Suzanne Maloney is a senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. She is an expert on Iran and the Gulf States and has written about religion and human rights in the region.

Steven Cook is a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who is knowledgeable about politics in the Arab world, U.S.-Middle East policy, civil-military relations in the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Nathan Brown is a professor of political science and international affairs and director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is an expert on government and politics of the Middle East, democratization and constitutionalism, and the rule of law in the Arab world.

Chester L. Gillis is dean of Georgetown College, a professor in the department of theology and director of the Program on the Church and Interreligious Dialogue in the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. He is an expert in Catholocism and the editor of The Political Papacy: John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Their Influence.

Mohamad Bazzi is a fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, where he is working on a project about Hezbollah and the Shiite community in Lebanon. He is the former Middle East bureau head for (New York) Newsday and is based in New York City.

Yesim Arat is a professor of political science and international relations at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey. She is the author of Rethinking Islam and Liberal Democracy: Islamist Women in Turkish Politics.

Bulent Aliriza is director and senior associate of the Turkey Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is an expert in Turkish politics and foreign relations.

Haim Malka is a fellow and deputy director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is an expert in Islam and politics, especially in the Middle East and North Africa.

Nicholas P. Cafardi is a leading experts on the Catholic Church’s response to abusive clergy and an expert on canon law. He is an attorney with Cafardi Ferguson Wyrick Weis and Stotler in Sewickley, Pa.