Iran threatens the entrance to the Persian Gulf, threatens to exterminate Israel, and builds up its nuclear capacity. Abbas Milani is the Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University and the co-director of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution. Originally from Iran, Dr. Milani was a research fellow at the Iranian Center for Social Research from 1977 to 1978 and an assistant professor at the National University of Iran from 1975 to 1977. He then became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tehran University's Center for International Studies.

Dr. Milani is the author of several books, including "Eminent Persians: Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran", and "The Riddle of the Iranian Revolution." He has been interviewed for radio and television, appearing on BBC, CNN, NPR, Radio France, Radio Free Europe, Radio and Television of Iran, and Voice of America. Milani received his BA in political science and economics from the University of California at Berkeley and his PhD in political science for the University of Hawaii in 1974. He is a member of the American Association of Political Science, member of the board of directors for ISG (Iranian Studies Group at MIT), and the Association of Iranian Studies.

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The Obama administration began its stewardship of US foreign policy some three years ago with new concepts of multilateralism, "resets" of relations with Islam and Russia, and an emphasis on Afghanistan over Iraq. How have its doctrines succeeded?

To analyze this question, the Council will hear from an expert who has worked with previous administrations in the Departments of State and Defense and in the White House as Presidential Assistant and Deputy National Security Advisor. Her expertise includes nation-building, counterinsurgency, the geopolitics of energy, decision making in foreign policy, and the Middle East and South Asia.

From July 2004 to September 2007, Dr. O'Sullivan was Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and also held the position of Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan for the last two years of this tenure. In this capacity, she led an office of diplomats, lawyers, and economists at the National Security Council in staffing the President on all matters associated with Iraq and Afghanistan. She helped run two strategic policy reviews: one on Afghanistan in the summer of 2006 and one on Iraq in late 2006 and early 2007, which assisted in designing the "surge."

Dr. O'Sullivan received a BA from Georgetown University and an MA and Ph.D. from Oxford. From 1998-2001, while a Fellow at the Brookings Institution and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University she published several books and articles, including, "Shrewd Sanctions: Statecraft and State Sponsors of Terrorism." From 2001-03 she worked at the State Dept's Office of Policy Planning under Secretary Colin Powell, where she was the chief advisor to the Presidential envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process. Prior to being NSC Advisor, Dr. O'Sullivan was political advisor to the Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. There, she was a key negotiator of the agreement for the early transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis.

In 2008, Esquire Magazine named her one of the most influential people of the century.

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Dr. Mora, in his position in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, overlooks security affairs for all of Latin America, to include Venezuela, Colombia, and Cuba. 

Has the time finally come to improve relations with Cuba? Humanitarian and cultural exchanges have increased, and the US now permits family travel to Cuba, but the US trade embargo remains. Both sides accuse the other of spying, and Cuba has done little to institute democratic reforms, despite its announced desire to normalize relations.

Dr. Frank Mora serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs. He oversees policy issues and defense relations involving countries in the hemisphere, U.S. Government funding and integration of U.S. Northern and Southern commands.

Dr. Mora has taught national security and Latin American Studies at the National War College and taught and lectured at government and civilian academic institutions in the U.S. and abroad. He has also worked as a consultant to the Library of Congress, the Air Force, Army, CIA, State Dept, Office of the Secretary of Defense and many other organizations such as the OAS. He has observed elections in several Latin countries, spoken at many conferences in Latin America, the U.S. and Europe, written widely on issues in the Americas in leading publications and written books on U.S.-Latin America relations and related subjects.

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