Nuclear stability in a time of global tension

Eric Edelman, a Miller Center practitioner senior fellow, retired as a career minister from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2009 after having served in senior positions at the Departments of State and Defense as well as the White House. As the undersecretary of defense for policy (2005–2009), he oversaw strategy development as the Defense Department’s senior policy official with global responsibility for bilateral defense relations, war plans, special operations forces, homeland defense, missile defense, nuclear weapons and arms control policies, counter-proliferation, counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, arms sales, and defense trade controls. Edelman served as U.S. ambassador to the Republics of Finland and Turkey in the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations and was principal deputy assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for national security affairs.

Rebeccah Heinrichs is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and the director of its Keystone Defense Initiative. She specializes in U.S. national defense policy with a focus on strategic deterrence. Heinrichs served as a commissioner on the bipartisan Strategic Posture Commission, which was created in the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. She also serves on the U.S. Strategic Command Advisory Group and the National Independent Panel on Military Service and Readiness. She is an adjunct professor at the Institute of World Politics where she teaches nuclear deterrence theory and is also a contributing editor of Providence: A Journal of Christianity and American Foreign Policy. Heinrichs earned her MA in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College and her BA in history and political science from Ashland University in Ohio, where she now serves as a member of the University's board of trustees.

Franklin C. Miller served for 31 years in the U.S. government, including senior positions in the Department of Defense and on the National Security Council staff. From 1985 to 2001, Miller was directly in charge of U.S. nuclear deterrence and targeting policy. For his government service, Miller received the Defense Department's highest civilian award, the Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, five times, and has received similar high-level awards. In addition, Miller has been awarded the Norwegian Royal Order of Merit, the French Legion of Honor, Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, and an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II. Following his retirement from government in 2005, Miller joined The Cohen Group. He is currently a Principal of The Scowcroft Group, where he provides clients strategic and tactical advice on defense, national security, foreign affairs, and intelligence policy. Miller currently serves on the U.S. Strategic Command Advisory Group.

Philip B. K. Potter, a Miller Center faculty senior fellow, is executive director of the National Security Data and Policy Institute, the University of Virginia’s sixth university-level institute. A professor of public policy and the founding director of the Frank Batten School's National Security Policy Center, Potter’s decades of research have focused on U.S. foreign policy, military affairs, data analysis, and international security. He serves as a university expert for the intelligence community and a senior advisor in the Department of Defense. He is an active voice in both academia and government on national security research and policy.  He holds a BA from McGill University and an MA and PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles.