Peter Bergen  is a print and television journalist, documentary producer, think tank executive, and the author of five books, three of which were New York Times bestsellers Bergen is Vice President, Director of the International Security, Future of War, and Fellows programs at New America; Professor of Practice at the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University; CNN’s national security analyst; and a Fellow at the Center on National Security at Fordham Law. Bergen is on the editorial board of Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, a leading scholarly journal in the field, and has testified before multiple congressional committees about Afghanistan, Pakistan, ISIS, al-Qaeda, drones and other national security issues. He is a member of the Homeland Security Project, a successor to the 9/11 Commission, and also of the Aspen Homeland Security Group. He is a contributing editor at Foreign Policy and writes a weekly column for CNN.com. Bergen’s newest book, United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists, was published in February of 2016. Director Greg Barker adapted the book for the HBO film Homegrown: The Counter-Terror Dilemma.

Tricia Bacon is an Assistant Professor at American University’s School of Public Affairs. She earned her PhD in International Relations at Georgetown University. Prior to her employment at American University, Dr. Bacon worked on counterterrorism for over ten years at the Department of State. Her work on counterterrorism in the intelligence community received numerous accolades, and she conducted research and analysis on counterterrorism in South Asia, North Africa, East Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia. 

Ambassador Gerald Feierstein is the director for Gulf affairs and government relations at the Middle East Institiute. He retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in May 2016 after a 41-year career with the personal rank of Career Minister. As a diplomat he served in nine overseas postings, including three tours of duty in Pakistan, as well as assignments in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Lebanon, Jerusalem, and Tunisia. In 2010, President Obama appointed Amb. Feierstein U.S. Ambassador to Yemen, where he served until 2013. 

Assaf Moghadam is Associate Professor and Director of the MA Program in Government at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel.  He is Director of Academic Affairs at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT); a fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point (CTC); an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at Columbia University; and a Research Affiliate at the Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland. He is a Contributing Editor for the journal Studies in Conflict & Terrorism and the Book Review Editor for the journal Democracy & Security. He has authored or edited five books on terrorism and political violence.