William Perry – Co-Chairman
William Perry is the Michael and Barbara Berberian Professor at Stanford University, with a joint appointment at the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies and the School of Engineering. He is also the co-director of the Preventive Defense Project. Perry is an expert in international security, particularly in the area of arms control. He served as the secretary of defense for President Clinton from February 1994 to January 1997. Perry previously served as deputy secretary of defense from 1993 to 1994 and as under secretary of defense for research and engineering from 1977 to 1981. In 1997, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.

Stephen J. Hadley – Co-Chairman
Stephen J. Hadley was the National Security Adviser from January 2005 until January 2009 and the assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser from January 2001 until January 2005. From 1993 to 2001, Hadley was both a partner in the Washington D.C. law firm of Shea and Gardner and a principal in The Scowcroft Group. From 1989 to 1993, Hadley served as the assistant secretary of defense for international security policy under then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. He represented the Defense Department on arms control matters, including negotiations with the Soviet Union and then Russia, on matters involving NATO and Western Europe, on ballistic missile defense, and on export and technology control matters.

Richard Armitage
Richard L. Armitage is currently the President of Armitage International. Previously, Armitage served as Deputy Secretary of State from March 2001 until February 2005. From May 1993 until March 2001, he served as President of Armitage Associates L.C. Between 1989 through 1992, he filled key diplomatic positions as Presidential Special Negotiator for the Philippines Military Bases Agreement and Special Mediator for Water in the Middle East. From June 1983 to May 1989, Armitage served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and from 1981 until June 1983 he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and Pacific Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

J.D. Crouch
J.D. Crouch is currently the President of Technology Solutions Group at QinetiQ North America. Previously, Crouch served as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor from 2005 until 2007 and as the U.S. Ambassador to Romania from 2003 to 2004. Prior to this, Crouch served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy from August 2001 until October 2003. He was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense on the formulation and coordination of policy for NATO, Europe, Russia, the Central Asian Republics, the Caucasus and the Balkans, nuclear forces, missile defense, technology security policy, counterproliferation, and arms control.

Charles Curtis
Charles Curtis is a Senior Adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies and President Emeritus of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Curtis is a lawyer with over 15 years practice experience and more than 18 years in government service. He has been an executive for nonprofit organizations for the last ten years. Curtis served as Under Secretary and, later, Deputy Secretary of Energy from February 1994 to May 1997. He was the chief operating officer of the Department and, among other duties, had direct programmatic responsibility for all Department science, technology and national security programs. He was the Department’s designated member of the Nuclear Weapons Council throughout his tenure.

Rudy deLeon
Rudy deLeon is the Senior Vice President of National Security and International Policy at American Progress in Washington, D.C. deLeon is a former senior U.S. Department of Defense official, staff director on Capitol Hill, and retired corporate executive. deLeon’s government career concluded in 2001 after his tenure as deputy secretary of defense, where he was a member of the Deputies Committee of the National Security Council and the National Partnership Council. In earlier Pentagon assignments, deLeon served as undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness from 1997 to 2000, and as undersecretary of the Air Force from 1994 to 1997.

Joan Dempsey
Joan Dempsey is a senior Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton where she leads the firm’s intelligence business in Central Maryland. During her 25 years in the federal government, Dempsey served as the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence for Community Management during the Clinton Administration and as the Executive Director of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board in the Bush Administration. Dempsey also spent 17 years as a senior civilian in the Department of Defense as Deputy Director of Intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency, as Director of the General Defense Intelligence Program, and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.

Eric Edelman
Eric Edelman is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He retired as a Career Minister from the U.S. Foreign Service on May 1, 2009. Edelman has served in senior positions at the Departments of State and Defense as well as the White House. Edelman served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy between August 2005 and January 2009 and oversaw the department’s strategy development. Edelman served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republics of Finland and Turkey in the Clinton and Bush Administrations and was Principal Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs.

Sherri Goodman
Sherri Goodman is Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of CNA. From 1993 to 2001, Goodman served as Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Environmental Security). She served on the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee for Committee Chairman Senator Sam Nunn. She has practiced law at Goodwin Procter and has worked at RAND and SAIC. She has been an Adjunct Lecturer in International Affairs and Security at the Kennedy School of Government and was an Adjunct Research Fellow at the School’s Center for Science and International Affairs. Goodman twice received the DoD medal for Distinguished Public Service, the Gold Medal from the National Defense Industrial Association, and the EPA’s Climate Change Award.

David Jeremiah
Prior to leaving the armed forces in February 1994, David E. Jeremiah served four years as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Generals Powell and Shalikashvili and in that capacity served as a member of the Deputies Committee of the National Security Council. Previously, he was Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, commanded a three carrier task force in combat operations off Libya, directed the capture of the Achille Lauro hijackers and commanded a battle group, destroyer squadron and guided missile destroyer. Jeremiah earned a number of awards, including the Presidential Citizens Awards for service during the first Gulf War, the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, and five Navy Distinguished Service Medals.

George Joulwan
George A. Joulwan retired from the Army in 1997 after having served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) for four years. While in the Army, Joulwan served as the Commander-in-Chief for the United States European Command and held a variety of command and staff positions during two combat tours in Vietnam, two tours in Washington, D.C, and five tours in Europe. Prior to his appointment as Commander-in-Chief for U.S. European Command, Joulwan served as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Southern Command (Panama) until October 1993. From 1988 until 1990, he commanded the 3 rd Armored Division and V Corps during the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Iron Curtain.

John Keane
John Keane is a senior partner at SCP Partners and is president of GSI, LLC. He is a director of several public corporations and an advisor or board member to numerous non-profit organizations, foundations and charities. Keane is also a member of the Secretary of Defense's Policy Board. 


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. He played a key role in recommending the surge strategy in Iraq. Still active in national security, Keane continues to advise senior government officials on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and on national security in general.

Richard Kohn
Richard Kohn is currently Professor of History and Adjunct Professor of Peace, War, and Defense at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. He has served on the faculties of the City College of New York, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, and the Army and National War Colleges. From 1981 to 1991, he was Chief of Air Force History and Chief Historian of the USAF. Kohn has been a two-term president of the Society for Military History (1989-1993), served on the Advisory Board of the US Air Force's Gulf War Air Power Survey and the Air University Board of Visitors, and was a member of the National Security Study Group (the Hart-Rudman Commission).

John Lehman
John Lehman, Jr. is a founding partner and chairman of J.F. Lehman & Company. Before forming the firm, Lehman spent three years as a Managing Director in Corporate Finance at PaineWebber, Inc. From 1981 to 1987, Lehman served as Secretary of the United States Navy. Prior to serving as Secretary of the Navy, Lehman was President of the aerospace consulting firm Abington Corporation and served as a delegate to the Mutual Balanced Force Reductions negotiations. Lehman has served as staff member to Dr. Henry Kissinger on the National Security Council and as Deputy Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. He is a member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission).

Alice Maroni
Alice Maroni is the Chief Financial Officer of the Smithsonian Institution, a position she has held since November 2000. Maroni came to the Smithsonian from the Department of Defense, where she served as the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) since 1993. She twice served as the acting Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) prior to the appointment of the Department of Defense Comptroller. In all, Maroni has more than 30 years of experience in budgeting and public and non-profit finance. She was the 2001 recipient of the Distinguished Federal Leadership Award, a three-time recipient of the DOD Distinguished Public Service Award, and a recipient of the Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award.

John Nagl
John Nagl is the President of the Center for a New American Security, a member of the Defense Policy Board, a Visiting Professor in the War Studies Department at Kings College of London, and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Nagl’s last military assignment was as commander of the 1st Battalion, 34th Armor at Fort Riley, Kansas, training Transition Teams that embed with Iraqi and Afghan units. He led a tank platoon in Operation Desert Storm and served as the operations officer of a tank battalion task force in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was awarded the Combat Action Badge by General James Mattis of the United States Marine Corps.

Robert Scales
Robert Scales is currently President of Colgen, LP, a consulting firm specializing in issues relating to landpower, wargaming and strategic leadership. Prior to joining the private sector, Scales served over thirty years in the Army, retiring as a Major General. He commanded two units in Vietnam, winning the Silver Star for action during the battles around Dong Ap Bia (Hamburger Hill) during the summer of 1969. Subsequently, he served in command and staff positions in the United States, Germany, and Korea and ended his military career as Commandant of the United States Army War College. In 1995 he created the Army After Next program, which was the Army’s first attempt to build a strategic game and operational concept for future land warfare.

James Talent
James Talent is a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, where he specializes in military readiness and welfare reform issues. Talent also recently served as the vice-chairman of the WMD Commission. As a senator, Talent introduced the Compassion and Personal Responsibility Act of 2003 to build on the success of the 1996 welfare reform package. Talent also was Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business and served as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and chaired the Sea Power Subcommittee for four years. While serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, Talent served on the House Armed Services Committee. In 1993, he formed a special congressional panel in the U.S. House of Representatives to address the decline in the readiness of the armed forces.

Paul Van Riper
Paul Van Riper retired from the United States Marine Corps on 1 October 1997 after more than 41 years of commissioned and enlisted service. In those years, he served in a variety of command and staff billets at posts and stations around the world. Van Riper was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star Medal with gold star in lieu of a second award, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V,” Purple Heart, and the Meritorious Service Medal, among others. Van Riper continues to participate in an array of defense and security related war games, seminars and conferences, both in the United States and overseas, and he lectures frequently at military colleges. He also consults on national security issues for several U.S. Government organizations and agencies as well as commercial firms.

Larry Welch
Larry Welch most recently served as the President and CEO of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) from September 2006 until late 2008. Previously, Welch served as a senior fellow at IDA after serving as its President and CEO for a decade beginning after his retirement from the U.S. Air Force in 1990. He is the former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force and was responsible for organizing, equipping, and executive direction of the U.S. Air Force. He was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and served as military advisor to the Secretary of Defense and the President of the U.S. on national security matters. Welch is also a Director of the Aerospace Education Foundation, the Air Force Academy Foundation, the Sandia National Laboratory, and the CACI International Corporation.