Her current projects assessing potential use of natural gas as a geoeconomic tool and investigating ways to leverage U.S. LNG exports to bolster European energy security. Mikulska is also senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and at University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy where she teaches graduate-level seminars on energy policy and geopolitics of energy in Russia and Eurasia. She sits on the editorial board of the law review at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland and is  member of the scientific board for Energy Policy Studies. Mikulska speaks Polish, English, German, Farsi and Russian. She received a law degree from Adam Mickiewicz University, a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Windsor in Canada, and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Houston.

In 2015, Bass was recognized as one of the Top 25 Most Influential People in the Global Patent Market as named by Intellectual Asset Management magazine.  Mr. Bass has lectured on global economics at various universities, including Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, University of Chicago, University of Texas, and the University of Virginia.  Mr. Bass is the former Chair of the Risk Committee of the Board of Directors of the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO), which manages approximately $50 billion.

Before forming Hayman, Mr. Bass was a Managing Director at Legg Mason and a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns.  He graduated from Texas Christian University with a degree in finance.  Mr. Bass serves on the board of the Texas Department of Public Safety Foundation and Melinda’s Foods.

Discussion: The First Political Order: How Sex Shapes Governance and National Security Worldwide

Prior to joining the Foreign Service in March 1984, he worked briefly at the World Bank, Macon Telegraph and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  Early USAID assignments included serving as Program Officer in Yemen, Jordan, South Africa and Kazakhstan.

Addleton’s awards include the Administrator’s Distinguished Career Service Award from the US Agency for International Development (USAID); ISAF Service Medal from NATO; Outstanding Civilian Service Medal from the United States Army; Christian A. Herter Award for intellectual courage and constructive dissent from the American Foreign Service Association; and the Polar Star, Mongolia’s highest civilian Award, from the President of Mongolia.

Addleton received his PhD and MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (Medford, MA).  He also has a BS from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), where he was awarded the Richter Scholarship and Faricy Writing Prize. Following publication of Some Far and Distant Place, he was invited to serve as a Breadloaf Fellow at Middlebury College’s annual Summer Writers’ Conference.

Married to Fiona Mary Riach in Alness, Scotland in August 1985, they have three adult children.   Their permanent residence is now in Macon, GA where Addleton currently teaches international relations as an Adjunct at Mercer University.

He has lectured at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya on issues relating to Israeli national security. Dr. Bar is also founder and CEO of IntuView Ltd – an Israeli based software company that has developed an integrated semantics-driven platform for full-automated real-time analysis and “meaning mining” of unstructured textual documents in various languages, including idea extraction, summarization, entity extraction/resolution and name matching through automated emulation of the intuition and knowledge of seasoned subject experts. Dr. Bar served for thirty years in the Israeli government, first in the IDF Intelligence and then in the analytic and operational positions in the Israeli Office of the Prime Minister. Since the mid 1980’s he specialized in the ideology and operational codes of Islamic fundamentalist movements and particularly of the Jihadi movement that later evolved into al-Qaeda. Between 1998-2002 Dr. Bar served as First Secretary at the Israeli Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands and in that capacity liaised with government agencies in the UK. Since 2002, Dr. Bar has headed research projects – some of them for US government agencies – and published extensively on issues relating to the Middle East, including strategic issues in the Middle East, deterrence in theory and practice, radical Islamic ideology, Iran, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinians. He holds a Ph.D. in History of the Middle East from Tel-Aviv University.

She oversees country assessments, monitors major geopolitical trends and ensures that all Stratfor content fits within the established analytical framework. Bhalla is a prominent speaker, regularly addressing organizations around the world, from large financial institutions to agricultural and real estate investment groups. She has delivered executive briefings to investors, business leaders and the U.S. defense and intelligence community and has been published in numerous foreign affairs journals, including The Journal of International Security Affairs. Her focus on global issues takes her all over the world, including Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Poland. She has been featured in numerous newspapers and broadcasts, including Bloomberg, CNN, The Associated Press, NPR, Time magazine, Al Jazeera English, FOX News, Haaretz, The New York Times, The Hindustan Times, Agencia Estado, Xinhua, Veja and Business Week. She has a master’s degree from the Security Studies Program of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Texas.

 

 

 

Prior to joining CSIS, Dr. Center served at the National Security Council (NSC) and the U.S. Department of State. He served as director for National Security Strategy and History at the NSC from 2017-2019, where he helped conceptualize and write the 2017 National Security Strategy. Dr. Center joined the NSC staff as a historian in the fall of 2016 to document the evolution of key national security initiatives of the Obama administration including managing the China relationship, counterterrorism policy, Iran policy, and broader strategic questions. He provided historical context and lessons learned for the NSC across the 2017 presidential transition. As a State Department historian, he produced policy-supportive historical research and analysis on a broad array of subjects including the origins and conduct of the Iraq War, post-conflict and stabilization operations, strategic communications and public diplomacy, and the organization and development of U.S. diplomacy. He also supported the department’s lessons learned efforts in partnership with the U.S. military and the intelligence community. He has taught and lectured on U.S. foreign policy and international history at universities, the Foreign Service Institute, and professional military education institutions. Dr. Center received his Ph.D. in diplomatic history from the University of Virginia and his B.A. from Cornell University in history and government.

Ambassador Crumpton is a Director of Argan Inc. He is also on the advisory boards of The Coca-Cola Company and DC Capital Partners, a private equity firm.

From 2005 until 2007, Ambassador Crumpton served as the Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the U.S. Department of State. Ambassador Crumpton joined the CIA’s Clandestine Service in 1981 as an operations officer. For most of his 24-year career he operated in the foreign field, including assignments as Chief of Station. In Washington, he served at the FBI as Deputy Chief of the International Terrorism Operations Section, 1998-1999. He was Deputy Chief (Operations) of CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, 1999-2001. He led CIA’s Afghanistan campaign, 2001-2002. He was Chief of the CIA’s National Resources Division, 2003-2005. He received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of New Mexico and a Masters in International Public Policy, with honors, from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Ambassador Crumpton is the author of the New York Times best-selling book, The Art of Intelligence (2012). He is also a contributing author to Transforming U.S. Intelligence (2005). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an honorary member of the OSS Society. Ambassador Crumpton is the recipient of the Intelligence Commendation Medal; the George H.W. Bush Award for excellence in counterterrorism; the Sherman Kent Award, in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the literature of intelligence; the Donovan Award; and the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the CIA’s highest award for achievement.

He also founded Paradox Capital, a social impact venture fund focused on for-profit social good companies.  His experience in business and politics will help bridge the paradox between capitalism and social consciousness.

Over the last 25 years, Dowd has been an active entrepreneur in Austin, Texas founding three companies which have been highly successful including Vianovo and Public Strategies, all of which he sold to his other partners to pursue other endeavors.

Dowd has worked both sides of the aisle, but now considers himself a diehard Independent.  Dowd’s political work includes serving as the chief strategist on two winning re-election efforts – for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 and for President George W. Bush in 2004. His innovative approach on the 2004 campaign led the bi-partisan American Association of Political Consultants to name him Strategist of the Year.

In the 1980s and 1990s, he advised a wide variety of political clients including helping former Democrat Texas Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock win election and re-election. He has also worked as a member of Democrat U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen’s staff, and has worked on the staffs of two Democratic Congressmen.

Dowd currently serves as chief political analyst for ABC News where he appears on This Week, Good Morning America, and Nightline, and writes a regular column for various publications. Dowd covers not only politics but cultural, economic, and spiritual trends as well. He has served on the boards of various non-profit entities including Seton Family of Hospitals, a Catholic nonprofit health system in Texas.  He was adviser to Bono at the One Campaign, and to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.   He has taught seminars at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and the University of Texas’ LBJ School of Public Affairs.

He is co-author of the New York Times bestseller Applebee’s America: How Successful Political, Business and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community.

Dowd is the proud father of three sons, a beautiful daughter and a son and daughter who passed away.

Before his appointment as Foreign Minister,  he was the Ambassador at Large at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. He served as Ambassador of Egypt to the United States from 1999-2008. He also served as Egypt’s Ambassador to Japan from September 1997-September 1999 and before that as the Political Advisor to Egypt’s Foreign Minister from 1992-97. Dr. Fahmy has held numerous posts in the Egyptian Government since 1974. Ambassador Fahmy received his bachelor of science degree in Physics/Mathematics and his master of arts in management, both from the American University in Cairo. He also received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the Monterey Institute of International Studies which is an affiliate of Middlebury College in May 2009.

In early 2012, as Acting Country Director in Libya, she managed all programmatic and operational aspects of establishing a new UNICEF country presence in Tripoli. She joined the United Nations from the Consensus Building Institute in Cambridge, MA, where she oversaw the organization’s Middle Eastern portfolio and worked on global multi-stakeholder consultations on environment and development issues. Michele has taught international environmental policy and negotiation theory & practice at Columbia University, the University of Massachusetts, and the Pratt Institute of Design. She started her career in the Rome bureaus of CBS News and The New York Times.  She holds degrees from Brown University and Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and speaks fluent German, Italian, French and English.   – See more at: http://www.ewi.info/node/2411#sthash.hG3yKSpf.dpuf

After serving four years as political group chairman for the Greens in the Hessian Landtag, the State Assembly, he held the offices of Deputy Minister-President of the State of Hesse and Hessian State Minister for the Environment, Energy and Federal Affairs from 1991 to 1994.In 1994, Fischer entered federal politics and became co-chairman of the Green Party’s federal parliamentary group. From 2006 to 2007, Joschka Fischer held a professorship at the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs at Princeton University. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group and of the Executive Board of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

He has worked in the Asia Pacific and been involved in Liquid Natural Gas business development, sales and project development. He has managed business development activities in a number of countries. He lived in Qatar and Indonesia working with National Oil Company representatives to promote LNG projects. In his early career, he worked in engineering activities involved in supplying gas to US markets and worked in sales of gas to those markets.

He manages the group responsible for preparing ExxonMobil’s Energy Outlook. Rob has worked in ExxonMobil’s Corporate Strategic Planning Department since 2009 leading the development of the company’s key outlooks.

Rob graduated from Louisiana State University in 1978 with a Bachelor of
Science Degree in Chemical Engineering and began his working career with Mobil Oil in Louisiana.

In Mexico, in the late 90’s, he worked in the Program for Mexican Communities Abroad at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from 2003 to 2009, he was the founding Executive Director of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad, the agency in charge of promoting ties and collaboration between Mexico and its diaspora.

Overseas, he has had four adscriptions. Early in his career, he was the Consul for Community Affairs at the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles. Then, from 1999 to 2003 he was appointed as Counselor for Latino Affairs at the Mexican Embassy in Washington D.C.

In 2009, González Gutiérrez was appointed for the first time Head of Post as Consul General of Mexico in Sacramento. Besides the regular consular activities, he was in charge of monitoring public policies implemented in the state that could affect Mexico or Mexican communities in California, given that Sacramento is the seat of the powers of the state.

After six years in Sacramento, Ambassador González Gutiérrez was transferred to another capital city as Consul General of Mexico in Austin, having to report yet again the public policies of Texas, as much as to look after the daily general services of the Consulate for Mexicans in areas such as documentation, protection and community development.

In September 2011, he was promoted by the President of Mexico to the rank of Ambassador.

He has a B.A. in International Relations from El Colegio de México and a Masters Degree also in International Relations from the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California. He is author of several publications about the Mexican population in the United States.

The Ambassador is married to Alina. They have two daughters: Marina and Camila.

Mr. Guajardo Villarreal was Chief Economist of the Brazil Section, and Associate Economist in the Fiscal Affairs Department at the International Monetary Fund (1988-1991) before becoming Director of the North American Free Trade Agreement Affairs Office, based at the Embassy of Mexico in Washington, D. C. (1994).

Mr. Guajardo has held different positions in the Federal Government, first as undersecretary at the Foreign Affairs Ministry (1994-1997); later as Deputy Ministry of Tourist Development (1997); and as Planning, Communication and Liaison Technical Secretary for the Trade and Industrial Development Ministry (1998-1999).

At the state level, he was head of the Governor’s Executive Office (2003 – 2006), year in which he ran as candidate for Congress for the First Local District of Monterrey, position that won, becoming leader of the Minority Group of the Nuevo Leon State Congress, in the LXX Legislature.

His latest positions were Federal Congressman for the Second District of Nuevo Leon, Chairman of the Economics Commission, Member of the Treasury and Public Credit Commission, and President of the Mexico-U.S.A. Friendship Group at the LXI Legislature of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, and Coordinator of the Entrepreneurial Liaison in the Presidential Campaign of Mr. Enrique Peña Nieto.

He has been a full time professor at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León; and assistant professor at the Arizona State University and the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania.

On December 1st of 2012, Mr. Guajardo Villarreal was appointed as Secretary of the Economy by the President Enrique Peña Nieto.

She is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and has just completed a book entitled “On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines—and Future,”. Her journalism awards include a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for coverage of the Middle East (1984), two Overseas Press Club awards for coverage of the Middle East and of Islam and the Edwin M. Hood award for Excellence in Diplomatic Reporting for a series on Saudi Arabia (1982). In both her news and business roles, Ms. House has traveled widely over many years and has interviewed world leaders including, Saddam Hussein, Lee Kwan Yew,  Zhu Rongji, Vladimir Putin, Shimon Peres, Benjamim Natanyahu, Saudi King Abdullah, Hosni Mubarak, Margaret Thatcher, Richard Nixon, Helmut Kohl, George H.W. Bush, the late King Hussein and Yasser Arafat. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin where in 1996 she was the recipient of the University’s “Distinguished Alumnus” award.  She studied and taught at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics and she holds honorary degrees from Boston University (2003) and Lafayette College (1992).  She also is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  Ms. House is married and is the mother of four children ages 16 to 38.

Inboden’s other current roles include Non-Resident Fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Senior Advisor with Avascent International, and Associate Scholar with Georgetown University’s Religious Freedom Project. Previously he served as Senior Director for Strategic Planning on the National Security Council at the White House, where he worked on a range of foreign policy issues including the National Security Strategy, strategic forecasting, democracy and governance, contingency planning, counter-radicalization, and multilateral institutions and initiatives. Inboden also worked at the Department of State as a Member of the Policy Planning Staff and a Special Advisor in the Office of International Religious Freedom, and has worked as a staff member in both the United States Senate and the House of Representatives

Inboden has also served as Senior Vice President of the London-based Legatum Institute, and as a Civitas Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is a contributing editor to Foreign Policy magazine, and his commentary has appeared in numerous outlets including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Sky News, and BBC. He has lectured widely in academic and policy settings, and received numerous research and professional development fellowships. He is the author of Religion and American Foreign Policy, 1945-1960: The Soul of Containment (Cambridge University Press) as well as numerous articles and book chapters. Inboden received his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in history from Yale University, and his A.B. from Stanford University.

Karp’s team develops econometric tools and models, and performs rigorous and objective assessments on several topics relevant to the group’s operations in the U.S. The team publishes numerous documents on the U.S. economy and frequently presents them to customers and communities served by BBVA Compass. Karp regularly provides media interviews and has appeared on Bloomberg TV and MSNBC.

Karp is a member of the American Bankers Association Economic Advisory Committee, a noted group of economists that formulate perspectives on the U.S. and local economies for policymakers. In 2010, Bloomberg News named Karp and his team the top forecaster of 10-year Treasury yields. In 2011, he earned a sixth-place ranking in unemployment forecasting. Karp ranked among the top five for non-farm payroll forecasting in 2010 and 2011.

Karp joined BBVA Group in 1999 after working for the University of Warwick, the World Bank, Republic Bank, Mexico’s Ministry of Education and Advance Technology for Trade Information and Services. Previously, Karp worked at BBVA Bancomer as director of financial and banking research.

 

Karp earned an undergraduate degree from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and a Ph.D. from the University of Warwick in England.

He is currently writing a book titled Saudi Arabia: The Dilemma of Political Reform and the Illusion of Economic Development. His articles appeared in journals such as The Journal of Conflict Resolution, The Brown Journal of World Affairs, Orbis, The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Security Dialogue, Middle East Quarterly, Third World Quarterly, Israel Affairs, International Journal of Kurdish Studies, and World Affairs. He is a regular contributor to Geopolitical Futures.

From 2003 to 2006, he served first as senior economist for trade for President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers and then as a member of Secretary of State Rice’s Policy Planning Staff, covering international economic matters. Before working in government, he was a faculty member of Yale University’s Department of Economics for nine years and spent one of those as academic director of Yale’s Center for the Study of Globalization

His academic writings have appeared in such outlets as The American Economic Review, Economic Journal, and the Journal of International Economics. He is a regular contributor to Foreign Policy magazine’s online Shadow Government section and writes on topics including trade policy, economic relations with China, and the European economic crisis. Dr. Levy has testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Joint Economic Committee, the House Committee on Ways and Mean, and the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He received his PhD in Economics from Stanford University in 1994 and his AB in Economics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1988.

 

In these posts he was central to U.S. efforts to improve global food security and domestic nutrition, and he was a champion for effective foreign assistance programs.  He was the main author of the Lugar-Casey Global Food Security bill of 2009, which sought to make long-term global agricultural productivity and rural development a top U.S. development priority.  Senator Lugar is also the manager of his family’s 604-acre corn, soybean, and tree farm located within the city limits of Indianapolis, Indiana.  As a boy, he worked with his father on this land, and he frequently has observed that his farm has improved yields fourfold during his lifetime.  As a farmer, he has sought to employ the most advanced techniques and inputs available to maximize productivity and protect the environment.

Click here to learn more about life and work of Senator Richard G. Lugar (Ret.)

He led the New York end of New Zealand’s successful campaign for election to a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2015-2016 term, and has served as New Zealand’s representative on the Security Council since 1 January 2015.

Jim McLay was a Member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1975 until his retirement from politics in 1987. While in Parliament, he served as Deputy Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Attorney General and Minister of Justice. In 1987, he received the Queen’s Service Order (QSO) for public services; and, in 2003, was made a Companion of the Order of New Zealand (CNZM) for services to conservation. Before entering Parliament, he practised as a Barrister. In 2015 he was made knight companion to the Order of New Zealand.

He was also the inaugural Director of the Global Engineering Programs at Purdue University, Indiana USA. Professor Mohtar focused on conserving natural resources (including land, water, air, and biological resources) that face global challenges such as increasing food and water supplies for a growing population. He developed environmental and natural resources conservation engineering programs that evaluate the environmental impacts of land use and water management; developed innovative soil and groundwater remediation technologies; applied numerical methods to biological engineering systems; characterized the soil water medium at the pedon, field, and watershed scales. He also designed and evaluated international sustainable water management programs that deal with population growth and water shortage conditions in arid climates. His research has resulted in improved methods for environmental and natural resources engineering, many of which have been adopted by other professionals and agencies internationally.

He received numerous international research awards and honors including the Kishida International award for contributions to agricultural research. He served on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on water security since 2009-11 (vice chair 2011), climate change agenda council 2011-present), board of governors of the World Water Council (2012-present), advisory board of the UNFCC momentum of change initiative (2012-present), advisory board of the President of the University of Alberta Water Initiative (2012-present) among many other global leadership roles. Prof. Mohtar has published over 200 publications including peer-reviewed articles and refereed conference proceedings; and book chapters.

Previously he served as Ambassador to Serbia, where he negotiated Serbian domestic consensus for European integration and managed the Kosovo independence crisis.

Munter also served at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, overseeing U.S. civilian and military cooperation in planning the drawdown of U.S. troops. In Europe, he served in the Czech Republic and Poland, where he helped manage the American contribution to those countries’ integration into the global economy. He was a Director at the National Security Council at the White House, and had numerous other domestic assignments at the State Department in Washington.

Before joining the Foreign Service, Munter taught European history at the University of California Los Angeles. He also taught at Columbia University School of Law and has two honorary doctoral degrees. For the past two years, Munter has been Professor of International Relations at Pomona College in Claremont, California, as well as a Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Born in California in 1954, Munter graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University and earned a doctorate in Modern European History from John Hopkins University.

 

She is the author of the book, Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead, which analyzes the political, economic, and social transformations Mexico has undergone over the last three decades and their significance for U.S.-Mexico relations.

She directed CFR’s Independent Task Force on U.S.-Latin America Relations. In addition to her work at CFR, Dr. O’Neil has taught in the political science department at Columbia University. She is a frequent commentator on major television and radio programs, and her work has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs Latinoamerica, Americas Quarterly, Política Exterior, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, among others, and she has testified before the U.S. Congress on U.S. policy toward Mexico. Prior to joining CFR, she was a justice, welfare, and economics fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. She was also a Fulbright scholar in Mexico and Argentina. Prior to her academic work, Dr. O’Neil worked in the private sector as an equity analyst at Indosuez Capital Latin America and Credit Lyonnais Securities. She holds a BA from Yale University, an MA in international relations from Yale University, and a PhD in government from Harvard University.

General Raduege retired after serving 35 years in the U.S. military. He worked in the areas of technology, including telecommunications, space, information, and network operations. He served more than 17 years in joint duty assignments and was a 4-time Federal activity CIO. In his last position, he led Department of Defense net-centric operations as the Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency. In that role, he directed planning, engineering, and implementation of interoperable communications and intelligence systems serving the needs of the President, Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, combatant commanders, and the military Services. Notably, he led efforts to restore communications to the Pentagon following the September 11th terrorist attacks; upgraded Presidential communications; and led the successful expansion of the Department’s Global Information Grid through a $1 billion transformational communications program.

General Raduege was also appointed by the Secretary of Defense as the Commander of the Joint Task Force for Global Network Operations and Deputy Commander for Global Network Operations and Defense for the U.S. Strategic Command. In these roles, he was the first commander assigned responsibility for directing the operation and defense of the Global Information Grid to assure timely and secure net-centric capabilities across the entire Department. He also served as the Manager of the National Communications System and led our Nation’s efforts to prioritize the restoration of telecommunications throughout New York City and the Pentagon following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Prior to his last assignments, Raduege directed command and control systems for North American Aerospace Defense Command, U.S. Space Command, and Air Force Space Command. He also served as the Chief Information Officer for all three commands, was the architect for computer network defense and attack capabilities established within the Department of Defense, and was the National spokesman for the Department during the successful “Year 2000” computer roll-over efforts.

General Raduege directed command and control communications and was the CIO for the U.S. Central Command for 3 years, including relocation efforts required after the terrorist bombing of Khobar Towers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Earlier, he served as the first commander of the Air Force C4 Agency and was the Joint Chiefs of Staff architect for all satellite communications supporting over 500,000 deployed military members during the Gulf War in 1991.  He was inducted into the United States Air Force Cyberspace Hall-of-Fame in May 2011 and received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Cybersecurity from The America’s Future Series in 2014.

Ambassador Stafford and his wife, Kathleen, were among the six diplomats who evaded capture during the Iranian Hostage Crisis, eventually being smuggled out of Iran by the CIA.

Previously he  served as: Consul General in  Lagos, Nigeria; Anti-Corruption Coordinator in Baghdad, Iraq; Ambassador to the Republic of The Gambia in West Africa; Deputy Chief of Mission  in Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Algeria and Mauritania. In Washington, his assignments included teaching on the faculty of the National War College and serving as the State Department’s Deputy Director of Maghreb Affairs (North Africa).  He was also the Political Analyst for the Arabian Peninsula in the State Department’s Office of Intelligence and Research. His earlier assignments were to Algeria, Kuwait, Egypt, Italy, and Tehran.

He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and is fluent in  Arabic, French, and Italian.     He has received the State Department’s Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards as well as the Award for Valor.

Kathleen Stafford is a watercolor artist and printmaker. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art with post graduate study in Rome, and Palermo Italy, and later earned a Master’s degree in elementary education.  Along with overseeing representational activities and managing staff at their official residences, Kathleen has taught workshops on watercolor and printmaking, collaborated with other artists and held exhibitions of her work in all of the countries where she has accompanied her husband.  She has also held solo exhibitions in Alexandria, Virginia during times she was evacuated from post. Her paintings and prints can be found in museums and private collections around the world including the shop at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.

 Mr. Thompson studied political science and communication at Trinity University and holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Texas A&M University. Additionally, he is a native speaker of Spanish and English. He has lived and worked in Honduras and the United States, including as a reporter for a Texas-based publication prior to joining Stratfor.

He is a 1968 graduate of Harvard College with honors in government. During the Vietnam War he served as an officer in the United States Navy aboard a destroyer in the Western Pacific and as aide to the commander of US naval forces in the Philippines.

Upon his return to Texas, Ambassador Untermeyer was a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle for three years before becoming executive assistant to the county judge (chief administrative official) of Harris County, Texas, the jurisdiction surrounding Houston. In 1976, he was elected to the first of two terms as a member of the Texas House of Representatives.

He left the Legislature in 1981 to go to Washington as executive assistant to then-Vice President Bush. Three years later, President Reagan appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower & Reserve Affairs. When George Bush became president in 1989, Mr. Untermeyer returned to the White House as Director of Presidential Personnel, responsible for advising the President on his appointments to federal office. In 1991, President Bush appointed him Director of the Voice of America, the overseas broadcasting arm of the US government, where he served until the end of the Administration in 1993.

Back in Houston, he was director of public affairs for Compaq Computer Corporation (since merged with Hewlett Packard) and vice president for government affairs and professor of public policy at the University of Texas Health Science Center.

Ambassador Untermeyer is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is currently chairman of the Texas Ethics Commission. He also chairs the advisory board of The Soufan Group, which provides strategic security intelligence services to governments and multinational organizations.

In previous part-time public service, he has been member and chairman of the Board of Visitors of the US Naval Academy, a commissioner of the Port of Houston, president of the Houston READ Commission, a member of the board of National Public Radio, member of the Defense Health Board, a founding member of the board of the Episcopal Health Foundation, and chairman of the Texas State Board of Education, appointed by then-Governor George W. Bush.

He is married to the former Diana Cumming Kendrick of Sheridan, Wyoming, whom he met when they were both on the White House staff. Their daughter, Elly, is a student at Stanford University.

Texas A&M University Press has published three volumes of Ambassador Untermeyer’s memoirs of the Reagan and first Bush administrations: When Things Went Right (2013), Inside Reagan’s Navy (2015), and Zenith (2016). Bright Sky Press has published his How Important People Act: Behaving Yourself in Public (2015).

Upon his return to the U.S. in 1971, Wright began his writing career at the Race Relations Reporter in Nashville, Tennessee. Two years later, he went to work for Southern Voices, a publication of the Southern Regional Council in Atlanta, Georgia, and began to freelance for various national magazines. In 1980, Wright returned to Texas to work for Texas Monthly. He also became a contributing editor to Rolling Stone. In December 1992, he joined the staff of The New Yorker, where he has published a number of prize-winning articles, including two National Magazine Awards.

Wright is the co-writer (with director Ed Zwick and Menno Meyjes) of The Siege, starring Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, and Annette Bening, which appeared in November 1998. He also wrote the script of the Showtime movie, Noriega: God’s Favorite, directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Bob Hoskins, which aired in April 2000.

Wright is the author of one novel, God’s Favorite (Simon & Schuster, 2000) and eight nonfiction books, including City Children, Country Summer (Scribner’s, 1979), In the New World: Growing Up with America, 1960-1984 (Knopf, 1988), Saints & Sinners (Knopf, 1993),Remembering Satan (Knopf, 1994), and Twins; Genes, Environment, and the Mystery of Identity(Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1997). The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Knopf, 2006), was published to immediate and widespread acclaim, spending eight weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and being translated into twenty-five languages. It won the Lionel Gelber Award for Nonfiction, the Los Angeles Times Award for History, the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, the New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Time Magazine pronounced it one of the 100 best nonfiction books ever written. Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief (Knopf, 2013), also a New York Times bestseller, was nominated for the National Book Award and won the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. His most recent book, Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David, was published in the fall of 2014, and was named by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the top ten books of the year.

In 2006, Wright premiered his one-man play, “My Trip to Al-Qaeda,” at The New Yorker Festival, and then enjoyed a sold-out six-week run at the Culture Project in Soho. It was made into a documentary film, directed by Academy Award-winner Alex Gibney, which appeared on HBO in the fall of 2010. Wright also wrote and performed another one-man show, “The Human Scale,” concerning the standoff between Israel and Hamas over the abduction of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. The Public Theater produced the play, which ran for a month off-Broadway in 2010 before moving to the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv.

In the spring of 2013, the Berkeley Repertory Theater produced Wright’s play about Oriana Fallaci, “Fallaci,” directed by Oskar Eustis. A year later, the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., premiered Wright’s acclaimed play “Camp David,” about the Carter-Begin-Sadat summit.

Wright co-produced a documentary based on his book, Going Clear, which was released in 2015 and won three Emmys: for writing, directing, and best documentary.

Wright is currently writing a series for HBO set in the world of Texas politics, God Save Texas. Wright is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Society of American Historians. He also serves as the keyboard player in the Austin-based blues band, WhoDo.

His responsibilities also included: North America and Oceania, international organizations and conferences, arms control, protocol, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan- related foreign affairs.

He began his career as an interpreter at the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management at the UN Headquarters in 1981. Ambassador He was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province in March 1955, educated at the Hangzhou University as well as the Beijing Foreign Studies University in China and holds a Master from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.