FORMER UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

Michele Flournoy is a defense policy expert, former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, and a former DASD for Strategy. She co-founded and was CEO of the Center for a New American Security.

28TH NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR

Jake Sullivan is the 28th U.S. National Security Advisor to the President and a former Director of White House Policy. He served as Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of State. A Rhodes Scholar, he earned his law degree from Yale and clerked for Associate Justice Stephen Breyer.

PRESIDENT AAD

Ronald Neumann served as Ambassador three times: Algeria, Bahrain and finally to Afghanistan from 2005-2007. He is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. He earned a Bronze Star in the Army. He currently is president of the American Academy of Diplomacy.

23RD COMMANDANT USCG

Admiral Thad Allen served as the 23rd Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. He directed the federal response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita from 2005-2006. He was the National Incident Commander of the Unified Command for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

USAF 26TH COMMANDE NGB

Craig McKinley USAF served as the 26th Chief of the National Guard Bureau (2008-2012). He also has served as the Commander First Air Force, and he has over 4,000 flight hours, including in F-16s, F-15s and C-130s.

SENIOR ADVISOR DEPT OF STATE

Edward “Ned” Price is an American diplomat, political advisor and former intelligence officer who currently serves as Deputy to the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. He has served as a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State, and he worked for the Central Intelligence Agency from 2006-2017.

FORMER SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER

Wesley Clark is a retired 4-star general in U.S. Army. He graduated as valedictorian of his West Point class and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. He served as Commander of USSOUTHCOM and as the Supreme Allied Command, Europe. In 2019, he founded the non-profit Renew America.

FOMER ISAF COMMANDER

John R. Allen is a retired 4-star general in the U.S. Marine Corps. He is the former Commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A). He has served as the president of the Brookings Institution.

AMBASSADOR

James F. Jeffrey is an American diplomat with the rank of Career Ambassador. He has served as Deputy National Security Advisor, and three times as a U.S. ambassador: Iraq, Turkey, and Albania He served as Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL.

78TH SECRETARY OF THE NAVY

Carlos Del Toro is the 78th Secretary of the Navy. Born in Havana, Cuba, he immigrated to the U.S. with his parents as refugees in 1962. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and went on to command the guided missile destroyer USS Bulkeley (DDG 84).

USAF

Allyson Solomon retired from the National Guard after serving nearly 36 years, the first female and the first African American brigadier general in the Maryland National Guard’s history. Since 2015, she has served as the President of the National Guard Youth Foundation.

FORMER CG SPECIAL OPERATION CENTRAL

Michael Nagata is a retired Army officer who was selected for the Army’s Intelligence Support Activity, an ultra-secret unit conducting SIGINT and HUMINT gathering. He went on to command Special Operations Command Central.

AMBASSADOR

David Shinn is an American diplomat and professor of International Affairs at George Washington University. He served for 37 years in the U.S. Foreign Service throughout Africa and the Levant, and he served as U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso and to Ethiopia.

US ARMY NC

Margaret “Peggy” Wilmoth is a nursing professional and academician, retiring as a major general from the U.S. Army Reserve. She was the first nurse and woman to command a medical brigade. She served as Deputy Surgeon General of the Army Reserve.

WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS

John F. Kirby is currently serving as White House National Security Communications Advisor. He served for almost 30 years in the Navy, first as a Surface Warfare Office and then as a Public Affairs Officer. He has served as Pentagon Press Secretary and spokesperson for the Dept. of State.

AMBASSADOR

Herman “Hank” Cohen is an American diplomat who served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. He was ambassador to Gambia and Senegal and served on the National Security Council staff. He is this year’s ACNSL Book Award Winner for his 2023 book Africa, You Have a Friend in Washington: An American Diplomat’s Adventures South of the Sahara.

US ARMY COMMANDING GENERAL

Paul Eaton is a retired Army officer who served as Commanding General of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team in Iraq. Prior to that, he was the Commanding General of the Army Infantry Center and School at Fort Benning.

AMBASSADOR

Patrick Kennedy is a career Foreign Service Officer whoserved as Under Secretary of State for Management. He also has served as Deputy Director for Management for the Director of National Intelligence. He served as Chief of Staff for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.

SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR DEFENSE POLICY

Jason Israel is a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Defense Policy at the National Security Council. A submarine officer in the U.S. Navy, he attained the rank of Captain. He has served with the U.N. Peacekeeping department and Naval Forces Europe. He is a cyber expert.