William J. Parker III
Dr. William J. Parker III is the Chief Operating Officer at the EastWest Institute. He is a retired U.S. Navy surface warfare officer who has commanded three war ships and Destroyer Squadron Two Three. Dr. Parker is a 1988 distinguished military graduate and class president of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He is an award winning author who holds a PhD in biological defense from George Mason University’s department of molecular and microbiology and an MA from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Parker is the Navy’s 2009 recipient of the James Stockdale Award for Inspirational Leadership. He has served in various joint and navy staff strategic planning positions, and spent nearly two years on the ground in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, as the senior military advisor to the secretary of state for Iraq affairs and as the senior advisor to the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan. He was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Janine Davidson
Dr. Janine Davidson is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. She was appointed as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for plans in April 2009, where she oversaw the development of guidance for military campaign and contingency plans and the processes for review and assessment of plans. She was responsible for the U.S. global defense posture and international agreements related to U.S. forces stationed overseas, as well as the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s (OSD) role in global force management. Dr. Davidson previously served as an assistant professor in the School of Public Policy; and the Brookings Institution, where she was a non-resident fellow for the Twenty-First Century Defense Initiative. Dr. Davidson’s experience spans the fields of strategy, mobility, stabilization operations, reconstruction, counterinsurgency, and interagency coordination. Dr. Davidson served in the United States Air Force as an aircraft commander and senior pilot for the C-130 and the C-17 cargo aircraft. She conducted combat support and humanitarian air mobility missions worldwide. Dr. Davidson holds a PhD and a Master of Arts degree in international studies from the University of South Carolina and a BS in architectural engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is a member of the Executive Board for Women in International Studies and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Robert S. Spalding III
Robert S. Spalding III, U.S. Air Force, was most recently vice commander of the 509th Bomb Wing based at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, where he was responsible for preparing and maintaining the United States’ only B-2 wing. He also commanded the 509th Operations Group, where he launched B-2s to protect civilians during Operation Odyssey Dawn. His previous tours include military assistant to the deputy assistant secretary of defense for POW/missing personnel affairs, where he led a search team to China. During the surge, Colonel Spalding deployed and led security for the top five leaders in Iraq. He received his BS and MS from Fresno State, his PhD from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and speaks Chinese-Mandarin as well as Spanish.
Scott D. Campbell
Scott D. Campbell, U.S. Marine Corps, most recently commanded the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit composed of twenty-four hundred marines and sailors, and included thirty-one fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft, which recently completed an eight-month deployment to the CENTCOM area of operations. Colonel Campbell also commanded 2d Force Reconnaissance Company and 2d Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company as well as a joint task force in the Republic of Georgia. His previous tours include a tour in the special operations community, division lead for counterterrorism operations at U.S. Africa Command, executive officer for both Second Reconnaissance Battalion and 2d Battalion 6th Marines, and command of both a reconnaissance company and light armor infantry company. He has completed multiple combat deployments and is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and the Naval War College.
Charles L. Cashin III
Charles L. Cashin III, U. S. Coast Guard, most recently commanded Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) home-ported in Alameda, California, where he was responsible for the commissioning and employment of the service’s newest national security cutter. Operating across the globe, he has served with the U.S. Department of Defense, the interagency, and numerous international partners performing all Coast Guard missions with a focus toward counterterrorism, law enforcement, homeland security, national defense, and search and rescue. Prior to Stratton, Captain Cashin served as Vice President Biden’s special advisor for counterterrorism and homeland security, director of the Coast Guard’s National Command Center, and various other assignments afloat and ashore. He is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, the U.S. Naval War College, and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Patrick J. Mahaney Jr.
Patrick J. Mahaney Jr., U.S. Army, most recently commanded the Asymmetric Warfare Group based at Fort Meade, Maryland, where he was responsible for global support in countering asymmetric and irregular threats. He also commanded a special forces battalion and a special operations task force in Operation Enduring Freedom. His previous assignments include service in the 7th Special Forces Group, Joint Special Operations Command, the Special Warfare Center and School, the Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command-Afghanistan, and a range of other combat and operational assignments. Colonel Mahaney is a graduate of New York University, Columbia University, and the Army War College’s fellows program at Italy’s Institute for High Defense Studies.
Charles E. Berger
Charles E. Berger is currently assigned as the assistant special agent–in-charge at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the New York field office. He has spent most of his fifteen years in the FBI in counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and foreign intelligence. In 2004, Mr. Berger was awarded the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service for his role in dismantling an Iraqi Intelligence Service network in the United States. Mr. Berger was formerly the national intelligence fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Berger is a former F-14 Tomcat Naval flight officer and served in the Office of Naval Intelligence. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, the University of Maryland University College, and the U.S. Naval War College.
Shawn W. Lonergan
Shawn W. Lonergan is a U.S. Army intelligence officer and currently an instructor in the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Additionally, he is PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University, where he researches state interaction in cyberspace, Internet governance, cybersecurity, and cyber ethics. Before enrolling at Columbia, he worked in cyber operations for the U.S. government while assigned to the National Security Agency. Following a fifteen-month deployment to Iraq in 2008, he was recruited to help the U.S. Army stand up its first provisional cyber battalion. In this capacity, he commanded two of the unit’s expeditionary cyber operations companies. Major Lonergan holds a master’s degree from Columbia and graduated from West Point in 2005. In 2012 he was the recipient of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command’s MacArthur Leadership Award, given annually to a single officer for superb leadership, and the following year he won the Atlantic Council’s Cyber 9/12 national collegiate competition.
Jesse S. Sloman
Jesse Sloman is a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations and a captain in the Marine Corps Reserve. While an undergraduate at Tufts University, he served as co-chair of a student group dedicated to improving civil-military relations by participating in joint academic programming with the military service academies. From 2009 to 2013, Jesse served on active duty as an intelligence officer based in Okinawa, Japan. He participated in numerous regional security cooperation exercises in East Asia, including Ulchi Freedom Guardian, Key Resolve, Terminal Fury, and Ssang Yong. During 2011 he led a counterintelligence team attached to Joint Special Operations Task Force–Philippines in Southern Mindanao. He is the recipient of the 2012 Major General Michael E. Ennis Award for Literary Excellence and a member of Truman National Security Project’s Defense Council.
Maryellen Meymarian
Maryellen Meymarian is an attorney specializing in immigration and nationality law. She is a former associate legal advisor and assistant chief counsel for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Service (ICE). She also served as an assistant district attorney for the New York County District Attorney’s Office. Ms. Meymarian has taught criminal, immigration and national security law in both the university and government environments. She is admitted to the Bar in several jurisdictions, including the Supreme Court of the United States. She received a J.D. with honors from The Catholic University of America and a B.A. in government and politics and a M.S. in biodefense, counter-terrorism, and law enforcement from George Mason University. Ms. Meymarian is also board certified in security management by ASIS International as a certified protection professional (CPPTM).