Senior Coast Guard officer and helicopter pilot; most recently served as Chief of Staff, Eighth Coast Guard District with area of responsibility encompassing Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi River system. Extensive operational background in management of search and rescue, maritime law enforcement and security, maritime safety and environmental response missions.

Director of Google Ideas, Google Inc. Former member of the policy planning staff under both Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton.

A corporate executive with extensive experience in high technology and international political economy. Currently directing a roundtable series on technology, innovation, and American primacy.

Expert on counterterrorism and national security issues. Principal at Chertoff Group. Former deputy commissioner for counterterrorism with the New York City Police Department.

Currently leading projects on cybersecurity and cyberconflict. Recent book Advantage looks at the technological competitive advantages of Asia and the United States. Previously the project director for a CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force on Chinese military modernization.

Former State Department and Defense Department senior official and National Security Council staff member. Professor of international law and national security law at Columbia Law School. Fellow in CFR's Cyberconflict and Cybersecurity Initiative.

Author of American Force: Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security and professor at Columbia University. Commissioner to the National Commission on Terrorism and former staff member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Current work examines the U.S. national security agenda.

Award-winning author of Military Power: Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle. Former associate professor and Elihu Root chair of military studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. Current work examines U.S. defense policy and strategy.

Award-winning author, historian, and military strategist. Author of The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power and War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today. Finishing Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present, which will be released by W.W. Norton & Co. in January 2013.

Colonel in the U.S. Air Force that has commanded at the squadron and wing levels. Career F-15E weapons systems officer. Currently researching U.S. national security policy in Asia and the impact of U.S. rebalancing in the region.

Lieutenant General, USAF (Ret.). Former commander of Air Force Global Strike Command. Previously defense attaché to Moscow and director for nuclear policy and arms control on the National Security Council staff. Current work examines the nuclear arms control policies of the United States and the other nuclear weapons states.

Award-winning journalist and national security writer. Former deputy editorial page editor for the New York Times and chief diplomatic correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. Directing a roundtable series focused on national security in an age of austerity.

Former National Security Council official in the Clinton administration; expert on national security and terrorism. Author of How Wars End (Simon & Schuster, October 2010).

Expert on emerging sources of regional instability and violent conflict. Currently focusing on U.S. preventive strategies to meet future challenges to international peace and security. Coauthor of the Council Special Reports Partners in Preventive Action: The United States and International Institutions and Enhancing U.S. Preventive Action.

Political scientist with expertise in national security issues. Currently researching drone strikes and their impact on U.S. foreign policy. His book Between Threats and War: U.S. Discrete Military Operations in the Post-Cold War World was released in September 2010.

Author of American Force: Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security and professor at Columbia University. Commissioner to the National Commission on Terrorism and former staff member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Current work examines the U.S. national security agenda.

Award-winning author of Military Power: Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle. Former associate professor and Elihu Root chair of military studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. Current work examines U.S. defense policy and strategy.

Assistant professor of international relations at University of Southern California and adjunct member of research staff at Institute for Defense Analyses. Currently working on game-theoretic analyses of nuclear proliferation and the non-proliferation regime.

Colonel in the U.S. Air Force that has commanded at the squadron and wing levels. Career F-15E weapons systems officer. Currently researching U.S. national security policy in Asia and the impact of U.S. rebalancing in the region.

Lieutenant General, USAF (Ret.). Former commander of Air Force Global Strike Command. Previously defense attaché to Moscow and director for nuclear policy and arms control on the National Security Council staff. Current work examines the nuclear arms control policies of the United States and the other nuclear weapons states.