Clearer Than Truth

Yaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author, journalist, and senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem. He served as editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post from 2016 to 2023 and continues to write a popular weekly column while appearing regularly as an analyst on CNN and the BBC. Katz is the author of Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Pow...

Max Boot is a senior columnist for The Washington Post and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. A leading voice on U.S. foreign policy, national security, and military history, he has advised senior policymakers and served as a defense analyst for multiple administrations. Boot is also the author of several acclaimed books, including The Road Not Taken , Invisible Armies , and War...

Ilan Berman is Senior Vice President of American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) in Washington, D.C., and a leading expert on security issues in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Russia. He has consulted for the CIA and U.S. Defense and State Departments, and advised congressional offices on foreign policy and national security. Berman is also an adjunct professor at the Institute of World Politics...

Edward Fishman is a leading scholar of economic statecraft and a former U.S. diplomat who helped design sanctions policies at the State Department and Treasury. He is currently a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and also teaches at its Center on Global Energy Policy. His book Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare (2025...

Barry R. Posen is the Ford International Professor of Political Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Director Emeritus of its MIT Security Studies Program. A leading scholar in grand strategy and defense policy, his influential works include Restraint: A New Foundation for U.S. Grand Strategy and The Sources of Military Doctrine . Posen continues to shape debates on global power sh...

Scott Kennedy is Senior Adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). A leading authority on Chinese economic policy and U.S.–China commercial relations, he has traveled to China for nearly four decades and focuses on China’s industrial policy, tech innovation, and global economic governance. His publications include The B...

Don Bentley is a bestselling American thriller author and former FBI Special Agent, SWAT team member, and U.S. Army Apache helicopter pilot. He currently continues the legacy of Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp series, with his newest novel Denied Access , which takes fans back to Rapp’s early days as he battles threats to the CIA and a lover in peril. Bentley’s diverse writing portfolio also includes the...

Jake Tapper is a prominent CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent, and the author of Race Against Terror: Chasing an Al Qaeda Killer at the Dawn of the Forever War . His book uncovers the high-stakes global hunt to prosecute an al Qaeda operative who surrendered during the Arab Spring and sheds light on the challenges of delivering justice in the War on Terror. Tapper is also known for his...

Jack Carr is a former U.S. Navy SEAL turned bestselling author known for his high-octane military thrillers. He burst onto the scene with The Terminal List , which was adapted into a Prime Video series, and has since written several more in the Reece series including Red Sky Mourning and Cry Havoc . In addition to fiction, he’s the author of Targeted: Beirut , a nonfiction work exploring the 1983...

Karen Elliott House is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and former managing editor, publisher, and international editor at The Wall Street Journal with over four decades of experience covering Saudi Arabia. Her latest book, The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia (2025), draws on exclusive interviews with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and offers...

Oona A. Hathaway is the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale Law School and President-Elect of the American Society of International Law (ASIL), beginning her presidency in 2026. She also holds appointments at Yale’s Department of Political Science and the MacMillan Center, and directs the Center for Global Legal Challenges. A leading scholar of international...

Paul Poast is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Committee on International Relations at the University of Chicago, where he also serves as Deputy Dean for Doctoral Education and directs the Summer Institute for Social Research Methods. He’s a nonresident senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a foreign affairs columnist for World Politics Review . His research cov...

Ryan Hass is an American foreign policy analyst and diplomat currently serving as the director of the John L. Thornton China Center and the Chen-Fu and Cecilia Yen Koo Chair in Taiwan Studies at the Brookings Institution. A former U.S. diplomat, he held senior roles including Director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolian Affairs at the National Security Council during the Obama administration, and ser...

Einat Wilf is an Israeli intellectual, author, and former Knesset member (2010–2013), known for her insightful work on Zionism, Israeli education, and foreign policy. She has held roles as an intelligence officer in the IDF, foreign policy adviser to Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and strategic consultant at McKinsey & Company. A Harvard (BA), INSEAD (MBA), and Cambridge (PhD) alumnus, Wilf...

Jon Lee Anderson is an acclaimed biographer, investigative reporter, and war correspondent currently writing for The New Yorker , where he has been a staff writer since 1998. Over his distinguished career, he’s reported from conflicts across the globe—including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Liberia, Angola, Mali, and more—and contributed to major outlets like The New York Times , Harper’s , L...

Graham Markiewicz is the Executive Director of the Security and Democracy Forum and a seasoned national security policy advisor. He served as defense policy adviser for U.S. Senate, deployed twice to Afghanistan as an infantry officer, and previously held staff roles on Capitol Hill. A graduate of West Point and Boston College Law School, he combines military experience, legal expertise, and publi...

Demkó Attila is a Hungarian security policy expert, former diplomat, and historian based in Budapest. He holds a PhD in history and political theory from Eötvös Loránd University and has trained at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and the Manfred Wörner Foundation. From 1999 to 2018, he served in senior roles in Hungary’s Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office and Ministry of Defence—including leadi...

Yaroslav Trofimov is the Chief Foreign‑Affairs Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal , reporting on global conflicts since 1999. Born in Kyiv, he has spent much of the past three years on the frontlines of the Russian‑Ukraine war and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his coverage in both 2022 and 2023. His recent nonfiction, Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine’s War of In...

Dana Stroul is Director of Research and Shelly & Michael Kassen Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a role she assumed in February 2024. From 2021 to 2023, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, leading U.S. defense policy amid crises like the Israel–Hamas War and Iran’s regional actions. Prior roles include senior staff on the Sena...

Eliot A. Cohen is a leading authority in international security and strategic affairs. He holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at CSIS and is Professor Emeritus at Johns Hopkins SAIS, where he served as dean from 2019 to 2021. Previously, he was Counselor of the U.S. State Department under Secretary Condoleezza Rice (2007–2009), advising on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Russia. A prolific author,...

Judy Woodruff is a veteran broadcast journalist with a career spanning over five decades. She served as the anchor and managing editor of PBS NewsHour from 2013 to 2022, becoming the sole anchor following the passing of co-anchor Gwen Ifill in 2016. Woodruff has covered every U.S. presidential election and convention since 1976 and has held prominent roles at NBC, CNN, and PBS. She is renowned for...

Arash Azizi is an Iranian writer, historian, and journalist whose work explores the intersections of politics, culture, and society in Iran and the broader Middle East. His latest book, What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom , delves into the aspirations and struggles of Iranians seeking a normal life under a repressive regime. Azizi's insightful analysis sheds light on various forms of act...

James M. Scott is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author renowned for his compelling narratives on military history. His latest book, Targeted: Beirut , co-authored with Jack Carr, delves into the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Lebanon, offering a meticulously researched account based on survivor interviews, military records, and personal documents . Scott's previous...

Philip Zelikow is an American diplomat, historian, and academic, best known for serving as executive director of the 9/11 Commission. He was Counselor of the U.S. State Department under Secretary Condoleezza Rice and has held senior academic roles at the University of Virginia and Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Zelikow’s work spans diplomacy, national security, and the writing of history, with a f...

​Chris Whipple is a renowned journalist and author, best known for his in-depth analyses of American political institutions. His latest book, Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History , offers a detailed account of the 2024 presidential election, providing insider perspectives on the campaigns of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump. Whipple&apo...