Spencer Ackerman is the national-security correspondent for the Washington Independent and runs a personal blog called Attackerman at Firedoglake. He spent September 2008 in eastern Afghanistan, and has reported from Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and other theaters of what used to be called the war on terror. A former staffer for Talking Points Memo, his writing has appeared in Slate, Atlantic, Salon, American Prospect, Jezebel, Survival, World Politics Journal, the Austin American-Statesman, the Internet Food Association, Inside Front, the Washington Monthly, lots of friends' comment sections and other publications.

Ilan Goldenberg is the Policy Director at the National Security Network where he works on Iraq, the Middle East and broad national security questions. He previously worked as head of research for the Foreign Policy Leadership Council. Prior to that, Goldenberg worked for the U.S.-Middle East Project at the Council on Foreign Relations. Ilan is a regular contributor to the foreign policy blog Democracy Arsenal. He has written numerous pieces for the New Republic and the Huffington Post and is a frequent commentator in the media. He holds an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University.

Matthew Yglesias is a fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. He's been blogging at various venues since the Internet Stone Age of January 2002. In addition to the blog, he's a senior correspondent for The American Prospect and a regular columnist for The Daily Beast.

AJ Rossmiller, with the National Security Network, is the author of "Still Broken,' a first-person account of working as an intelligence officer, published this spring by Random House. AJ served with the Defense Intelligence Agency for nearly two years, and was decorated for his service in deployment to Iraq. He has contributed to the websites AMERICAblog and TAPPED, and his writing and commentary have been featured or cited in a wide variety of news outlets.