Among high-powered military leaders who will speak at the 2018 Space & Missile Defense (SMD) Symposium will be two prominent national security issues commentators and researchers.

Think tank fellows Dr. Thomas Karako and Rebeccah Heinrichs are scheduled speakers for the symposium at the Von Braun Center, Aug.7-9.

Karako will speak on Adapting Joint Air an Missile Defense Operations to the Near Peer Threat at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Heinrichs is scheduled to speak at 10:30 a.m. Thursday on Space and Missile Defense Imperatives.

Karako has been with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) since 2014 when he was named a fellow with the Project on Nuclear Issues. CSIS is an organization regularly called upon by Congress, the executive branch and the news media to explain the day’s events and offer bipartisan recommendations to improve U.S. strategy.

Karako is a senior fellow with the International Security Program, which is considered a constant source of reliable analysis on the threats and opportunities shaping U.S. security interests at home and abroad.

He is also the director of the Missile Defense Project, in which research considers the most pressing problems of the day, such as homeland missile defense, integrated air and missile defenses for U.S. forces and allies abroad, offensive strike capabilities, and investments in high technology to defeat missile threats through new and innovative means. The project also hosts a variety of events to shape the debate about policy, budgets, legislation, and both current and future programs.

Heinrichs is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a nonprofit for more than 50 years established to challenge conventional thinking and help manage strategic transitions to the future through interdisciplinary studies in defense, international relations, economics, health care, technology, culture, and law, according to its website.

As a senior fellow researcher for the Hudson Institute, Heinrichs provides research and commentary on a range of national security issues, and specializes in nuclear deterrence, missile defense, and counter-proliferation.

A former Senate advisor on military matters and foreign policy, Heinrichs worked to help launch the bipartisan Missile Defense Caucus and will be speaking Aug. 9 to Symposium attendees on imperatives for space and missile defense.

Heinrichs has regularly appeared on Fox News and her work has been published in major newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Times, and Investor’s Business Daily as well as political journals such as Politico and The Hill.