National Security: Can Washington Make it Work?

SPEAKER BIOS

Michael Sheehan is a Distinguished Fellow at the Center on Law and Security, security consultant, and author of the recently published Crush the Cell (Crown, 2008). He has had a distinguished and uniquely varied career in public service for over 30 years. He is best known for his work in counterterrorism, peacekeeping and laws enforcement operations. Sheehan was the Deputy Commissioner of Counterterrorism at the NYPD from 2003 to 2006. Prior to this he was the Assistant Secretary General in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the UN , where he was responsible for mission support to UN military and police peacekeeping forces around the world. In the late 1990s, Sheehan served as the Ambassador at Large for Counterterrorism and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of International Organizations. Sheehan served at the White House under three National Security Advisors and two Presidents (George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton). Sheehan is a retired LTC of the U.S. Army Special Forces and was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge among other decorations for his service in the Army. He holds a B.S. from the United States Military Academy at West Point and M.A. from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

James P. Rubin served under President Clinton as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, Chief Spokesman for the State Department and senior policy adviser to Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright from 1997 to May 2000. He conducted daily on-camera briefings for the State Department press corps and represented the administration in print, radio, and television interviews regarding U.S. diplomatic, foreign economic and national security policies during this time. After leaving Government in 2000, Mr. Rubin was appointed as a Visiting Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics from 2001-2004, where he taught on US Foreign Policy. During 2002 and 2003 he also hosted the PBS series Wide Angle, a primetime, weekly international affairs program. During the 2004 Presidential general election, Mr. Rubin served as Senior Foreign Policy Adviser to Senator John Kerry. Between October 2005 and July 2006, Mr. Rubin anchored World News Tonight on SKY News UK, serving as host of the show, interviewing guests and offering analysis and commentary. Through 2006 and 2007 he was a World Affairs Commentator and presenter of special programs on international news for SKY.

Mr. Rubin received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science (1982) and a Masters in International Affairs (1984) from Columbia University. In 1998, Mr. Rubin was the recipient of Columbia University’s John Jay Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement. In 2000, he received the State Department’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Rubin is Vice Chairman of the Atlantic Partnership, serves on the boards of Columbia University’s School of International Affairs and the International Rescue Committee UK, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

David Rothkopf is the internationally acclaimed author of Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They are Making (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, March 2008), now available in over two dozen editions worldwide, and Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power (PublicAffairs, 2005), hailed by The New York Times as “the definitive history of the National Security Council.” His next book, on the tug of war between public and private power worldwide and its consequences, is due out from Farrar Straus & Giroux late this year.

Rothkopf is President and CEO of Garten Rothkopf, an international advisory firm specializing in transformational trends especially those associated with energy choice and climate change, emerging markets and global risk. He is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where he chairs the Carnegie Economic Strategy Roundtable. He was formerly chief executive of Intellibridge Corporation, managing director of Kissinger Associates and U.S. Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Policy.

Rothkopf has also taught international affairs and national security studies at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, has lectured widely and is the author of over 150 articles for leading publications worldwide.

Moderator

Zoë Baird is president of the Markle Foundation, a private philanthropy that focuses on using information and communications technologies to address critical public needs, particularly in the areas of health care and national security.

Ms. Baird’s career spans business, government, and academia. She has been senior vice president and general counsel of Aetna, Inc., a senior visiting scholar at Yale Law School, counselor and staff executive at General Electric, and a partner in the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers. She was associate general counsel to President Jimmy Carter and an attorney in the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice. She served on President Clinton’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 1993 – 2001 and on the International Competition Policy Advisory Committee to the Attorney General. Ms. Baird served on the Technology & Privacy Advisory Committee to the Secretary of Defense in 2003-2004 and Co-Chairs with Jim Barksdale the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age. She participates in the Steering Committee of Markle’s Connecting for Health initiative, and is on a number of non-profit and corporate boards, including the Chubb Corporation, Boston Properties, and the Brookings Institution.