John Laudun is on the faculty at the University of Louisiana, where his research focuses on computational models of discourse, especially narratives, and how they cascade through socio-cultural networks both online and off. His work has appeared in a variety of academic journals and edited volumes, and he has been cited or interviewed in newspapers and documentaries. He has been a Jacob K. Javits Fellow, a MacArthur Scholar, and a senior researcher at UCLA’s Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics.

US Air Force Brigadier General (ret) Rob Spalding is the former White House National Security Council senior director for strategic planning and served in senior positions of strategy and diplomacy within the Defense and State Departments

for more than 26 years. Rob is the founder and CEO of SEMPRE, the only technology company created to protect and secure our most critical resource: data.

Zachary is a Policy Fellow at the Schar School of Policy and Government, a Fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies, a Research Affiliate with the Unconventional Weapons and Technology Division of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), an officially proclaimed U.S. Army "Mad Scientist," and Senior Consultant at ABS Group.

He has published over 50 articles on autonomous weapons, weapons of mass destruction, and apocalyptic terrorism in a wide range of peer-reviewed, wonky, and popular outlets, including the Brookings Institution, Foreign Policy, Slate, Terrorism and Political Violence, and Parameters. Journalists have written about and shared that research in the New York Times, NPR, Forbes, the New Scientist, WIRED, and the BBC, among dozens of others in dozens of languages.

Mark Peters is the Executive Vice President for National Laboratory Management and Operations at Battelle Memorial Institute with responsibilities for governance and oversight of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security national laboratories for which Battelle has a significant lab management role. Previously, he was the director of Idaho National Laboratory and president of Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC.

Rebekah Koffler is a Russian-born, former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officer and specialist in Putin and Russian Doctrine & Strategy. She is also a communism survivor. Working with the DIA and CIA’s National Clandestine Service, Rebekah has led “red” teams during wargames and briefed the Pentagon, the White House, and NATO on Russian Doctrine & Strategy. U.S. military commanders have called her a “national asset,” and she received the National Intelligence Professional Award. As a top intelligence officer on the Russia target, Ms. Koffler has delivered classified briefings to top U.S. military commanders, NATO ministers, the directors of the CIA and DIA, the National Security Council, and senior congressional staff. Rebekah’s new book, Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America, describes Moscow’s strategic ambitions, including the Kremlin’s master plan to reconstitute a USSR-like alliance and also to transform the United States, through ideological subversion, from a free capitalist society into a totalitarian socialist state.

Since leaving Congress after 26 years, which included service as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Mac continues to work at the intersection of technology and national security with various companies and organizations.

Mac led in creating the National Nuclear Security Administration to improve management of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex; establishing the Department of Homeland Security (introducing a bill to do so six months before the attacks of 9/11); preparing the military to defend the nation in new domains of warfare such as space and cyber; and improving DOD’s innovation and acquisition efforts.

In addition to serving on the House Armed Services Committee throughout his time in Congress, Mac also served on the House Intelligence Committee for 14 years. He has written widely on defense matters and appeared on all major television channels providing insight on national security-related issues.

Curtis McGiffin is currently a Visiting Professor with the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University where he teaches graduate and doctorate courses on deterrence and grand strategy. Previously, he was the Associate Dean of the School of Strategic Force Studies at the Air Force Institute of Technology, where he led a robust portfolio of USAF professional continuing education programs supporting the AF nuclear enterprise. He also has ~27 years of experience in the USAF as an aviator, commander, staff officer, and educator, most of which was supporting the USAF’s nuclear enterprise

Dr. Christopher Yeaw is the Associate Executive Director for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Programs at the National Strategic Research Institute, U.S. Strategic Command’s University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). An integral component of the University of Nebraska, NSRI leads and leverages collaborative efforts with other academic institutions, National laboratories, FFRDCs, UARCs, and non-profit organizations. NSRI’s responsively and enduringly supports the US government in successfully executing the strategic deterrence, nuclear and counter WMD missions with world class research and analysis. The Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Programs Department leads thought and collaborates across the entire range of strategic and nuclear issues: deterrence policy, threat analysis, weapon design, strategic materials, NC3, wargaming, nonproliferation, counter-terrorism, and education.

Dr. Jonathan Trexel is a faculty member with Missouri State University’s Defense and Strategic Studies graduate program. He teaches on the topics of nuclear strategy, nuclear deterrence, deterrence theory, and arms control. He also consults as a contractor for the US Department of Defense on nuclear deterrence and related topics, a position he has held for over 20 years. Dr. Trexel is a military veteran having served over 21 years in the U.S. Air Force as an enlisted all-source intelligence analyst. He holds a Master's Degree in Strategic Intelligence from the Defense Intelligence Agency and a PhD in political science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln specializing in international relations.

David Craig is Editor, Real Clear Defense at Real Clear Politics. He was a U.S. Marine for 20 years, serving in Operation Desert Fox (Iraq), Operation Iraqi Freedom (2006-2009 three tours), and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan for all of 2011) and became assistant editor of RealClearDefense in 2015 and editor in 2016.

A majority of his time in the Marine Corps was as an intelligence analyst, but also advisor and part of a Battalion Training Team in Fallujah in 2006.

Craig completed his Masters of Science in Strategic Intelligence at the Defense Intelligence College (2010) now the National Intelligence University.