Ambassador James Dobbins is a Senior Adviser to the Gulf Policy Working Group and a Senior Fellow and Distinguished Chair in Diplomacy and Security at the RAND Corporation. In 2013-14, he served as the Obama administration’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. From 2002 to 2013, he served as Director of the RAND International Security and Defense Policy Center. He has held State Department and White House posts including Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, Special Assistant to the President for the Western Hemisphere, Special Adviser to the President and Secretary of State for the Balkans, and Ambassador to the European Community. Dobbins has served on numerous crisis management and diplomatic troubleshooting assignments as Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Kosovo, Bosnia, Haiti, and Somalia for the administrations of Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.

General James L. Jones, Jr., USMC (Ret.) is the Chairman of the Scowcroft Center on International Security. As the former commander of US European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, he led all military operations for NATO and later, as National Security Advisor, he brought clear vision and steady leadership to America’s mission in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and the country’s interests around the world. Jones graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and was commissioned into the Marine Corps in January 1967. He served in Vietnam, serving as rifle platoon and company commander. On returning to the US, he pursued a career in the Marines, attending the Amphibious Warfare School in 1973 and the National War College in 1985, and serving as Marine Corps Liaison Officer to the US Senate. He was also Commanding Officer of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Northern Iraq and Turkey on Operation Provide Comfort; Chief of Staff, Joint Task Force Provide Promise, for operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia; and Commanding General, 2nd Marine Division, Marine Forces Atlantic. He also served as Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense from 1997 to 1999. He became the 32nd Commandant of the United States Marine Corps in July 1999. During his NATO assignment from 2003 to 2006, he advocated energy security and the defense of critical infrastructures as a core part of NATO’s future missions. Upon retirement in February 2007, the combat veteran became the President and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy and, in 2008, served as the State Department’s Special Envoy for Middle East Regional Security. From 2009 until 2010, he served as President Obama’s National Security Advisor at the White House.

Frances Fragos Townsend is an Executive Vice President for Worldwide Government, Legal, and Business Affairs at MacAndrews and Forbes Incorporated. Prior to that, she was a Corporate Partner with the law firm Baker Botts, LLP. From 2004 to 2008, Townsend served as Assistant to President George W. Bush for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and chaired the Homeland Security Council. She also served as Deputy National Security Advisor for Combatting Terrorism from May 2003 to May 2004. Townsend spent thirteen years at the US Department of Justice under the administrations of President George H.W. Bush, President Bill Clinton, and President George W. Bush. Townsend is a Director on the board of three public companies (NYSE: FCX, NYSE: WU, NASDAQ: SGMS). She also serves on three private company boards, where she chairs all three compensation committees and is the Chairwoman of one Board. For seven years, Townsend was an on air national security analyst for CNN. Townsend graduated cum laude from American University, where she received a BA in political science and a BS in psychology. After accelerated study, Townsend received her law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.