Vice Adm. (ret.) Vijay Shankar

Military Commander

India

Vice Admiral Vijay Shankar retired in September 2009 after nearly 45 years of service in the Indian Navy where he held the positions of commander in chief of the Andaman & Nicobar Command and commander in chief of the Strategic Forces Command. His afloat assignments include specialist tenures on board several fleet units between 1970 and 1983. He was a part of the commissioning crew of INS Ghorpad, commissioned in Poland, and of INS Rana commissioned in the Soviet Union. He also served as the commanding officer of INS Panaji in 1973, INS Himgiri in 1987, INS Ganga in 1993 and the Indian Navy’s only aircraft carrier, INS Viraat in 1995. He took over command of the ‘Sword Arm’ of the Indian Navy as the flag officer commanding Western Fleet in January 2003. His operational experience is backed by active service during the Indo-Pak war of 1971, command of INS Himgiri during Operation Pawan and as chief of staff, Southern Naval Command during Operation Vijay.

Brig. Gen. (ret.) Ephraim Sneh

Military Commander

Israel

A veteran soldier and statesman, internationally-renowned spokesperson for Israel and prominent architect of Israel’s peace initiatives, retired Brigadier General Ephraim Sneh has dedicated his life to defending Israel while seeking opportunities to fortify Israel’s future through peace with her neighbors. Sneh has served as minister of health, deputy minister of defense and minister of transportation. He also served as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He has lead the Yisrael Hazaka party since 2008.

Mr. Jon Soltz

Military Commander

United States

Jon Soltz is co-founder and chairman of VoteVets.org, a grassroots network of over 220,000 veterans, military families and civilian supporters that holds politicians accountable for actions that adversely affect veterans and supports those who aid them. He is a frequent contributor to major news and media sources including The New York Times, Huffington Post, and Larry King Live on CNN. Soltz has served twice in Iraq, once in 2003 as a captain with the First Armored Division and later in 2011 as a major, helping to train the Iraqi army. He also served in 2000 in the Kosovo Conflict as a tank platoon leader.

Dr. Teng Jianqun

Military Commander

China

Dr. Teng Jianqun is a senior research fellow and director of the Department for American Studies at the China Institute of International Studies. From 1979 to 1992, he served in the People’s Liberation Army — first in the navy and later in the Academy of Military Science, where he served as assistant research fellow and editor-in-chief of the “World Military Review.” Teng has written extensively on arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation including “An Assessment of U.S. Non-proliferation Policy” and “Choices and Challenges of China’s Nuclear Disarmament.”

ACM (ret.) Shashindra Pal Tyagi

Military Commander

India

Retired Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi served as the chief of the air staff of the Indian Air Force from 2004 to 2007. Tyagi was commissioned as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force in 1963. He held many important staff appointments in the Indian military, including director of air defence, assistant chief of the air staff (intelligence), assistant chief of the air staff (operations) at Air Headquarters and senior air staff officer, HQ Central Air Command. He is one of the few officers to command three separate Air Commands in the Indian Air Force: the Central, South Western and Western Air Commands.

Tyagi is a member of the Global Zero Commission on Nuclear Risk Reduction and the Global Zero Commission.

Gen. (ret.) Ehsan ul-Haq

Military Commander

Pakistan

Retired General Ehsan ul-Haq is a former Pakistani military officer now serving as chairman of the advisory board at the Centre for Pakistan and Gulf Studies. He joined the army in October 1969 as an air defense officer and rose to the position of corps commander, Peshawar. In 2001, ul-Haq was appointed head of the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate, the intelligence body of Pakistan. He was appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2004 where he served until he retired from the military in 2007.

Col. Gen. (ret.) Vladimir Nikolaevich Verkhovtsev

Military Commander

Russia

Retired Colonel General Vladimir Nikolaevich Verkhovtsev is former chief of the 12th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense in the Russian Federation. A career military officer, Verkhovtsev graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. Until 2003, he was the first president of the Karachay–Cherkess Republic. He was also awarded the Order of Military Merit (Russia).

Maj. Gen. (ret.) Xu Guangyu

Military Commander

China

Retired Major General Xu Guangyu is a senior consultant of the Chinese Military Disarmament Control Council and senior research at the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association. He formerly served as vice president of the People’s Liberation Army Defense Institute of China. He has served as a high-level consultant for the National Defense University Publishing House and the Beijing Three Strategies of Huang Shigong Scientific Research Institute. He is widely regarded as an expert of Chinese contemporary military affairs and has continued to act as an arms control and disarmament expert for the army after retiring from the PLA.