BPC Experts
National Security
Jim Talent
Senior Fellow, Co-Chair, Task Force on Defense Personnel, Former Senator from Missouri
Jim Talent is a BPC Senior Fellow and is the co-chair of its Task Force on Defense Personnel. Talent specializes in issues related to defense and national security and represented the state of Missouri in Congress from 1993 to 2007.
Thomas H. Kean
Co-Chair, Task Force on Terrorism and Ideology, Former Governor of New Jersey
Thomas H. Kean co-chairs BPC’s Task Force on Terrorism and Ideology. He served as governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990 and was the president of Drew University from 1990 to 2005. Kean also served as chairman of the 9/11 Commission from 2002 to 2004.
Lee H. Hamilton
Co-Chair, Task Force on Terrorism and Ideology, Former Representative from Indiana
Lee H. Hamilton co-chairs BPC’s Task Force on Terrorism and Ideology. For more than 40 years, Hamilton has been an important voice on international relations and American national security. From 1965 to 1999, he served Indiana in the House of Representatives.
Kathy Roth-Douquet
Co-Chair, Task Force on Defense Personnel, CEO of Blue Star Families
Kathy Roth-Douquet serves as co-chair of BPC's Task Force on Defense Personnel. Currently she is CEO of Blue Star Families, the largest non-profit organization serving active duty personnel.
Charles Robb
Co-Chair, National Security Program; Former Governor of Virginia and Senator
Chuck Robb co-chairs BPC’s national security program and Iran Task Force. He served as a senator from Virginia from 1989 until 2001. Robb became the only senator to simultaneously serve on all three national security committees: Armed Services, Foreign Relations, and Intelligence.
Charles F. Wald
Board Member and Co-Chair, National Security Program; Former Deputy Commander of EUCOM
Charles F. (Chuck) Wald is a member of BPC’s board of directors and co-chairs its national security program and is a member of the Task Force on Defense Personnel. As deputy commander of U.S. European Command, a position he held from 2002 until his retirement from the U.S. Air Force in July 2006, he was responsible for all U.S. forces operating across 91 countries in Europe, Africa, Russia, parts of Asia, the Middle East, and most of the Atlantic Ocean.
Morton Abramowitz
Member, Task Force on Managing Disorder in the Middle East, Former U.S. Ambassador to Thailand and Turkey
Morton Abramowitz is a member of BPC's Task Force on Managing Disorder in the Middle East. He is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation. He retired in 1997 as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and from the State Department in 1991.
Eric S. Edelman
Co-Chair, Task Force on Managing Disorder in the Middle East, Former U.S. Ambassador to Finland and Turkey
Eric S. Edelman co-chairs BPC's Task Force on Managing Disorder in the Middle East. He served as U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Finland during the Clinton and Bush administrations. Edelman retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2009.
Michael Hayden
Co-Chair, Electric Grid Cybersecurity Initiative; Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Michael Hayden co-chairs BPC’s Electric Grid Cybersecurity Initiative. As former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Hayden was responsible for overseeing the collection of information concerning the plans, intentions, and capabilities of America’s adversaries.
Curt Hébert
Co-Chair, Electric Grid Cybersecurity Initiative; Former Chairman of FERC
Curt Hébert co-chairs BPC’s Electric Grid Cybersecurity Initiative. He served four years in Washington as a presidential appointee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Susan Tierney
Co-Chair, Electric Grid Cybersecurity Initiative; Former Energy Assistant Secretary for Policy
Susan Tierney co-chairs BPC’s Electric Grid Cybersecurity Initiative. A former assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Energy, she is an expert on energy policy and economics, specializing in the electric and gas industries.
Paula J. Dobriansky
Fellow; Former Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs
Paula J. Dobriansky is a BPC fellow. She previously served as co-chair of BPC's Stabilizing Fragile States Initiative. From 2001 to 2009, Dobriansky served as under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs.
Arnold Punaro
Fellow; Former Staff Director of the Senate Armed Services Committee
Major General Arnold L. Punaro, USMC (ret.) is a BPC fellow and member of its Task Force on Defense Personnel. He has decades of experience in defense, legislative affairs, federal budget, and acquisition strategy. As CEO of the Punaro Group, he consults for Fortune 100 companies on strategy related to the federal budget, government relations, business risk analysis, and compliance.
Blaise Misztal
Director of National Security
Blaise Misztal is the director of BPC's national security program, having previously served as associate director. Prior to joining BPC, Misztal spent a year as a Nuffield Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford University.
Anand Parekh, MD
Chief Medical Advisor
Anand Parekh is BPC’s chief medical advisor providing clinical and public health expertise across the organization. Prior to joining BPC, he completed a decade of work at the Department of Health and Human Services, serving as deputy assistant secretary for health from 2008 to 2015.
Nicholas Danforth
Senior Policy Analyst
Nicholas Danforth serves as a senior policy analyst for the national security program. He completed his Ph.D. in history at Georgetown University and has written widely about Turkey, U.S. foreign policy, and the Middle East.
