John T. Picarelli is the Director of the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  Dr. Picarelli oversees five major initiatives driving the Department’s mission to prevent all forms of terrorism and targeted violence in America. He is also responsible for coordinating the prevention mission among a dozen offices and components of the Department.    
 
Prior to joining DHS, Dr. Picarelli served two roles for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) of the U.S. Department of Justice.  As a Division Director, Dr. Picarelli oversaw research portfolios addressing violence and victimization, including violence against women, elder abuse, children exposed to violence, bias crimes and tribal justice issues.  As the Program Manager for Transnational Issues, he built and ran an integrated research and evaluation program examining transnational organized crime, human trafficking and violent extremism.   
 
Dr. Picarelli has published over two dozen journal articles and book chapters, and serves as an adjunct faculty member at George Washington University.  He received his PhD in international relations from American University in 2007.  He lives in Virginia with his wife and two children.   

Robert Silvers was confirmed by the Senate as the Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans on August 5, 2021. He is responsible for driving policy and implementation plans across all of DHS’s missions, including counterterrorism; cybersecurity, infrastructure security, and resilience; border security and immigration; international affairs; and trade and economic security.

Mr. Silvers previously served in the Department of Homeland Security during the Obama-Biden Administration as Assistant Secretary for Cyber Policy. In that role he oversaw private sector engagement, federal government incident response, and diplomatic outreach pertaining to cybersecurity and emerging technology. Mr. Silvers also previously served as DHS’s Deputy Chief of Staff, managing execution of policy and operational priorities across the entire Department.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Silvers was a partner at the law firm Paul Hastings LLP, where his practice focused on cybersecurity and data privacy, government security review of foreign investments, and investigations and litigation at the intersection of law and national security. After graduating law school, he clerked for Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Mr. Silvers holds a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. He taught as an adjunct professor in the M.S. in Cybersecurity Risk and Strategy Program co-offered by the NYU Law School and NYU Tandon School of Engineering. A New York City native, Mr. Silvers lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and their two children.

Samantha Vinograd is the Acting Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention and Senior Counselor for National Security at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She was previously a CNN National Security Analyst, a Senior Advisor at the Biden Institute, and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.

She began her career under President George W. Bush as the
Deputy U.S. Treasury Attaché to Iraq, and she subsequently served on President Barack Obama’s National Security Council as Director for Iraq, Director for International Economics, and Senior Advisor to the
National Security Advisor. She later joined Goldman Sachs, where her work focused on building public private sector partnerships across a broad range of policy and business issues, and she later led global
public policy at Stripe.

Ms. Vinograd has been deeply engaged in social impact work and served as an advisor to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, Save the Children, and to the Concordia Summit. She was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Public Policy Institute, a David E. Rockefeller Fellow at the Trilateral Commission, and a Millennium Fellow at the Atlantic Council. She was also on the board of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group.

Ms. Vinograd has published in several outlets including New York Times, Washington Post, Daily Beast, USA Today, Harper’s Bazaar, Politico, and Marie Claire, and previously wrote the Presidential Weekly
Briefing column on CNN.com. She is fluent in French and studied advanced Arabic and Hebrew. She received her BA in Asian and Middle Eastern studies from the University of Pennsylvania and her MA in security studies from Georgetown University.