Speakers
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More about the Speakers
Sir Alex Younger
Former Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service MI6
Alex Younger was for 30 years a career intelligence officer in Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6. He served in Europe, the Middle East and Afghanistan. He was appointed as Director of Counter Terrorism in 2009, and as Chief from 2014 to 2020. Prior to SIS, Alex served in the British Army as an infantry officer. He attended St Andrews’ University.
David Irvine
Former Director-General of Security, Australia
A long-serving diplomat, David Irvine was Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea from 1996-1999 and Australian Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China between 2000-2003, also concurrently Australian Ambassador to Mongolia and to the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea. He subsequently became the only person to have served as the head both of Australia’s foreign intelligence collection agency and its domestic security agency – positions he held for almost twelve years.
He is currently the Chairman of the Foreign Investment Review Board. He is an Adjunct Professor at Charles Sturt University and also assists at the National Security College within the Australian National University. He chairs the Cyber Security Research Centre, a not-for-profit company promoting industry investment into Australia’s cyber research capabilities in conjunction with the Government’s Cooperative Research Centre program.
Irvine has published two books on Indonesian culture. He has honorary doctorates from the University of Western Australia (Letters) and Edith Cowan University (Science). He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs and was a member of the Advisory Council of the National Archives of Australia for nine years.
Irvine was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2005 for services to the promotion of Australia’s international relations.
General David H. Petraeus (Ret.)
Chairman of KKR Global Institute
General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) is a Partner and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in May 2013. He is also a member of the boards of directors of Optiv and FirstStream, a venture investor in some 20 startups, and engaged in a variety of academic endeavors. Prior to joining KKR, General Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S. military, culminating his career with six consecutive commands, five of which were in combat, including command of the Surge in Iraq, command of U.S. Central Command, and command of coalition forces in Afghanistan.
John McLaughlin
Former Acting Director of the CIA
John E. McLaughlin is the Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) where he teaches a variety of courses and conducts research.
Mr. McLaughlin served as Acting Director of Central Intelligence from July to September 2004 and as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence from October 2000 to July 2004. He was a US Army Officer in the 1960s, with service in Vietnam. He comments on foreign affairs in various media, testifies in Congress, and writes frequently on intelligence and foreign affairs in a variety of publications.
During his CIA service, Mr. McLaughlin worked on nearly every part of the world and supervised work on analysis, clandestine operations, and technology. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Security Medal, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He was inducted into the Infantry Officers Candidate School Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, GA. He is a member of the National Security Advisory Board at the Noblis Corporation and the Countering Terrorism Advisory Group at the Middle East Institute. From 2010 to 2018 he chaired the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation, which supports CIA families who have lost a parent in the line of duty.
Sir John Scarlett
Former Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service MI6
Sir John Scarlett served as Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6) from 2004 to 2009. Sir John joined SIS in 1971 and over the next 20 years served in Nairobi, Paris and twice in Moscow as well as several assignments in London. He was appointed Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) in September 2001. On 1 August 2004, Sir John rejoined SIS as its Chief.
Sir John’s current roles include Senior Advisor at Morgan Stanley; Chairman, International Advisory Group, Equinor; Member of Swiss Re Strategic Council’; Chairman, SC Strategy Ltd; Director, Times Newspaper Holdings; Vice Chairman, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and Co-Chair of the Global Advisory Council, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC. Sir John is a member of the State Honours Committee; Vice President of the UK Association de la Legion d’Honneur and a Trustee of the Friends of the French Institute in the United Kingdom.
Dick Fadden
Former Deputy Minister of National Defence, Canada
Mr. Richard B. Fadden was the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister from January 19, 2015 to March 31, 2016. Previously he was the Deputy Minister of National Defence starting in May 2013, he served as the Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service from 2009 until 2013. He has also served as the Deputy Minister for Citizenship and Immigration Canada from 2006 to 2009, the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Canada from 2005 to 2006, President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency from 2002 to 2005, and Deputy Clerk and Counsel in the Privy Council Office from 2000 to 2002. In early 2001, he took on the additional position of Security and Intelligence Coordinator.
In the course of his career, Mr. Fadden worked in a variety of different positions across the Government of Canada including in the Department of External Affairs, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, Natural Resources Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat.
Mr. Fadden holds a Graduate Diploma in Law from the University of Ottawa, a Bachelor of Laws from the Université de Montréal, and a Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) from McGill University. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada.
He is a native of the Province of Quebec. He is married with two children.
Currently, he serves on a number of boards, is a Senior Fellow at the University of Ottawa's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and speaks on a variety of public policy issues.
Gordon Corera
Security Correspondent at BBC News
Gordon Corera is the BBC’s security correspondent. He covers terrorism, cyber-security, spying and other related issues in the UK and around the world.
Conrad Prince
Former Deputy Director of GCHQ
Conrad Prince served as the Director General for Operations and Deputy Director of GCHQ from 2008 – 2015. In those roles he led GCHQ’s intelligence operations and was responsible for the development of the UK’s national offensive cyber capability. From 2015 – 2018 he was the UK’s first Cyber Security Ambassador, leading cyber capacity building work with a number of key UK allies. He retired after 28 years of Government service in January 2018, and now holds a range of advisory roles in cyber and security.
Hon. Susan Gordon
Former PDDNI
Susan M. Gordon was sworn in as the fifth Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence (PDDNI) on August 7, 2017. As PDDNI, Ms. Gordon assisted the DNI in leading the Intelligence Community (IC) and managing the ODNI. In particular, she focused on advancing intelligence integration across the IC, expanding outreach and partnerships, and driving innovation across the Community.
With nearly three decades of experience in the IC, Ms. Gordon has served in a variety of leadership roles spanning numerous intelligence organizations and disciplines. Most recently, Ms. Gordon served as the Deputy Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) from 2015 to 2017. In this role, she helped the director lead the agency and manage the National System of Geospatial Intelligence. She drove NGA’s transformation to meet the challenges of a 21st century intelligence agency. She also championed agile governance, recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce, and expansion of geospatial intelligence services to the open marketplace. She is known for her commitment to diversity and inclusion and, to the women and men of the IC.
Prior to her assignment with NGA, Ms. Gordon served for 27 years at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), rising to senior executive positions in each of the Agency’s four directorates: operations, analysis, science and technology, and support. She joined the CIA in 1980 as an analyst in the Office of Scientific and Weapons Research, and went on to serve as the Director of the Office of Advanced Analytic Tools, Director of Special Activities in the Directorate of Science and Technology, Director for Support, and ultimately in concurrent roles as Director of the Information Operations Center and the CIA Director’s senior advisor on cyber. In 1998, she designed and drove the formation of In-Q-Tel, a private, non-profit company whose primary purpose is to deliver innovative technology solutions for the agency and the IC. Ms. Gordon has been recognized for her creative executive leadership through numerous awards, including the Presidential Rank Award at the distinguished level.
Gen. Michael Hayden (Ret.)
Former Director, CIA and NSA
General Hayden is a retired four-star General in the United States Air Force; he was the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2006-2009 and the Director of the National Security Agency from 1999-2005.
Norm Roule
Former National Intelligence Manager for Iran, ODNI
Norman T. Roule served for 34 years in the Central Intelligence Agency, managing numerous programs relating to Iran and the Middle East. He served as the National Intelligence Manager for Iran (NIM-I) at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence from November 2008 until September 2017. As NIM-I, he was the principal Intelligence Community (IC) official responsible for overseeing all aspects of national intelligence policy and activities related to Iran, to include IC engagement on Iran issues with senior policy makers in the National Security Council and the Department of State.
Mr. Roule’s service in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations included roles as Division Chief, Deputy Division Chief and Chief of Station. He has held multiple senior assignments in Washington as well as during his 15 years working overseas.
Mr. Roule currently serves as a Senior Adviser to the Counter Extremism Project and United Against Nuclear Iran.
Dmitri Alperovitch
Executive Chairman, Silverado Policy Accelerator
Dmitri Alperovitch is the Executive Chairman at Silverado Policy Accelerator and is a co-founder and former CTO of CrowdStrike Inc. In 2016, Alperovitch revealed Russian intelligence agencies’ hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), events which unveiled the full scope of cyber influence operations being launched against the 2016 US Election. Alperovitch is currently a Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center’s Defending Digital Democracy Project and a Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council. He has served on the board of Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC) Industry Advisory Board and currently serves on the RSA Conference Advisory Board.
Lt Gen James R. Clapper
Former U.S. Director of National Intelligence
Lt. Gen. Clapper (ret.) served from 2010 – 2017 as the Director of National Intelligence. In that position, he led the United States intelligence community and served as the principal intelligence advisor to the President.
Previously, Clapper served in two administrations as the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, where he was the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on intelligence, counterintelligence, and security matters for the Department. In this capacity, he was also dual-hatted as the Director of Defense Intelligence for DNI.
Earlier, he directed the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), transforming it into the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) as it is today. He also served as a consultant and advisor to Congress and to the Departments of Defense and Energy and as a member of a wide variety of government panels, boards, commissions, and advisory groups.
Clapper, who began his military career as a rifleman in the U.S. Marine Corps, served two combat tours during the Southeast Asia conflict and flew 73 combat support missions in EC-47s over Laos and Cambodia. He was Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence at U.S. Air Force Headquarters during Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm and Director of Intelligence for three war-fighting commands: U.S. Forces Korea, Pacific Command, and Strategic Air Command. Following his retirement from military service in 1995, Clapper worked in the private sector for six years as an executive in three companies focused on services for the intelligence community. He was a member of the Downing Assessment Task Force that investigated the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, and was vice chairman of a commission chaired by former Gov. Jim Gilmore of Virginia on the subject of homeland security.
Clapper earned a bachelor’s degree in government and politics from the University of Maryland, a master’s degree in political science from St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas, and an honorary doctorate from the Joint Military Intelligence College.
His awards include three National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medals, two Defense Distinguished Service Medals, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Coast Guard’s Distinguished Public Service Award, and the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award. He has also received the NAACP’s National Distinguished Service Award and the Presidentially-conferred National Security Medal.
Paul Kolbe
Director of The Intelligence Project at Harvard University’s Belfer Center
Paul Kolbe is Director of The Intelligence Project at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Prior to this, Kolbe led BP’s global Intelligence and Analysis team supporting threat warning, risk mitigation, and crisis response. Prior to joining BP, Kolbe served 25 years as an operations officer in the CIA. He was a member of the Senior Intelligence Service, and is a recipient of the Intelligence Medal of Merit and the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal. Mr. Kolbe served in Russia, the Balkans, Indonesia, East Germany, Zimbabwe, and Austria. In course of his career, he served as station chief and in a variety of senior operational leadership and training roles.
Daniel Hoffman
Former CIA Chief of Station
Daniel Hoffman is a former Chief of Station with the Central Intelligence Agency. His combined 30 years of distinguished government service included high-level positions not only within the CIA, but also with the U.S. military, U.S. Department of State, and U.S. Department of Commerce. Assignments included tours of duty in the former Soviet Union, Europe, and war zones in both the Middle East and South Asia. During this time, Hoffman developed substantive expertise on geopolitical and transnational issues related to the Middle East, South Asia, Russia, counterterrorism, and cyber and counter-intelligence. He is currently a FOX News Contributor.
David Sanger
Chief Washington Correspondent for The New York Times
David E. Sanger is a national security correspondent and a senior writer. In a 36-year reporting career for The New York Times, he has been on three teams that have won Pulitzer Prizes, most recently in 2017 for international reporting. His newest book, The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age, examines the emergence of cyber conflict as the primary way large and small states are competing and undercutting each other, changing the nature of global power.
Tom Tugendhat
British Conservative Party Politician serving as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee
Tom Tugendhat MBE MP is the Member of Parliament for Tonbridge and Malling, and the Chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. A fluent Arabic speaker, Tom served in the British Army until July 2013. In his decorated military and intelligence career, he served on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and, most recently, as the Military Assistant and Principal Adviser to the Chief of the Defence Staff. In 2015, he was elected as the Conservative MP for Tonbridge and Malling. In July 2017, Tom was elected as the youngest-ever Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and was reappointed by his Commons peers to the position in January 2020.
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