign policy, and wrote extensively on how issues of national wealth and competitiveness have come to redefine the relationships between the United States and its major allies. He was correspondent and then bureau chief in Tokyo for six years. In 1994, he took up the position of chief Washington economic correspondent, and covered a series of global economic upheavals, from Mexico to the Asian economic crisis. He was named a senior writer in March 1999, and White House correspondent later that year. He was named Chief Washington Correspondent in October 2006. Mr. Sanger joined the Times in the Business Day section, specializing in the computer industry and high-technology trade. In 1986 he played a major role in the team that investigated the causes of the space shuttle Challenger disaster. The team won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. He was a member of another Pulitzer-winner team that wrote about the Clinton administration’s struggles to control exports to China. In 2007, the New York Times received the DuPont Award from the Columbia Journalism School for "Nuclear Jihad: Can Terrorists Get the Bomb?' a documentary featuring Mr. Sanger and his colleague William J. Broad. In 2004, Mr. Sanger was the co-recipient of the Weintal Prize for diplomatic reporting for his coverage of the Iraq and Korea crises. He also won the Aldo Beckman prize for coverage of the presidency. In both 2003 and 2007 he was awarded the Merriman Smith Memorial Award for coverage of national security strategy. He also shared the American Society of Newspaper Editor's top award for deadline writing in 2004, for team coverage of the Columbia disaster. Mr. Sanger appears regularly on public affairs and news shows. Twice a week he delivers the Washington Report on WQXR, the radio station of the Times. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group. Mr. Sanger was educated in the public school system there and graduated magna cum laude in government from Harvard College in 1982.

 

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Gen Charles F. "Chuck" Wald, USAF (Ret.), Vice President, International Programs, L-3 Communication
General (Retired) Charles F. "Chuck" Wald serves as Vice President - International. General Wald is responsible for assisting L-3's operating groups in growing their international business base. General Wald served as Deputy Commander, Headquarters U.S. European Command (USEUCOM), a position he held from 2002 until his retirement from the United States Air Force in July 2006. USEUCOM is responsible for all U.S. Forces operating across 91 countries in Europe, Africa, Russia, parts of Asia, the Middle East and most of the Atlantic Ocean. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Air and Space Operations at the Pentagon.