Background Briefing - Sunday September 12, 2010

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Colonel Lawence Wilkerson was Secretary of State Colin Powell's Chief of Staff at the Department of State from August 2002 to January 2005. He began working with Powell as his Deputy Executive Officer starting in 1989, Upon Powell's retirement from active service in 1993, Colonel Wilkerson served as the Deputy Director and Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia. Wilkerson rejoined Powell’s staff as a civilian in the State Department. In October of 2005, Colonel Wilkerson, after considerable soul searching, went public with his knowledge that Vice President Cheney had provided the "guidance" that led to America's torture disgrace in Guantanamo, Abu Ghriab and elsewhere. He currently teaches courses at the College of William & Mary and George Washington University.

Robert Baer managed agents from the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, from 1976 to 1997, working against Hizbollah, Al-Qaeda, and other terrorist organizations. He is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including Sleeping with the Devil, about the Saudi royal family and its relationship with the United States; See No Evil, which recounts Baer's years as a top CIA operative and provided the basis for the acclaimed film Syriana, which earned George Clooney an Oscar for his portrayal of Mr. Baer; and The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower.

Melvin Goodman is senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and adjunct professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. His 42-year government career included service at the CIA, State Department, Defense Department and the US Army. In 1991 he was one of three former CIA officials to testify before the Senate against the nomination of Robert Gates as director of central intelligence on the grounds that he had slanted intelligence to suit policy. His latest book is "Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA." He has a new article, entitled "The Self-Inflicted Wounds of 9/11."