Dr. Kurt M. Campbell - Kurt M. Campbell is a Henry A. Kissinger chair, senior vice president, and director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
He is also the director of the Aspen Strategy Group and worked at the Pentagon during the Clinton and first Bush administrations. He lives in Washington, DC.
Robert Kagan - Robert Kagan is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment. He served in the State Department from 1984 to 1988 as a member of the Policy Planning Staff, as principal speechwriter for Secretary of State George P. Shultz, and as deputy for policy in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs.
Robert Kaplan - Robert D. Kaplan is a correspondent for The Atlantic, where he has reported for the magazine from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and the United States. He also serves as a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.
His books include Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground; Imperial Grunts; Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus; The Coming Anarchy: Shattering the Dreams of the Post Cold War; An Empire Wilderness: Travels Into America's Future; The Ends of the Earth; The Arabists: The Romance of an American Elite; and Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History, all of which grew out of Atlantic articles.
He has been writing as a foreign correspondent for more than twenty years.
Adm. Gary Roughead - Admiral Gary Roughead is the 29th chief of Naval Operations. Previously, he served as commandant for the United States Naval Academy, chief of legislative affairs for the Department of the Navy and deputy commander for the US Pacific Command.
He is one of only two officers to have commanded the Fleets in the Pacific and Atlantic, and he was commander of the US Fleet Forces, where he was responsible for ensuring Navy forces were trained, ready, equipped and prepared to operate around the world, where and when needed.
He has received numerous awards, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal and the Legion of Merit.
James Steinberg - James Steinberg is the dean and J.J. "Jake" Pickle Regents Chair in Public Affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.
Previously, he was vice president and director of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution. He served as deputy national security adviser to President Clinton and has also served in the State Department as chief of staff, director of the policy planning staff, and deputy assistant secretary for analysis in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
He is the author of many books and chapters on foreign policy and national security topics, including Protecting the Homeland 2006/2007 and An Ever Closer Union: European Integration and Its Implications for the Future of U.S.-European Relations.
A panel discussion at the 2008 Aspen Ideas Festival featuring Admiral Gary Roughead, Robert Kagan, Jim Steinberg, Robert Kaplan and moderated by Kurt Campbell.
Craig, you come down hard on Israel but from what I know about the country the ruling state is democracy and free markets. What I read about the Middle East in the media is that the state laws coincide, not supercede, religious laws. Their close proximity to Israel mandates Israel to keep them back away by powerful means. Israel needs leverage over the Middle East's fanatical culture. Again, this is what I know about from U.S. media. I'm sure there are rational people living in Iraq and Iran but I am also sure they probably live in fear of discovery.
I've met a few Israeli women who have visited my city. They are extraordinarily beautiful women. There is a sense of joie de vivre in them that I don't get from American women.
Israel not only needs nukes it needs the backing of the U.S. because freedom must be won the world over.
