Military / Defense Speakers

Tom Ricks

Seasoned by reporting on global military conflict for decades, Washington Post Pentagon Correspondent Ricks spent five tours of duty in Iraq to get to the nitty gritty in his New York Times bestseller Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. Ricks has also been recognized as a Pulitzer Prize winner ...

Jeffrey Baxter

Grammy Award-winning rock guitarist with the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan, Baxter is now an advising member of Congress, the defense industry, and the military. Baxter teaches audiences what he has taught leading Pentagon and government officials - challenging old assumptions and adapting to change.

Rye Barcott

The founder of an NGO & a former Marine, Rye Barcott has the distinction of being both a warrior & a peacemaker, a juxtaposition he explores in It Happened on the Way to War, a memoir.

Bing West

A correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, Bing West previously served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs where he was responsible for defense policy around the globe during the Reagan administration. He is an expert on the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as defense, ...

Javier Solana

Former Secretary General of NATO and High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU, Solana began his career as a political minister in Spain and has since earned a reputation for being a successful and diplomatic negotiator. He recently joined ESADE Business School as president of its new Centre for ...

Richard Carmona

As the 17th Surgeon General, Dr. Carmona developed comprehensive knowledge of the environmental influences on healthy living today. He offers a close look at the epidemic of asthma in young children as well as other issues directly related to the state of our environment and how we can work towards not only a healthy body, ...

David Eisenhower

Grandson of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, David is an esteemed political scientist and historian with great insight into American history and the leaders who have shaped it. He is also author of "Eisenhower: At War".

George P. Bush

The eldest son of former Florida governor Jeb Bush, George P. Bush is a practicing lawyer who started his own private equity fund. Bush is the co-founder of Hispanic Republicans of Texas, which works to recruit, elect, support, and defend Hispanic Republican officeholders and political candidates.

Bob Simon

As one of the most honored journalists in international reporting, Bob Simon has chronicled the most important events of the past 30 years for CBS News. The network's chief Middle East correspondent since 1987, he has been a regular contributor to 60 Minutes for over 15 years.

George Packer

George Packer is a novelist and columnist for the New Yorker . He has written Blood of the Liberals and The Assassins Gate, an in depth look at the war in Iraq through the eyes of ordinary Iraqi citizens. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Harper's and The Nation.

Robert D. Kaplan

Robert D. Kaplan is the author of Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power, to be published by Random House in October 2010, a senior fellow at the Center for New American Security in Washington, DC, and a national correspondent for The Atlantic. From 2006 to 2008, he was the Class of 1960 ...

Andrew Carroll

Carroll is The New York Times best-selling editor of War Letters, Behind the Lines, and Grace Under Fire, collections compiling personal letters from wartime. Presenting some of the most intimate accounts from the frontlines, these books have offered a glimpse into the depths of the human heart, ...

Shoshana Johnson

The first African American POW, Johnson was held hostage for 22 days in Iraq, and survived her captivity despite enduring bullet wounds in both of her ankles. Her heroic story is chronicled with vivid honesty in her acclaimed book, I'm Still Standing: From Captive US Soldier to Free Citizen - My Journey Home.

Matthew Bogdanos

His resume would put Indiana Jones to shame. An officer on the Marines, former middleweight boxer, and holder of degrees in law and the classics, the 47-year-old New Yorker handled the case against Sean "Puffy" Combs as a prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.'s office. Recalled to active duty after September 11, the reservist ...

Josh Rushing

Rushing has gone from US Marine Corps Captain conducting daily press briefings in Iraq to celebrated military correspondent and analyst for Al Jazeera English to author of Mission Al Jazeera: Build a Bridge, Seek the Truth, Change the World. He delivers news from a unique prism of experience, providing accurate and ...

Peter Singer

Peter Warren Singer is Senior Fellow and Director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution. He is the youngest scholar named Senior Fellow in Brookings' 90-year history. In 2005, CNN named him to their "New Guard" List of the Next Generation of Newsmakers. Singer has also been recognized by the ...

Robert Dole

Recognized as one of the most prominent political figures of our time, Senator Dole is Chairman of the World War II Memorial Campaign, counsel to one of DC's top law firms, author of two best-selling books on political humor, a frequent guest on the late night talk show circuit and political commentator for The Daily ...

Gail Harris

Retiring as the highest-ranking African American female in the US Navy, Captain Harris' success tools are in demand everywhere. Having earned her stripes in the pressure-cooker of the intelligence community, her pursuit of excellence in performance, through hard work fired by courage and persistence, sets the stage for a ...

Vernice "FlyGirl" Armour

Her list of accomplishments are long and varied, but her true passion in life is community outreach and being a positive role model for youth. Excelling in a wide variety of areas, including academics and athletics, she has become the first African American female pilot in the Marine Corps and first African American female ...

Winston Groom

Groom took the publishing world by storm when his 1986 novel Forrest Gump flew to the top of The New York Times bestseller list and stayed there for 21 weeks. It has sold over 2.5 million copies in the United States alone on the heels of its blockbuster movie adaptation starring Tom Hanks. The book has also ...