Speaker biographies 

Thomas Donnelly is a resident fellow in defense and security policy studies at AEI. He is the author, with Frederick W. Kagan, of Ground Truth: The Future of U.S. Land Power (AEI Press, May 2008); the coeditor, with Gary J. Schmitt, of Of Men and Materiel: The Crisis in Military Resources (AEI Press, 2007); and the author of The Military We Need (AEI Press, 2005), Operation Iraqi Freedom: A Strategic Assessment (AEI Press, 2004), and several other books. From 1995 to 1999, he was policy group director and a professional staff member for the House Armed Services Committee. Mr. Donnelly also served as a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He is a former editor of Armed Forces Journal, Army Times, and Defense News.

Kathleen Hicks is a senior fellow in the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) International Security Program, where she focuses on U.S. national security strategy, planning and policy, Department of Defense and interagency reform, and the roles and missions of the U.S. armed forces. Ms. Hicks joined CSIS after thirteen years with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. As director for policy planning, she was responsible for overseeing the development and articulation of U.S. defense strategy and improving long-range policy and planning. During the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review, she led an investigation of military roles, missions, and organization issues, including those relating to the global war on terrorism, homeland defense, institutional governance and structure, and building partnership capacity. A former presidential management intern and career member of the Senior Executive Service, Ms. Hicks earned Office of the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service medals in 1999 and 2004 and a Meritorious Civilian Service medal in 2006.

Frederick W. Kagan is a resident scholar in defense and security policy studies at AEI. He is the author (with Thomas Donnelly) of Ground Truth: The Future of U.S. Land Power (AEI Press, May 2008), as well as Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq (phases I and II), No Middle Way: The Challenge of Exit Strategies from Iraq, and Iraq: The Way Forward, reports by the Iraq Planning Group at AEI. His most recent book, Finding the Target: The Transformation of American Military Policy (Encounter Books), was published in September 2006. Previously an associate professor of military history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Mr. Kagan is the author of The End of the Old Order: Napoleon and Europe, 1801–1805 (Da Capo, 2006) and coauthor of While America Sleeps: Self-Delusion, Military Weakness, and the Threat to Peace Today (St. Martin’s Press, 2000). A contributing editor at The Weekly Standard, he has also written numerous articles on defense and foreign policy issues for Foreign Affairs, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Policy Review, Commentary magazine, Parameters, and other periodicals.

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