The President’s Inbox Creators & Guests

James M. Lindsay is a SVP of CFR and co-author of The Empty Throne. He is also co-host of The World Next Week podcast.

Jenny Town is an expert on North Korea who specializes in US-DPRK relations, US-ROK alliance, and Northeast Asia regional security. Currently, she is a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center, and Director of Stimson’s 38 North Program. She is an Associate Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a Member of the National Committee on North Korea, and an Associate Member of the Council of Korean Americans. She serves on the Editorial Board for the online foreign policy journal "Inkstick."Town co-founded and managed the 38 North website, which provides policy and technical analysis on North Korea.Previously, Town was the Assistant Director of the US-Korea Institute at SAIS.Town received her B.A. in East Asian Studies and International Relations from Westmar University and her M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.

Dr. Beverly Gage is a historian, specializing in American political history, government and political development, and ideology and social movements. Currently, she a Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University and a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine.Previouisly, Gage was the Director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale.Gage's work has appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Times, The Nation, and the Washington Post. Her first book, "The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror," was published in 2009. Her second book, "G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century," was published in 2022.Gage received her B.A. in American Studies from Yale University and her Ph.D. in History from Columbia University.In September 2021, she announced that she would resign as director of the Grand Strategy program, effective December 2021, citing concerns about academic freedom and a "board of visitors" that was formed to oversee her work.[4] In an interview with The New York Times, she stated, "It’s very difficult to teach effectively or creatively in a situation where you are being second-guessed and undermined and not protected." On October 1, 2021, the Yale history department issued a statement in support of her.[5]

Célia Belin is a visiting fellow at The Brookings Institution and an Associate Researcher at the Thucydide Center of Panthéon-Assas University.

Sebastian Mallaby is a journalist and author.

Bruce R. Hoffman is an American political analyst. He specializes in the study of terrorism, counter-terrorism, insurgency, and counter-insurgency. Hoffman serves as the Shelby Cullom and Kathryn W. Davis Senior Fellow for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security on the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a professor at the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University. In addition, he is the Professor Emeritus and Honorary Professor of Terrorism Studies at the University of St Andrews, and is the George H. Gilmore Senior Fellow at the U.S. Military Academy's Combating Terrorism Center.

Gulchehra "Guli" A. Hoja is a journalist, known for her work covering Uyghurs and their treatment by the government of China. Currently, she reports for Radio Free Asia.In 2019, Hoja received the Magnitsky Human Rights Award for her reporting on the ongoing human rights crisis in Xinjiang and in 2020, Hoja received the Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation and was listed among The 500 Most Influential Muslims.Hoja received her B.A. in Uyghur Language and Literature from Xinjiang Normal University.

Dr. Fredrik Logevall is a historian and Professor of History and of International Affairs at Harvard University. He is a specialist in U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam Wars.Previously, Logevall was Professor of History at Cornell University.Logevall’s essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, Daily Beast, Foreign Affairs, and other publications. His first book, "Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam," was published in 1999. His ninth book, "Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam," was published in 2012 and won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2013.

Meighan Stone is an adjunct senior fellow in the Women and Foreign Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mary Sarotte is a historian.

R. Nicholas Burns is a university professor, columnist, lecturer, and former American diplomat. He is currently Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he is director of The Future of Diplomacy Project and Faculty Chair for the programs on the Middle East and India and South Asia. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the school's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He is Director of the Aspen Strategy Group, senior counselor at The Cohen Group, and serves on the Board of Directors of Entegris, Inc. He writes a bi-weekly column on foreign affairs for The Boston Globe and is a senior foreign affairs columnist for GlobalPost. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations, Special Olympics, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Atlantic Council, the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, American Media Abroad, the Gennadius Library, and the Richard Lounsbery Foundation.Burns wad the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs within the United States Department of State for the George W. Bush administration.Burns was born in Buffalo, New York, and raised in Wellesley, Massachusetts. He received his B.A. in history from Boston College and his M.A. in international relations from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Landry Signé is a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program and the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution.

Ivan Krastev is a political scientist, currently serving as the chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia. He is also permanent fellow at the Institute of Human Sciences in Vienna.Previously, Krastev was executive director of the International Commission on the Balkans chaired by the former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Edition of Foreign Policy.Krastev is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. His first book, "Shifting Obsessions: Three Essays on the Politics of Anticorruption," was published in 2004, and he has published several more since.

Fiona Hill is a foreign affairs specialist, academic, and former official at the U.S. National Security Council specializing in Russian and European affairs.

Dr. Sue Mi Terry is an East Asia researcher and analyst. Currently, she is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.Terry is a former CIA intelligence analyst specializing in East Asia, and appears regularly in print and web media as an expert on international politics involving North Korea, South Korea and Japan.Terry received her B.A. in Political Science from New York University, and her Ph.D. in International Relations from Tufts University.

Alina Polyakova is an expert on transatlantic relations with expertise on European politics, Russian foreign policy, and digital technologies. She is currently the President and CEO of the Center for European Policy Analysis.Before joining CEPA, Dr. Polyakova was the Founding Director for Global Democracy and Emerging Technology at the Brookings Institution. Previously, she served as Director of Research for Europe and Eurasia at the Atlantic Council, where she developed and led the institute’s work on disinformation and Russia.Dr. Polyakova's writing on Russian political warfare, European security, digital authoritarianism, and the implications of emerging technologies to democracies has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, and The Atlantic. She has appeared on Fox News, CNN, and BBC. Her first book, "The Dark Side of European Integration," was published in 2015.Dr Polyakova serves on the board of the Free Russia Foundation and the Institute of Modern Russia, and is adjunct professor of European studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).Dr. Polyakova received her B.A. in Economics and Sociology from Emory University, AND HER M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Yascha Mounk is a political scientist.