As director of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Letitia A. Long is the first woman to lead a major intelligence agency. She has more than 30 years of engineering and intelligence experience, previously serving as deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence, deputy director of naval intelligence and as coordinator of intelligence community activities for the director of central intelligence.

Beth Simone Noveck is the United States deputy chief technology officer and director of the White House Open Government Initiative. Currently on leave from her academic career, she previously taught at the New York Law School in the areas of intellectual property, innovation and constitutional law, as well as courses on electronic democracy and electronic government.

Noveck created the Democracy Design Workshop, a collaborative “do tank,” where students and faculty at New York Law School work in teams to develop legal code and software code to promote transparent and collaborative ways of learning, working and governing.

With the support of grants from various foundations and corporations, Noveck launched the Peer to Patent: Community Patent Review project in collaboration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Peer-to-Patent is the legal, policy and software framework to open patent examination for public participation for the first time.

Noveck is also the founder and organizer of the State of Play conferences, the annual event on virtual worlds research. With the support of the Maya Foundation, she launched the State of Play Academy, a virtual world space for democratizing legal education by teaching law to non-lawyers. The academy is also an experimental space for studying the impact of virtual worlds on learning and teaching.

Noveck is a member of the ABA’s Commission on Electronic Rulemaking and the OMB Watch Taskforce on Transparency and Public Participation in Government. She is a member of the Legal Expert Network of the Institute for the Study of the Information Society and Technology at the Carnegie Mellon Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, a member of the editorial board for First Monday, I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society, and of the advisory board of the International Journal for Communications Law and Policy. She is a member of the advisory board of the Nanyang Technical University Centre on Asia Pacific Technology Law and Policy in Singapore, where she visited as a Fulbright senior specialist.

Previously a telecommunications and Internet lawyer practicing in New York, Noveck is also the McClatchy associate visiting professor at the Department of Communication at Stanford University. She served as a volunteer adviser on innovation in government for Obama for America and as a member of the Technology, Innovation and Government Reform Policy group for the Obama-Biden transition.

Noveck graduated from Harvard University with bachelor’s degree in social studies and a master’s degree in comparative literature. She earned a law degree from Yale Law School. After studying as a Rotary Foundation graduate fellow at Oxford University, she earned a doctorate at the University of Innsbruck with the support of a Fulbright grant.

Janet Napolitano is the third secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. She leads the nation’s collective efforts to secure it from various threats, including terrorism and natural disasters.

To counter the threat of terrorism, Napolitano has forged new partnerships with international allies and expanded information sharing with federal, state and local law enforcement. She has initiated a course to strengthen security along the southwest border, deploying additional personnel and advanced technology, while working with Mexico to combat violent international drug cartels.

Napolitano also has implemented an effective approach to enforcing immigration laws and prioritizing public safety while targeting criminal aliens and pursuing employers that take advantage of illegal labor. She has strengthened the nation’s ability to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters by cutting through red tape and expediting decision-making along the Gulf Coast, providing new resources to build resilient communities and bolster their response capabilities, and urging Americans to take part of the shared responsibility of making the nation secure.

Prior to becoming secretary, Napolitano was in her second term as governor of Arizona and was recognized as a national leader on homeland security, border security and immigration. She was the first woman to chair the National Governors Association and was named one of the top five governors in the country by Time magazine. Napolitano was also the first female attorney general of Arizona and served as U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona.

Napolitano graduated from Santa Clara University, where she won a Truman Scholarship and was the university’s first female valedictorian, and received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. Before entering public office, Napolitano served as a clerk for Judge Mary M. Schroeder on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and practiced law in Phoenix at the firm of Lewis and Roca.

Robert A. Harding is a major general who retired from the Army in 2001 after serving for 33 years. He was recently tapped by President Barack Obama to head the TSA. He subsequently withdrew his nomination.

Previously, Harding was CEO and president of Harding Security Associates, a security consultant firm specializing in homeland security assignments. He previously served as executive vice president of operations at Innovative Logistics Techniques, where he had corporate responsibility for managing and expanding operational aspects of INNLOG’s business.

In his last military assignment in 2001, Harding was the U.S. Army Deputy G2 (intelligence). His responsibilities included planning and executing the Army’s intelligence programs. Prior to that role, he was director for operations at the Defense Intelligence Agency. Some of his positions there include DoD’s senior human intelligence officer and functional manager for intelligence collection management for DoD.

Harding’s military awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Medal, the Legion of Merit with three oak leaf clusters, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters.

Harding has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Bowie State University, a master’s degree in business from Salve Regina University, and a master’s degree in national security and strategy from the U.S. Naval War College.

Mary Wakefield was named administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration by President Barack Obama Feb. 20, 2009. Wakefield was previously at the University of North Dakota, where she served as associate dean for rural health at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She was also a tenured professor and director of the university’s Center for Rural Health.

In the 1990s, Wakefield served as chief of staff to North Dakota senators Kent Conrad (D) and Quentin Burdick (D). She also has served as director of the Center for Health Policy, Research and Ethics at George Mason University, and worked as a consultant to the World Health Organization’s Global Programme on AIDS in Geneva, Switzerland.

Wakefield is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in 2004. She also co-chaired the IOM committee that produced the report Health Professions Education, and chaired the committee that produced the report Quality through Collaboration: Health Care in Rural America.

In addition, she has served on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, as chair of the National Advisory Council for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, as a member of President Clinton’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, and as a member of the National Advisory Committee to HRSA’s Office of Rural Health Policy.

Thomas R. Frieden became director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in 2009.  Frieden has worked to control both communicable and noncommunicable diseases in the United States and around the world.

From 1992 to 1996, he led New York City’s program that controlled tuberculosis, including reducing cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis by 80 percent. He then worked in India for five years and assisted with national tuberculosis control efforts.

As commissioner of the New York City Health Department, Frieden directed one of the world′s largest public-health agencies. During his tenure, the number of smokers declined by 350,000, teen smoking decreased by half, and New York City became the first place in the United States to eliminate trans-fats from restaurants, monitor the diabetes epidemic, and require certain restaurants to post calorie information prominently. Under Frieden’s leadership, the department also established the largest community electronic health records project in the country.

Frieden also provided pro bono assistance to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and helped establish the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use.

Frieden previously worked for CDC from 1990 until 2002. He began his career at CDC as an epidemiologic intelligence service officer at the New York City Health Department.

Frieden received his medical degree and master’s of public health degree from Columbia University and completed infectious-disease training at Yale University. He has received numerous awards and honors and has published more than 200 scientific articles.

Price B. Floyd is the former principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. He served as staff adviser and assistant to the secretary of defense and deputy secretary of defense for public information, internal information, and community relations as well as information training and audiovisual matters in support of DoD activities.

Before joining the DoD, Floyd was director of external relations for the Center for New American Security. He also served at the Department of State from 1989 until 2007. He brings more than 15 years of communications and diplomatic experience with the U.S. Department of State, most recently as director of media affairs. There, he developed and implemented media strategies to promote the foreign policy agenda of the department, from elections in Afghanistan and Iraq to the responses to the tsunami in Indonesia and the earthquake in Pakistan. From 1998 to 2000, Floyd served as executive assistant to State Department Spokesman James P. Rubin, where he prepared the spokesman for daily press briefings, coordinated media appearances, and was chief interlocutor for the spokesman throughout the department.

From 1997 to 1998, Floyd served on the staff of Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, and he traveled to more than 50 countries to coordinate meetings and public events. From 1995 to 1997, he served in the economics section and the Office of the Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Bonn, Germany. Prior to serving in Germany, Floyd was seconded to the United Nations International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, where he served as deputy envoy to the government in Montenegro. He also served as the first Bosnia desk officer from 1993 to 1994, working on the War Crimes Tribunal and negotiations for the signing of the Bosnian constitution. Floyd began his career at the State Department assisting the assistant secretary of state for European affairs from 1990 to 1993.

Floyd has received numerous awards for his service, including the State Departments Superior Honor Award, Superior Honor Award, and the Service Medal from the United Nations and European Union.

Ashton B. Carter serves as under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. Before assuming this position, Carter was chair of the international and global affairs faculty at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and co-director of the Preventive Defense Project, a research collaboration of Harvard and Stanford universities. Carter was also senior partner at Global Technology Partners and a member of the board of trustees of the MITRE Corporation and the advisory boards of MIT’s Lincoln Laboratories and the Draper Laboratory. He was a consultant to Goldman, Sachs on international affairs and technology matters.

Carter was also a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Physical Society, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, the advisory board of the Yale Journal of International Law, and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He was also chair of the National Security Strategy and Policies Expert Working Group of the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States, a member of the National Missile Defense White Team, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on International Security and Arms Control.

In 1997, Carter co-chaired the Catastrophic Terrorism Study Group with former CIA Director John M. Deutch. From 1998 to 2000, he was deputy to William J. Perry in the North Korea Policy Review. Between 2001 and 2002, he served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism and advised on the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

Carter was assistant secretary of defense for international security policy during President Bill Clinton’s first term. Some of his Pentagon duties included countering weapons of mass destruction worldwide; oversight of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and missile defense programs; the 1994 Nuclear Posture Review; and chairmanship of NATO’s High Level Group; and the Nunn-Lugar program resulting in the removal of all nuclear weapons from the territories of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.

Carter was twice awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal. In 1987, Carter was named one of 10 outstanding young Americans by the United States Jaycees. He received the American Physical Society’s forum award for his contributions to physics and public policy. Carter was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Diplomacy.

Carter received bachelor’s degrees in physics and in medieval history from Yale University. He received his doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes scholar.

Former Republican Senate Whip Alan K. Simpson was chosen to co-chair the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform in February 2010.

After graduating from the University of Wyoming in 1954, Simpson joined the Army and was commissioned a second lieutenant. In November 1954, he was ordered to Fort Benning, Ga. He served overseas in the 5th Infantry Division and in the 2nd Armored Division in the final months of the Army of Occupation in Germany. Following his honorable discharge in 1956, Simpson returned to the University of Wyoming and completed his law degree in 1958.

After being admitted to the Wyoming Bar and the United States District Court in 1958, and serving for a short time as Wyoming assistant attorney general, Simpson joined his father, Milward L. Simpson, in the law firm of Simpson, Kepler and Simpson in his hometown of Cody. He practiced law there for the next 18 years, and he also served as city attorney for 10 years.

Simpson’s political career began in 1964 when he was elected to the Wyoming State Legislature as a state representative of his native Park County. He served for the next 13 years in the Wyoming House of Representatives, holding the offices of majority whip, majority floor leader and speaker pro-tem.

In 1978, Simpson was elected to the United States Senate. After his first term, he was re-elected in 1984 and then again in 1990 to a third term. Following his first term in the Senate, Simpson was elected by his peers to the position of the assistant majority leader in 1984 and served in that capacity until 1994. He completed his final term Jan. 3, 1997.

Simpson has periodically taught at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, as well as at his alma mater.

Erskine Bowles was appointed to the position of co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform in February 2010. Currently the president of the University of North Carolina, Bowles announced his plans to retire as soon as a replacement has been found. Bowles is also a former Clinton White House chief of staff.

Bowles began his business career at Morgan Stanley & Co. in New York as an associate in the corporate finance group. In that position, he provided corporate finance expertise to America’s middle-market companies. After a while, he returned to his home state of North Carolina, where he founded and served as chairman and CEO of an investment banking firm that became Bowles Hollowell Connor & Co. Bowles also was a founder of Kitty Hawk Capital, a venture capital company, and Carousel Capital, a middle-market private equity company.

In 1993, Bowles was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as director of the Small Business Administration, and later was tapped to serve as deputy White House chief of staff (1994-95) and White House chief of staff (1996-98). As chief of staff, he helped negotiate the first balanced budget in a generation. As a member of the National Economic Council and National Security Council, he helped guide domestic and foreign policy.

Prior to serving as deputy White House chief of staff, Bowles helped direct the government’s response to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. After he left the White House, he also served from 1999 to 2001 as a general partner of Forstmann Little, a private equity firm. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002 and 2004, and currently serves on the boards of Morgan Stanley and Cousins Properties.

Bowles graduated from the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967, and from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business in 1969. He holds eight honorary doctorates from universities and colleges throughout America.