World at Risk: WMDs and the Spectre of Future Terror

Senator Bob Graham is the former two–term governor of Florida and served for 18 years in the United States Senate. This is combined with 12 years in the Florida legislature for a total of 38 years of public service. As Governor and Senator, Bob Graham was a centrist, committed to bringing his colleagues together behind programs that served the broadest public interest. He was recognized by the people of Florida when he received an 83% approval ranking as he concluded eight years as Governor. Bob Graham retired from public service in January 2005, following his Presidential campaign in 2004.

Bob Graham is recognized for his leadership on issues ranging from healthcare and environmental preservation to his ten years of service on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence — including eighteen months as chairman in 2001–2002. Following the release of the Joint Inquiry’s final report in July 2003, Senator Graham steadfastly advocated reform of the intelligence community and sponsored legislation to bring about needed changes. In the fall of 2004 Senator Graham authored “Intelligence Matters” based upon his experiences gleaned during the joint inquiry and his analysis of the run up to the Iraq war.

After retiring from public life, Senator Graham served for a year as a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government where he lectured to undergraduate, graduate and executive management students. His primary focus was on civic education and intelligence. These issues continue to be of great importance to Senator Graham. He is currently researching and writing a book about civic participation, tentatively entitled “What Citizens Need to Know to Make Democracy Respond;” “Intelligence Matters” will be published as a paperback with updating in the fall of 2008.

Senator Graham has also been a regular contributor to National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, a frequent guest on CNN, Fox and MSNBC news, and has written opinion editorials for newspapers. Since retirement, his commentaries have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Financial Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Charlotte Observer, Washington Times, Miami Herald, Orlando Sentinel, St. Petersburg Times, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Sarasota Herald Tribune, Gainesville Sun, Palm Beach Post, Tallahassee Democrat and the Tampa Tribune.

Senator Graham serves as the chair of the Board of Overseers of the Graham Center for Public Service. This Center, with a home at the University of Florida and the University of Miami, commenced programs in the fall of 2007 in the areas of Public Service, Homeland Security, and The Americas, subjects in which he has been deeply involved during his public career.

To her current position as Principal, Olivet Consulting, LLC, Robin Cleveland brings her clients three decades of extensive legislative, management, budget and policy experience in national security and international economic and development affairs. She has served as the Counselor to the President of the World Bank, Associate Director at the White House Office of Management and Budget and in a variety of key positions with Senator Mitch McConnell on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee. Ms Cleveland co-authored two Presidential initiatives, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDs Relief, reflecting her experience linking policy, performance and resource management. Ms. Cleveland graduated from Wesleyan University with honors.

Ms. Frances Fragos Townsend was appointed Homeland Security Advisor by the President on May 28th, 2004. Ms. Townsend chaired the Homeland Security Council and reported to the President on United States Homeland Security policy and Combating Terrorism matters. She previously served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism.

Ms. Townsend came to the White House from the U. S. Coast Guard, where she had served as Assistant Commandant for Intelligence. Prior to that, Ms. Townsend spent 13 years at the U. S. Department of Justice in a variety of senior positions, her last assignment as Counsel to the Attorney General for Intelligence Policy. Ms. Townsend began her prosecutorial career in 1985, serving as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, New York.

In 1988, she joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York where she focused on international organized crime and white-collar crime cases. In 1991, she worked in the Office of the Attorney General to assist in establishing the newly created Office of International Programs, the predecessor to the Executive Office for National Security. In December 1993, she joined the Criminal Division where she served as Chief of Staff to the Assistant Attorney General and played a critical part in establishing the Division’s international training and rule of law programs.

From November of 1995 to November of 1997, Ms. Townsend was Director of the Office of International Affairs in the Criminal Division, which serves as the U. S. Central Authority for extradition and mutual legal assistance, and works with the Department of State in the negotiation of international law enforcement treaties. In November of 1997, Ms. Townsend was appointed as Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, where she oversaw international law enforcement and training matters in the Criminal Division, and acted as an advisor to the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General on international law enforcement policy.

In March of 1998, Ms. Townsend was appointed Counsel for Intelligence Policy, managing matters related to national security policy and operations for the Department of Justice. In this capacity she headed the office of Intelligence Policy and Review, an office that provides legal advice and recommendations to the Attorney General and the Department of Justice regarding national security matters, reviews executive orders, directives and procedures relating to the intelligence community, and approves certain intelligence-gathering activities, especially those matters related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Michael Sheehan is a distinguished fellow at The Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law, where he researched the For The Record publication, and authored his book, Crush the Cell: How to Defeat Terrorism without Terrorizing Ourselves. Ambassador Sheehan is the Partner and Co-Chair, Professional Partners Group, at TorchHill Investment Partners where he directs deal sourcing in the civil and corporate security arena. Former Deputy Commissioner of Counter Terrorism at NYPD, he was instrumental in shaping the counter-terrorism strategy for New York City following September 11th. He has previously served as Ambassador-at-Large for Counter Terrorism at the State Department, as a Director on the National Security Council staff, and as a US Army Special Forces officer. He is a distinguished fellow at the Counter Terrorism Center at West Point and is an NBC news analyst for terrorism and security issues.

He is best known for his work in the fields of counterterrorism at the local, national and international levels. Prior to his position at the NYPD,  Sheehan  was appointed by Kofi Annan as the United Nations Assistant Secretary General in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, where he was responsible for oversight of military and police peacekeeping forces around the world. Commissioner Sheehan’s counterterrorism record extends back to the 1990s, when, following the embassy bombings in East Africa, he became the Department of State’s Ambassador at Large for Counterterrorism. Upon retiring from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1997, Sheehan was appointed a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of International Organizations, where he focused on international policing in Bosnia and Kosovo. He has served under three National Security Advisors and two Presidents (George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton). He holds a B.A. from West Point, an M.A. from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and an M.A. from the U.S. Army Command/General Staff College.