Jane Harman is a former nine-term congresswoman from California and former ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, a position she held for four years after 9/11.

She is currently the chair of the bipartisan, congressionally mandated Commission on the National Defense Strategy. She also serves as co-chair of the Freedom House Board of Trustees and was previously president and CEO of the nonpartisan Wilson Center, where she is now president emerita and distinguished fellow. 

Harman is recognized as a national expert at the nexus of security and public policy issues and has received numerous awards for distinguished service. She has served on advisory boards for the CIA, the Director of National Intelligence, and the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State.

She is a member of the NASA Advisory Council, the Homeland Security Advisory Council, the Aspen Institute Board of Trustees, the Aspen Strategy Group, the National Council on Election Integrity, the advisory board of the Munich Security Conference, the Eisenhower Fellowships Board of Trustees, the Executive Committee of the Trilateral Commission, and co-chairs the Homeland Security Experts Group with former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Harman's book Insanity Defense: Why Our Failure to Confront Hard National Security Problems Makes Us Less Safe was published by St. Martin's Press in 2021.

Hosted in partnership with the University of North Florida's Distinguished Voices Lecture Series.