Michael German

MICHAEL GERMAN

Fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program and former FBI Agent

Michael German is a retired FBI agent, scholar, and writer. German is a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty & National Security Program, which seeks to ensure that the U.S. government respects human rights and fundamental freedoms in conducting the fight against terrorism. A former special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, his work focuses on law enforcement and intelligence oversight and reform. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, German served as the policy counsel for national security and privacy for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington legislative office.

German is the author of Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Democracy. The book chronicles how the FBI transformed itself after the 9/11 attacks from a law enforcement agency famous for prosecuting organized crime and corruption to arguably the most secretive domestic intelligence agency the country has ever seen. A 16-year veteran of federal law enforcement, German served as an FBI special agent, where he specialized in domestic terrorism and covert operations. He left the FBI in 2004 after reporting continuing deficiencies in FBI counterterrorism operations to Congress. German served as an adjunct professor of law enforcement and terrorism at National Defense University. He joined the ACLU’s Washington legislative office in 2006 and the Brennan Center in 2014. His first book, Thinking Like a Terrorist: Insights of a Former FBI Undercover Agent, was published in 2007.

Michael German also participated in The Rise and Threat of Right Wing Domestic Terrorism. Along with Jeh Johnson, Robert Pape and Oren Segal he discussed the rise of right wing terrorism, and what can be done to fight it.

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Bernard Schwartz

Bernard L. Schwartz is a visionary industrialist and a giant in the aerospace industry, as well as a private investor, a progressive public policy advocate, and a philanthropist. A renowned international dealmaker with a reputation for honesty and fairness, he is currently chairman and CEO of BLS Investments, LLC, a private investment firm he founded in 2006. 

Prior to establishing BLS Investments, Schwartz served for 34 years as chairman of the board and CEO of Loral Corporation and its successor, Loral Space & Communications, a satellite communications company formed in 1996. He is well known in the business world for his forthright style, his integrity, and his consistent advocacy for his workers, emphasising people over profits at his highly successful companies. Loral Corporation, a Fortune 200 defense electronics firm, employed as many as 38,000 employees at its 25 locations. At its height, Loral attained annual revenues of nearly $7.5 billion and had a market value of $13 billion.

In addition, from 1989 to 2005, Schwartz was chairman of the board of K&F Industries, a worldwide leader in the manufacture of wheels, brakes and brake control systems for the aviation industry. He also served as chairman and CEO of Globalstar Telecommunications Limited until 2001, a low-Earth orbit global mobile satellite telecommunications network launched under his leadership in 1991.

Deeply troubled by the growing economic disparity in America, Schwartz also manages the investments of the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Foundation, which supports think tanks and economic policy advocacy organizations that focus on developing policies that promote U.S. economic growth and job creation initiatives. It also supports universities, medical research centers and New York City-based cultural organizations. Schwartz is a life-long Democrat and an active supporter of the Democratic Party.

Schwartz is often called upon to express his views or provide counsel on matters ranging from U.S. economic growth and competitiveness to job creation, investment in infrastructure, innovation, technology, and research and development. He has established programs at numerous organizations that examine current U.S. economic policy and competitiveness, and consistently challenge current orthodoxy to develop policy proposals that will further U.S. economic and technological success and create jobs. These organizations include: Third Way, The New School, Council on Foreign Relations, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Century Foundation, Roosevelt Institute, and the Center for American Progress. He is publisher of Democracy: a Journal of Ideas, a quarterly publication that spurs debate on economic and foreign policy issues.

A lifelong New Yorker, Mr. Schwartz also actively supports New York University Langone Medical Center, New-York Historical Society, Thirteen/WNET Educational Broadcasting Corporation, Baruch College and the New York Film Society. Schwartz serves as a trustee or board member of several of these organizations, most recently joining the Honorary Advisory Board of The Common Good.

Schwartz graduated from City College of New York with a Bachelor of Science degree and holds an honorary Doctorate of Science degree from the college. His book, JUST SAY YES: What I've Learned About Life, Luck, and the Pursuit of Opportunity, was published in 2014.

Selected Media:

What the Democrats Need Now - 2018 piece by Schwartz Democracy Journal

Bernard L. Schwartz on his new book, 'Just Say Yes' - An Interview with Charlie Rose at the New-York Historical Society

Billionaire Bernard Schwartz describes Biden as ‘pro-business’ leader; predicts boon to economy

My American Story: Bernard Schwartz — The Common Good

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Alan Patricof

Alan Patricof is a legendary venture capital investor who has founded multiple leading firms in the arena, including Apax Partners, Greycroft LLC, and Primetime Partners. 

One of the first leaders in the industry, he has become one of the country’s pre-eminent authorities on public and private venture capital. A longtime innovator and advocate for venture capital, Patricof entered the venture capital industry in its formative days with the creation of Patricof & Co. Ventures Inc. in 1969. Patricof & Co. was a predecessor to Apax Partners which today is one of the world’s foremost private equity firms with $41 billion under management. His most recent venture, Primetime Partners, is focused on backing technology designed for people in their later stages of life, and investing in mature entrepreneurs.

Patricof has been instrumental in facilitating the seed funding of many major global companies, including Apple Computer, America Online, Office Depot, and Audible. After many years of large-scale investing, in 2004 he stepped back from the daily administration and operational aspects of Apax Partners, LP to concentrate on a smaller investment business model, focusing on a group of small venture deals. In 2006, he founded Greycroft Partners, a venture capital firm, to invest in early and expansion stage investments in digital media. With offices in New York and Los Angeles, Greycroft is currently investing from its fifth Fund as well as its second Growth Fund, and has over $1 billion under management.

With a 40-plus year career in venture capital, Patricof has been instrumental in growing the venture capital field from a base of high net-worth individuals to its position today with broad institutional backing, as well as playing a key role in the essential legislative initiatives that have guided its evolution. He was also a founder and chairman of the board of New York magazine, which later acquired the Village Voice and New West magazine.

Patricof graduated from Ohio State University and received his MBA from Columbia University School of Business.

He serves on a number of boards including  Columbia Graduate School of Business, and Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem, and is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has previously served as a member of the President’s Global Development Council, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, TechnoServe, Trickle Up Program, Global Advisory Board of Endeavor, and the World Bank. 

Patricof has participated in many TCG programs and events, including Social Impact - Change and Investing in the Wake of the Coronavirus with Sir Ronald Cohen, and most recently First Friends: The Powerful, Unsung (and Unelected) People Who Shaped Our President's on October 21, 2021.

He currently serves as a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board.

Twitter: @alanjpatricof 

Selected Media:

Latest appearance on CNBC: Greycroft's Alan Patricof: Social media companies have effectively become utilities 

Patricof, New York Times Op-Ed Stopping Start-Ups 

Patricof for Business Insider Confessions Of A VC Raising Money During Financial Armageddon 

Patricof for The Hill: Say what you will about the presidential candidates, as long as it isn't 'They're too old' 

My American Story: Alan Patricof — The Common Good

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Jon Meacham

Jon Meacham is a much lauded and widely renowned historian with a concentration on American historical subjects who is also a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University.

He is revered for his insightful presidential biographies . Meacham was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his best-selling book on Andrew Jackson’s presidency, American Lion in 2009. His 2015 book His Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush was a #1 New York Times bestseller.

Meacham’s other New York Times best sellers include: The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, published in 2018, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power published 2012, Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship, published 2003, American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation published 2006, and most recently His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope; and The Hope of Glory, published in 2020.

Originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, he began his journalistic career at The Chattanooga Times, and was the editor of The Washington Monthly before moving to Newsweek in 1995. After serving as Managing Editor of that magazine for eight years, Meacham was Editor-in-Chief from 2006 to 2010. He is a former Executive Editor at Random House, where he published the letters of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and books of many highly regarded authors including Al Gore, John Danforth, Clara Bingham, Mary Soames, and Charles Peters.

Lee C. Bollinger, President of Columbia University, presents the 2009 Biography prize to Meacham.

He is a contributing writer to the New York Times Book Review and a contributing editor of Time. He has written for such varied periodicals as the New York Times op-ed page, the Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and Garden & Gun. In addition to his written work, Meacham is also a regular guest on “Morning Joe'' and other broadcasts for his sought after commentary on history, politics, and religion in America.  

Meacham is a fellow of the Society of American Historians and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a trustee of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, The McCallie School, and The Harpeth Hall School. Meacham chairs the National Advisory Council of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University. He has served on the vestries of St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and of Trinity Church Wall Street as well as the Board of Regents of The University of the South.

The Anti-Defamation League awarded Meacham its Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Prize. In 2013 the Historical Society of Pennsylvania presented him with its Founder’s Award; in 2016 he was honored with the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute’s Spirit of Democracy Award. Meacham also received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University in 2005 and holds honorary doctorates from Middlebury College, Wake Forest University, the University of Tennessee, Dickinson College, Sewanee, and several other institutions.

A summa cum laude graduate of the University of the South, he lives in Nashville and in Sewanee with his wife and children.

Meacham spoke about The Role of Religion in the 2008 Campaign at The Common Good alongside Amy Sullivan and Steven Waldman, and at The Common Good American Spirit Awards and Forum 2021 where he received  The Common Good American Spirit Award for Thought Leadership in 2021. 

He is currently a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board.

Selected Media:

https://www.msnbc.com/11th-hour/watch/jon-meacham-with-joe-biden-what-you-see-is-what-you-get-109177413591 

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/jon-meacham-asks-are-republicans-going-to-govern-or-perpetually-campaign-for-trump-s-america-101541445925 

https://www.msnbc.com/11th-hour/watch/meacham-is-this-a-chapter-in-an-unfolding-story-or-the-last-chapter-99181125696 

Meacham’s Podcasts:  “Hope Through History”, a documentary style podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-through-history/id1507276251, “It Was Said”, which analyzes important speeches of the past: https://www.history.com/it-was-said-podcast 

Alex Henderson, ‘Jon Meacham: How the Founding Fathers anticipated Donald Trump’, Salon, 5 July 2019

‘“Songs of America”: Tim McGraw & Jon Meacham trace history through music’, MSNBC, 16 June 2019

Twitter: @jmeacham

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Stanley Shuman

Stanley Shuman is a titan of venture capital and private equity who has been a leader in the investment industry for over 45 years. He has been associated with the high-level investment bank Allen & Company since 1961, as Executive Vice President, Managing Director, and now as Senior Advisor. He has also worked extensively in the media industry, serving as a Director of the multinational media powerhouse News Corporation for 23 years.

Shuman’s expertise is also highly sought after on matters of national and international policy. He was appointed by President Clinton to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, was the Chair of the National Law Project on Community Economic Development, and served on the Financial Control Board for the City of New York for nineteen years. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of New York. 

Shuman has led and continues to lead and serve on the boards of many New York institutions including Carnegie Hall; New York Law School; the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation; the Wiltwyck School residential treatment center for disadvantaged, emotionally disturbed children; and Channel 13/WNet. He is a long standing member of several corporate boards in addition to News Corp, including SESAC for 20 years and Palamon Capital Partners for 15 years.

Stan Shuman with fellow TCG Honorary Board Member Bernard Schwartz and Denise Schwartz at the Stage of Legends at Carnegie Hall.

Shuman as the StoryCorps honoree, 2013.

He is Trustee Emeritus at Phillips Academy, Andover, the Vail Valley Foundation, and The National Public Radio Foundation.  He has also served on the Executive Committee of the Harvard Board of Overseers Committee on University Resources and as Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University.

Shuman with wife Sydney Roberts Gould, 2013

Shuman is a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. Born in Boston, he remains a lifelong Red Sox fan.  He is married to Sydney Roberts Gould and has two sons, David and Michael; two stepsons, Gordon and Howard Gould, and six grandchildren.

He currently serves on The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board.

Selected Media:

• More than 150 CEOs urge Congress to pass Biden's Covid relief packag

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Steven Brill

Steven Brill is an award-winning journalist, author, academic thought leader, and entrepreneur. He has founded a number of incredibly important and successful journalism ventures.

In 1979, Brill launched The American Lawyer, a magazine which covers the business of law firms and lawyers in the U.S. and around the world, and is highly regarded for its surveys, including the “Am Law 100”, an annual ranking of the 100 U.S. law firms. Brill went on to found Court TV (now TruTV), a channel focused on true crime documentaries and coverage of prominent criminal cases; Brill’s Content Magazine, a media watchdog publication; Journalism Online, which created a new, viable business model for journalism to flourish online; and NewsGuard which rates news sites as to how reliable and credible the news platforms and sites are..

 In support of future generations of journalism,  he and his wife Cynthia founded the Yale Journalism Initiative, which recruits and trains students to contribute to democracy in the United States and around the world by becoming journalists.

Brill, with fellow TCG Honorary Advisory Board Member Tom Rogers in 2001

Brill on Meet the Press

Brill’s most recent venture, NewsGuard, Inc, allows users to check the reliability of their online sources by reviewing the credibility of news and information websites and tracking online misinformation. NewsGuard recently launched a new “Responsible Advertising for News Segments” program which helps companies protect themselves from having their advertising unintentionally fund misinformation and hoax websites.

An exceptional author as well as a digital entrepreneur, Brill’s feature articles have appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, TIME, Esquire, New York Magazine, and Harpers. His 2013 TIME cover story, “Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us,” won the National Magazine Award for Public Service; he expanded the story into a best-selling book, America’s Bitter Pill. Brill’s other books include Tailspin, a cogent narrative describing how America’s core values have come to power the nation’s decline, The Teamsters, a New York Times best-seller on the lives and leaders of American teamsters, Class Warfare, a clear breakdown on the American education system and the adults fighting over it’s reform, and AFTER, a sweeping narrative of the first year after September 11th.  

A graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School, Brill is also an adjunct professor at Yale Law School.

Brill spoke at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017, and he currently serves as a member ofThe Common Good Honorary Advisory Board.

Twitter: @StevenBrill

Selected Media:

• New Tool Helps Ad Buyers Choose Sites That Reflect A Company's Values

• NewsGuard Launches "Responsible Advertising for News Segments" to Help Brands Stop Funding Misinformation

• Steven Brill is powering his newest company with humans, not computers

• NewGuard Co-founder Gordon Crovitz Op-Ed for Politico What I Learned on My Quest to Fix America’s Social Media Problem 

• Brill for Time Magazine, 2018 "Tailspin": How My Generation Broke America 

• Interview with Brill Combating Vaccine Misinformation 

• Interview with Brill on Law Talk podcast Steven Brill: Entrepreneur, Attorney, and Best-Selling Author  

Books:

• Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind America's Fifty-Year Fall—and Those Fighting to Reverse It. 2018

• America's Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Back-Room Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System 2015

• Class Warfare : Inside the Fight to Fix America's Schools 2011

•  After : How America Confronted the September 12 Era 2003

• Trial By Jury 1990

The Teamsters 1978

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Byron Wien

Byron Wien has been consistently ranked as one of the most widely recognized market analysts and strategists, but he is perhaps best known for the ‘Ten Surprises’ list he has been publishing for over 30 years. At the beginning of each year, Wien gives his views and predictions on the upcoming economic, financial market, and political surprises which the average investor might overlook. He is known and widely respected for his shrewd readings and broad-reaching analysis of economic developments.

Currently, Wien is the Vice Chairman of Private Wealth Solutions group at Blackstone where he acts as a senior adviser to the firm and its clients. Prior to joining Blackstone, Wien was Chief Investment Strategist for Pequot Capital and before that served for 21 years as Chief, and later Senior, U.S. Investment Strategist at Morgan Stanley. 

Wien has received many accolades over the course of more than 50 years on Wall Street. In 1998, First Call named him the most widely read analyst on Wall Street, and in 2000, he was ranked the No. 1 strategist by SmartMoney.com based on his market calls during that year. Wien was named to the 2004 Smart Money Power 30 list of Wall Street’s most influential investors, thinkers, enforcers, policy makers, players and market movers in the “Thinker” category. In 2006, he was named by New York magazine as one of the sixteen most influential people in Wall Street. The New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA) presented him with a lifetime achievement award in 2008. 

In 1995, Wien co-authored a book with George Soros on the legendary investor’s life and philosophy, Soros on Soros - Staying Ahead of the Curve. 

Wien received an AB with honors from Harvard College and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Investment Committees of Lincoln Center and The Pritzker Foundation. He is a trustee of the New York Historical Society and Chairman of the Investment Committee of the JPB Foundation.

The Common Good was proud to present a very important discussion with Byron Wien of Blackstone Private Wealth Solutions in January of 2019: Economic Perils, Reeling Markets, Fed Action, Tariff Wars. 

He currently serves as a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board.

---

Selected Media:

20 Life Lessons from Byron Wien That Will Make You a Better Person

Why Investors Should Know Byron Wien

Top three surprises to expect in 2021: Blacksone Byron Wien,  CNBC

Byron Wien and Joe Zidle Announce the Ten Surprises of 2021

’Byron Wien-Vice Chairman’, Blackstone, 2019

‘Byron Wien Announces Ten Surprises for 2019’, MarketWatch, 3 January 2019

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Ambassador Nicholas Burns

As a distinguished Foreign Service officer, Ambassador Nicholas Burns is recognized as one of the most effective and thoughtful diplomats of his generation.  He is also a renowned columnist, lecturer, professor, and foreign policy advisor, and has been associated with Harvard University for many years. 

Burns started his foreign service career in Egypt and Mauritania, before serving in the American Consulate General in Jerusalem, where he coordinated U.S. economic assistance to the Palestinian people in the West Bank. He went on to serve on the National Security Council, as Director for Soviet Affairs in the Administration of President George H.W. Bush and later as Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs and Special Assistant to President Clinton.  He capped his twenty-seven year career with the State Department for President George W. Bush as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, making him the third-ranking official at the State Department. He led negotiations on the U.S.–India Civil Nuclear Agreement, a $30 billion long-term military assistance agreement with Israel, and served as the lead U.S. negotiator on Iran’s nuclear program. At the State Department, Burns also served as the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, the Ambassador to Greece, and as the State Department Spokesman. From 2014-2017, he was a member of Secretary of State John Kerry’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board. 

Burns, center, with Lieutenant General D. Petraeus, left, and NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop de Scheffer.

President Bush, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Representative to NATO Burns, and Secretary Powell at the North Atlantic Council meeting in Istanbul.

Burns interviews Hillary Clinton at Harvard

A widely respected expert on foreign affairs and negotiation, he currently teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School as the Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, one of the world’s top university-affiliated think tanks which serves as the center of the Kennedy School’s research, teaching, and training in international security and diplomacy, environmental and resource issues, and science and technology policy. Burns is also the founder and Faculty Chair of the Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project and Faculty Chair of the Center’s Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship. At the university, he is a Faculty Affiliate of the Middle East Initiative, and is a Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. 

Former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright, left, and Condoleezza Rice, right, with Burns at the Aspen Institute 

In addition to his work at Harvard, Burns is Senior Counselor for the Cohen Group, serves on the Board of Directors of Entegris, Inc, the Executive Director of the Aspen Strategy Group and the Aspen Security Forum, and is Chairman of the Board of Our Generation Speaks, a start-up incubator which seeks to bring together young entrepreneurial Palestinians and Israelis in common purpose.  Burns is vice chairman of the American Ditchley Foundation and serves on the Panel of Senior Advisors at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Council.

Burns with Chancellor Angela Merkel at Harvard’s 2019 Commencement.

He serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, Refugees International, and the NATO Cyber Center of Excellence. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Order of Saint John. He is a Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and a life-long member of Red Sox Nation.

In recognition for his work both in the foreign service and since his retirement, Burns has received fifteen honorary degrees, the Presidential Distinguished Service Award, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, the 2017 Ignatian Award from Boston College, 2016 New Englander of the Year from the New England Council, the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service from the Johns Hopkins University, the Boston College Alumni Achievement Award, and the Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award from Tufts University. He has a BA in History from Boston College, an MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, earned the Certificat Pratique de Langue Francaise at the University of Paris-Sorbonne, and, in 2020, was a Fulbright scholar at Queen Mary University of London.

The Common Good has been pleased to host Burns on several occasions, most recently for the The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, 2019 where he participated on the “World View: Security Challenges & Opportunities” panel alongside Ambassador Bill Burns and Congresswoman Jane Harman, moderated by Edward Luce.

Burns currently serves as a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board.

Twitter: @RNicholasBurns

Read More:

• Burns for Foreign Affairs The Diplomat as Gardener

• Burns for his column at The Boston Globe: Three myths about Putin's Russia

• Burns and Anja Manuel Op-Ed for The Hill: On India, the US must think bigger

• Burns and Frank Wisner Op-Ed for Washington Post: A planned Kosovo-Serbia meeting at the White House is falling apart. It was always a bad idea. 

• CNN on Burns’ potential appointment as Ambassador to China: Former top State Department official is Biden's leading contender to be US ambassador to China 

• Mediate article on Burns’ remarks: Nick Burns : 'Embarrassing' to Watch Trump's Trip in Britain

• The New York Times on Burns’ previous retirement from the Foreign Service No. 3 U.S. Diplomat, Lead Negotiator on Iran, Retires 

• Aspen Strategy Group publication on National Security:  Technology and National Security: Maintaining America's Edge

• Burns and Douglas Lute publication from Belfer Center: NATO at Seventy: An Alliance in Crisis

• Burns on The Guardian’s Politics Weekly Podcast: Biden makes friends with 'the west': Politics Weekly Extra 

CNN interview with Burns on the US-China Relationship, Biden’s foreign policy vision: U.S.-China Relationship Challenging, but Most Important

---

---

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Ambassador Christopher Hill

Ambassador Christopher Robert Hill has been at the forefront of American diplomacy for more than three decades. He is an author, a news analyst, foreign policy expert, and a professor, in addition to being a highly distinguished career diplomat. 

During his career in the foreign service Hill was nominated by three presidents to serve as U.S. Ambassador. His post included Iraq, South Korea, Poland, and Macedonia. Among his many positions as a Foreign Service officer, he has also served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Southeast European Affairs in the National Security Council.

A strong believer in the use of multi-party talks to bring about diplomatic change, he has helped negotiate several peace treaties and deals, particularly as Special Envoy to Kosovo, and the Head of the U.S. delegation to the Six-Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear program. Hill has received several State Department Awards, including the Department’s Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to the Bosnian Peace Settlement and the Robert S. Frasure Award for Peace Negotiations for his work during the Kosovo Crisis. He has also received honorary citizenship from Macedonia and was appointed to the New Zealand Order of Merit.

After retiring from the foreign service, Hill served as Dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and then as the university’s Head of Global Engagement and Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy. Hill is currently the George W. Ball Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and serves as the Senior Advisor at Albright Stonebridge Group. 

Ambassador Hill published his highly regarded memoir, Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy in 2014. He currently writes as a monthly columnist for Project Syndicate, and remains a sought-after voice in the media for his insights on international affairs. 

Ambassador Hill graduated from Bowdoin College and received a Master’s degree from the Naval War College. He began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon. 

He previously spoke at The Common Good on February 3, 2015, and he currently serves as a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board.

Read more:

What Does Washington Want From China? (Foreign Affairs Article)

Christopher R. Hill, Project Syndicate Column 

Christopher Hill, ‘China's own weaknesses and troubles are lurking behind its trade war with Trump’, The Hill

Book: Outpost: A Diplomat at Work

Twitter:@ambchrishill

(1) Material from the Albright Stonebridge Group website.

---

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Dr. Frank Luntz

[Frank shows off the replica Oval Office he built in his home to the Hollywood Reporter.]

Sir David Frost called him “The Nostradamus of pollsters,” while Time magazine named him one of “50 of America’s most promising leaders aged 40 and under,” and Newsweek magazine identified him as No. 24 on their American Power Elite survey. He finished 87th in a Time magazine global poll of the “most influential people in the world.”  Yes, we’re talking about Frank Luntz, one of the most highly regarded communication professionals in America today. 

Widely considered a messaging master, Luntz is probably best known for his work conducting and analyzing focus groups, polls, surveys, and dial sessions, which he used to create his lists of “words to “use” and “words to lose” in political messaging. Thanks to his experience with the voting public, he won The Washington Post’s coveted “Crystal Ball” award for being the most accurate pundit. 

He has served as an election consultant and political pundit in more than two dozen countries, and his focus groups have become so influential that, following the PBS presidential debate, Barack Obama declared, “When Frank Luntz invites you to talk to his focus group, you talk to his focus group.” 

[Frank conducting a focus group during the 2016 Presidential election]

Media outlets routinely turn to Luntz for to understand the hopes and fears of Americans. His “instant response” focus group technique has been profiled on many shows, including 60 Minutes, and PBS’s Frontline. He has been a guest on virtually every talk show in America, including multiple appearances on Meet the Press, Nightline, The Today Show, Face the Nation, and Bill Maher. For more than a decade, Luntz was the “Focus Group Czar” for Fox News. 

One of four “Top Research Minds”...”the hottest pollster”... “pollster extraordinaire”...”the person you turn to for the truth”

Luntz is renowned for his ability to understand, explain, and communicate with the American public, particularly for his talent at developing effective talking points and messaging crafted to turn public opinion. From coining the phrase “tax relief” to emphasising positive terms like “energy efficiency’ over negative ones like “energy conservation” he has affected many political and policy issues by reframing the debate in terms that appeal to voters and the general public.

[Frank runs a focus group on 60 Minutes in 2016]

[Frank runs a socially distanced focus group, discussing the Presidential debate in 2020]

The increasingly divisive political atmosphere in recent years has inspired a change of heart in Luntz, who has moved away from partisan identification.

In 2019, he offered his messaging services to aid the cause for climate action, openly admitting that he considers his early position on climate change wrong. He promised to help the Democrats on the Senate climate committee, on the condition that they committed to nonpartisan solutions.  

“It doesn’t matter what you say, it only matters what people hear.” - Frank Luntz

[Frank runs a focus group with Muslim Americans for CBS This Morning]

Luntz earned distinction from an early age.  He was awarded the Thouron Fellowship and received his doctorate from Oxford University at the age of 25, after which he was an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He also taught courses at Harvard University and George Washington University. Since 2018, he has taught two courses a year at NYU Abu Dhabi, and in 2021 is visiting professor for USC. 

In both 2011 and 2015, Luntz was the only non-journalist invited to host a debate of the GOP presidential contenders.  He also served for five years as a news analyst for CBS News, focusing on corporate and business communications, moving to ABC News in 2017.  He was a consultant to the NBC hit show The West Wing as well as the popular CBS drama Bull.    

[Frank runs a focus group with Muslim Americans for CBS This Morning]

Luntz is the author of three New York Times best sellers. Words that Work: It’s Not What You Say it’s What People Hear, explores the art and science of language creation.  His second book, What Americans Really Want … Really, addresses the private hopes, dreams and fears of the American people; it reached No. 18 on the bestseller list.  His most recent book, WIN, discusses how to use language to succeed in different aspects of everyday life, it reached No. 3 on The New York Times Business Best Seller List in its first month in print.  He has written about the power of language for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, The Times of London, The Washington Post, and Time.  

Luntz has participated in a number of events with The Common Good and is a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board.

Twitter: @FrankLuntz 

Selected Media:

• Most Recent CNBC Appearance:  Pollster Frank Luntz on what the Capitol assault means for the GOP 

• PBS Frontline Interview: Frank Luntz: “Trump’s American Carnage”

• Charles Creitz, ‘Frank Luntz: Political discourse 'out of control now' in Congress’. Fox News, July 26, 2019

• Josh Siegel, ‘Daily on Energy: Republican wordsmith Frank Luntz dishes on how to talk about climate change’, The Washington Examiner, July 26, 2019

• Kate Yoder,‘ Frank Luntz, the GOP’s message master, calls for climate action’, Grist, July 25, 2019

---

Read more:

Charles Creitz, ‘Frank Luntz: Political discourse 'out of control now' in Congress’. Fox News, July 26, 2019

Josh Siegel, ‘Daily on Energy: Republican wordsmith Frank Luntz dishes on how to talk about climate change’, The Washington Examiner, July 26, 2019

Kate Yoder,‘ Frank Luntz, the GOP’s message master, calls for climate action’, Grist, July 25, 2019

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Douglas Brinkley

Douglas Brinkley is one of the most prominent historians in the U.S. — and CNN's presidential historian - having charted American history and significant figures for decades. He is also the official Presidential Historian for The New York Historical Society, an essayist, and a prolific and renowned biographer. He has published over three dozen highly acclaimed books, including many discerning biographies  and shrewdly edited collections of presidents and presidential records.  His subjects have ranged from Presidents Teddy Roosevelt, JFK, FDR, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Richard Nixon to the life of Rosa Parks, Hurricane Katrina, the space race and American Catholicism.  

Currently, Brinkley is an esteemed professor at Rice University as the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History,  He is also a member of the Century Association, Council of Foreign Relations and the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress. His early teaching career included positions at the U.S. Naval Academy, Princeton, and Hofstra University. At Hofstra, he spearheaded an acclaimed American Odyssey course which took students across the country in a sleeper bus, visiting historical sites and meeting with cultural icons and is the subject of his travelogue The Majic Bus.

“America’s New Past Master” - The Chicago Tribune

During his tenure at the University of New Orleans as Professor of History and Director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies, he wrote two books with Stephen E. Ambrose: Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 and The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today. In 2005, he became a Tulane University Distinguished Professor of History and the Director of the Roosevelt Center, where he taught courses on U.S. foreign policy, published several books on American culture, and edited Jack Kerouac’s diaries. 

Brinkley is also actively involved in the environmental conservation and historic preservation communities. He has held board or leadership advisory roles in support of the American Museum of Natural History, Yellowstone Park Foundation, National Audubon Society, and the Rockefeller-Roosevelt Conservation Roundtable. In 2015 he was awarded the Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks by the National Parks Conservation Association. In 2016 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service honored him with their annual Heritage Award.

Six of his books have been selected as New York Times Notable Books of the Year.His most recent book, American Moonshot:  John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race, was a New York Times bestseller. His book The Great Deluge covers more recent history, offering a careful chronicle of Hurricane Katrina through the eyes of its survivors, and received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for writing which reflects RFK’s concern for the powerless and his struggle for even-handed justice. His two-volume annotated The Nixon Tapes won the Arthur S. Link – Warren F. Kuehl Prize. His book, Cronkite, draws upon letters, diaries, and artifacts from the Cronkite Archive to offer a personal portrait of the famed news anchor, won the Sperber Prize for outstanding biographies in the field of journalism. Brinkley has also received a Grammy Award for the Jazz ensemble album Presidential Suite, as well as seven honorary doctorates in American Studies. 

[Brinkley with actor Sean Penn (left) helping with relief work in the wake of Hurricane Katrina] 

[Brinkley, wife Anne and daughter Cassady, with John Lewis on the Edmund Pettus Bridge]

Brinkley with Author Kurt Vonnegut, 1994

A graduate of The Ohio State University and Georgetown University, Brinkley lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and three children.  

The Common Good was pleased to host him on several occasions in the past, including Assessing the Presidency with Lesley Stahl, Douglas Brinkley, Jonathan Alter and Ed Rollins on April 11th, 2013 and in 2018 alongside Roger Cohen, David Frum, Dana Perino, and Ed Rollins at the “Trump – Year One” Panel.

Brinkley currently serves as a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board. 

Twitter: @ProfDBrinkley 

DouglasBrinkley.com

---

Selected Media:

• Brinkley for The New York Times: President Trump, Please Read 'Desert Solitaire' 

• Mary Frances Berry and Brinkley on PBS's Firing Line 

• Brinkley on Donald Trump's legacy for CNN 

• Articles Listed: http://douglasbrinkley.com/articles/ 

Books Published: 

• American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race, 2019

• JKF: A Vision For America, 2018

• Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America 2016 

• The Nixon Tapes : 1971-1972 and The Nixon Tapes: 1973, 2015, with coauthor Luke A. Nichter

• Cronkite, 2012

• The Quiet World: Saving Alaska’s Wilderness Kingdom, 1879-1960, 2011

• The Notes: Ronald Reagan's Private Collection of Stories and Wisdom, 2011

• Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 9th edition with Stephen Ambrose, 2010

• The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America, 2009

• Gerald R. Ford, The American Presidents Series, 2007

• The Ronald Reagan Diaries, Edited by Brinkley, 2007

• Kerouac: Road Novels 1957-1960, selected journals edited by Brinkley, 2007 

• The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, 2006

• Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism, 2006

• Rosa Parks: A Life,  2005

• Voices of Courage: The Battle for Khe Sanh, Vietnam, with co-author Ronald Drez, 2005

• The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion, 2005

• Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, 2004

• Voices of Valor: D-Day: June 6, 1944, words and recorded voices of those who served at D-Day, edited by Brinkley, 2004

• Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress, 2003

• The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today, with Stephen Ambrose, 2002 

• Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist, collected letters of Hunter S. Thompson, edited by Brinkley, 2000

• Witness to America: An Illustrated Documentary of the History of the United States from the Revolution to D-Day, 1999

• The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter’s Journey Beyond the White House, 1998

• American Heritage: History of the United States, 1998

• Hunter S. Thompson: The Proud Highway, Saga of a Distemperate Southern Gentleman 1955-1967, collected letters, edited by Brinkley, 1997

• FDR and the Creation of the U.N., 1997

• The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey 1993

• Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years, 1953-71 1992

• Driven Patriot: The Life and Times of James Forrestal, 1992

More can be found at http://douglasbrinkley.com/all-books/ 

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Former U.S. Representative Jane Harman

Jane Harman is an internationally recognized authority on U.S. and global security issues, foreign relations, and lawmaking. Among her many achievements, Harman is a Distinguished Fellow and President Emerita of the Wilson Center, one of the world’s most highly regarded think tanks.

Harman recently completed a decade as its first female President & CEO. Congresswoman Harman has long been a national expert at the nexus of security and public policy issues, and has received numerous awards for her distinguished service, including the Defense Department Medal for Distinguished Service, the CIA Agency Seal Medal, the CIA Director’s Award, and the Director of National Intelligence Distinguished Public Service Medal.

She began her political career as the staff director for Senator John Tunney, before joining the Carter White House as special counsel to the Department of Defense. 

In 1992, she was elected to represent the 36th district of California, one of the record-breaking 37 women to be elected to Congress that year - subsequently labeled the “Year of the Woman”.

She went on to become a nine-term member of Congress who served decades on all the major security committees in the House of Representatives: six years on Armed Services, eight years on Intelligence, and eight on Homeland Security. 

During her time in Congress, Harman also earned a reputation as a supporter of a diverse set of causes, from promoting information sharing across the federal government in the interest of national security, the creation of a Cabinet-level homeland security department, to a partial ban on semi-automatic weapons.

Drawing upon a career that included service as President Carter’s Secretary of the Cabinet and hundreds of diplomatic missions abroad, Harman holds posts on nearly a dozen governmental and non-governmental advisory boards and commissions.

[Cong. Jane Harman with Michael Chertoff at The Common Good]

Harman co-chairs the Homeland Security Experts Group with former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.  She serves on the board of Iridium Communication Inc, a NASDAQ traded satellite communications company, and is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the Advisory Board of the Munich Security Conference, the Executive Committee of the Trilateral Commission, the Presidential Debates Commission and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. She is a member of the Defense Policy Board, the State Department Foreign Policy Board, and the Homeland Security Advisory Committee. Harman is a Trustee of the Aspen Institute and an Honorary Trustee at the University of Southern California. 

Her upcoming book, Insanity Defense: Why Our Failure to Confront Hard National Security Problems Makes Us Less Safe, offers an insider's account of America's ineffectual approach to some of the hardest defense and intelligence issues in the three decades since the Cold War ended.

Originally from Los Angeles, she is a product of California public school, as well as a graduate of Smith College and Harvard Law School. 

Harman has participated in several events at The Common Good, including Combating Misinformation with Clint Watts and Cong. Jane Harman, and the “World View: Security Challenges & Opportunities” panel alongside Ambassadors Bill Burns and Nicholas Burns, moderated by Financial Times’ Edward Luce, at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, 2019 and in the National Security Threats event alongside Michael Chertoff.

Congresswoman Harman currently serves as a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board.

Read More:

• Who is Giuliani hoping to get dirt on in a trip to Ukraine?

• Jane Harman on global politics & the Mueller Report

• Jane Harman writing for Foreign Affairs, December 2020: How Biden Can Restore Faith in US Spy Agencies

• February 2021, interview: Jane Harman Steps Down: A Look Back on a Decade of Leadership and Achievement

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Tom Rogers

A true innovator and a leader in the fields of television, news and entertainment, Tom Rogers has led a pioneering career at the nexus of media, technology, and public policy for more than three decades. He revolutionized the coverage of business news through the creation of CNBC and MSNBC during his tenure as the first President of NBC Cable, changed how we consume television as the CEO of TiVo, oversaw brands from New York magazine to the History Channel, and helped to draft many of the key laws which govern the development of today’s media industry. He is currently the Executive Chairman of Engine Media, broad based sports, esports, and news content & distribution company, as well as Chairman and CEO of TRget Media, a media investment and advisory firm.

In 1987, Rogers became the first President NBC Cable (now NBCUniversal Cable), Executive Vice President of NBC, and NBC’s chief strategist. In this role, he founded the nation’s leading business news channel CNBC and established the NBC/Microsoft joint venture, MSNBC. He was also instrumental in the establishment of many popular channels, including National Geographic Channel and Court TV (now truTV), and oversaw many more, including American Movie Classics and Bravo. He remains a contributor at CNBC today, with appearances including Squawk on the Street, Mad Money with Jim Cramer, and Fast Money.

Over his eleven years as Tivo’s longest serving President and CEO, Rogers led the company as it changed how consumers watched television through its invention of the DVR. Before TiVo, Rogers was Chairman and CEO of PRIMEDIA Inc., which at the time was the leading targeted media company in the United States. PRIMEDIA published over 200 magazines, and operated more than 400 websites.

Prior to entering the media industry, Rogers was Senior Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Telecommunications, Consumer Protection and Finance Subcommittee where he was responsible for overseeing the Federal Communications Commission, and drafted a variety of laws which shape communications today, such as the Cable Franchise Policy and Communications Act of 1984, which established a national policy for the regulation of cable television communications. A graduate of Wesleyan University and Columbia Law School, he has been inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame and has won an Emmy Award for contributions to the development of advanced television and advanced advertising. He is currently an Editor-at-Large for Newsweek. 

Rogers rings the bell at NASDAQ for TiVo

Rogers joined TCG on Wednesday October 28th, 2020 to moderate “The Election that Could Break America,”  a discussion about what to expect after the 2020 Biden-Trump election. He currently serves as a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board.

DNI Director Jim Clapper, Tom Rogers, and CNN’s John Berman at the Common Good

Selected Media:

Closing Bell Interview: Netflix has pricing power: Fmr. NBC Cable President Tom Rogers

Rogers for Newsweek: Bringing Justice to Justice

 Riptide Interview Tom Rogers

Rogers on CNBC: Media mogul Tom Rogers reacts to Disney's quarterly results

Andy Serwer

Andy Serwer

American journalist

Andy Serwer is the editor in chief for Yahoo Finance, where he oversees all editorial content from breaking news to in-depth stories to original video programming. He was previously the managing editor of Fortune and worked at Time Inc. for 29 years. He has been a regular guest on MSNBC’S Morning Joe and CNBC’s Squawkbox and many other TV and radio programs.

Serwer's daily online musings have earned him a reputation as one of the sharpest and most entertaining market commentators anywhere. According to an article in the May 22, 2000, New Yorker, "Achaea had Homer, the Spanish Civil War had Hemingway, California had the Beach Boys, and now our hyperactive stock market has its own poet-singer--Andy Serwer." He was named 2000 Business Journalist of the Year by TJFR, who called him "perhaps the nation's top multimedia talent, successfully juggling the roles of serious journalist, astute commentator and occasional court jester."

Serwer has also written for Sports Illustrated, Politico, SLAM Magazine, and TIME. He has appeared on CNN’s In the Money, NBC’s The Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN’s American Morning, and CBS This Morning.

Serwer participated in "The Economy in Crisis -- When the Worst Is Yet to Come" event in company with Glenn Hutchins.

Glenn Hutchins

Glenn Hutchins

Businessman & Philanthropist

Hutchins has earned respect and success at the top of the business world, philanthropy, and public service. He is chairman of North Island, a co-founder of Silver Lake, and chairman of the board of both SunGard Data Systems, Inc. and Instinet, Inc. Additionally, he served as a director of Nasdaq, Inc.   Previously, Mr. Hutchins served President Clinton in the White House as a special advisor on both economic and health-care policy. 

Hutchins and his wife, Debbie, established the Hutchins Family Foundation. The foundation supports The Brookings Institution’s Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, and the Chronic Fatigue Initiative. 

Hutchins is a prolific essayist. His writings have appeared in The New York Times, Financial Times, Fortune, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Foreign Affairs. He was also a director of Harvard Management Company and co-chairman of Harvard University’s capital campaign.

Hutchins participated in The Common Good New York City Mayoral Series With Ray McGuire, on April 23, 2021.

Former Senator Jim Webb

Jim Webb

Politician

Jim Webb is the former Democratic Senator from Virginia. He wrote, introduced, and guided to passage the Post-9.11 GI Bill, the most significant veterans legislation since World War II, and co-authored legislation which exposed 60 billion dollars of waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan wartime-support contracts. A long-time advocate of fixing America’s broken criminal justice system, Mr. Webb was spotlighted in The Atlantic as one of the world’s “Brave Thinkers” for tackling prison reform and possessing “two things vanishingly rare in Congress: a conscience and a spine.” He went on to give a response to the State of the Union which has been regarded as one of the stronger State of the Union responses in recent memory. 

He previously served as Secretary of the Navy under President Reagan and is the recipient of the Purple Heart. Webb is also an Emmy Award winning journalist, a filmmaker, and the author of ten books. Since retiring, Webb has continued to be a prolific writer and has written for many national journals including USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.

Jim Webb participated in The White Working-Class Political Revolution with David Kuhn, Charlie Cook, and Moderator Clyde Haberman on January 7, 2021. Kuhn, Webb, Cook, and Haberman discussed how the white working-class was driven away from the Democratic party and towards Republicans and how that schism continues to drive class conflict and political polarization today. The discussion also broached the Democrats inability to make inroads with this demographic and if white working-class voters support Republicans in spite of their own policy preferences.

Chris Whipple

Chris Whipple

Journalist & Filmmaker

Chris Whipple is one of the most accomplished multimedia journalists of our era: a writer, documentary filmmaker, and speaker. He is a multiple Peabody and Emmy Award–winning producer at CBS’s 60 Minutes and ABC’s Primetime. He is currently the chief executive officer of CCWHIP Productions and is a frequent guest on MSNBC and CNN. Chris served as the executive producer and writer of Showtime’s 2015 documentary film The Spymasters: CIA in the Crosshairs. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Politico, the Daily Beast, and many other publications. His last book, Gatekeepers, on White House Chiefs of Staff was a NYTimes bestseller. Whipple recently published his book “The Spymasters” which provided a remarkable, behind-the-scenes look at the world’s most powerful intelligence agency.

Friend of The Common Good and titan of TV and journalism, Tom Brokaw, described Whipple’s book, The Spymasters, this way:  “Fascinating…Whipple parts the curtains on the dark arts to show the triumphs and failures, the personalities and rivalries of those who work in the shadows of espionage.”

The Spymasters resonates with themes from today’s headlines. It is the story of how CIA directors have stood up to rogue presidents, from Richard Nixon to Donald Trump. It was Director Richard Helms’s refusal to carry out the Watergate coverup that brought down Nixon; in the scandal over President Trump’s shakedown of Ukraine’s president, it was a CIA whistleblower who brought Trump to the verge of being removed from office. Most important, in times of national crisis, including deadly pandemics, the CIA director must be the president’s, and the nation’s, honest broker of information.

Chris Whipple participated in The Spymasters: How The CIA Directors Shaped History & the Future on December 17, 2020. Whipple and Bird discussed the CIA's innerworkings, successes and failures, role in American history, and ultimately its fundamental purpose.

Kai Bird

Kai Bird

Author & Columnist

Kai Bird is an author and columnist who has written on numerous topics and won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography on Robert Oppenheimer. His books have received critical acclaim and popular success, including The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames, which was a New York Times best-seller. His memoir, Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.

In January 2017 he was appointed Executive Director and Distinguished Lecturer of CUNY Graduate Center's Leon Levy Center for Biography. He is also the recipient of the McArthur Genius Grant for research and writing. 

Kai Bird participated in The Spymasters: How The CIA Directors Shaped History & the Futureon December 17, 2020. Bird and Whipple discussed the CIA's innerworkings, successes and failures, role in American history, and ultimately its fundamental purpose.

Kurt Anderson

Kurt Anderson

Writer

Kurt Andersen is a remarkable writer who is known for his work as the host of the erstwhile Peabody-winning public radio program Studio 360. He regularly appears as a commentator on MSNBC, and has delivered TED talks. He served as a summer guest Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, and still contributes regularly to the Times. He has also been a regular columnist and critic for New York, The New Yorker and TIME.

As an editor, Kurt co-founded the transformative satirical magazine Spy and served as editor-in-chief of New York. He also co-founded Inside, a digital and print publication covering the media and entertainment industries, oversaw a relaunch of Colors magazine, co-founded the online newsletter Very Short List, and served as editor-at- large for Random House.

His writings have been praised with awards including forTurn of the Century which won the New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Heyday which won the Langum Prize for the best American historical fiction.

Kurt Anderson participated in Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History on November 18, 2020. Anderson and Hagan trace where America went wrong, what exactly happened and how we can get back to a more equitable, prosperous and ultimately more sane America.

Joe Hagan

Joe Hagan

Journalist

Joe Hagan is a special correspondent for Vanity Fair. He has written for New York, Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. Hagan recently interviewed author Kurt Anderson where they unpack his newest book Evil Geniuses  and unravels how the right helped create a wildly inequitable society—and how Americans could hold the government accountable for overlooking their economic interests.

His work includes long-form profiles and investigative exposés of some of the most significant figures and subjects of our time, including Beto O’Rourke, Hillary Clinton (her first post–secretary of state interview), Karl Rove, the Bush family, Henry Kissinger, Dan Rather, Goldman Sachs, The New York Times, and Twitter. In 2010, he discovered the diaries of singer Nina Simone and wrote about them for The Believer magazine. He lives with his family in Tivoli, New York.

Joe Hagan participated in Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History on November 18, 2020. Hagan and Anderson trace where America went wrong, what exactly happened and how we can get back to a more equitable, prosperous and ultimately more sane America.