The Costa Report

Noam Chomsky is widely considered one of the greatest and most controversial intellects of the past century. He is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and a major figure of analytic philosophy. His work has influenced fields such as computer science, mathematics, and psychology. Ideologically identifying with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism, Chomsky is known for his critiques of U.S. foreign policy and contemporary capitalism, and he has been described as one of the great cultural figures of our time. According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in 1992, Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar from 1980 to 1992, and was the eighth most cited source overall. He is the author of over 100 books.

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Over the course of a 34-year career in the Foreign Service, Ambassador Davidow became one of America's most senior and well-respected diplomats. He has extensive experience in both Latin America and Africa, having served as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Venezuela, and Zambia. He also headed the State Department's efforts in Latin America, serving as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. He retired in 2003 from the U.S. State Department with the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest position in the Foreign Service which, by law, can be held by no more than five individuals at one time.

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Marcia Clark soared into national prominence as the prosecutor of legendary football player O.J. Simpson. Yet, long before the Simpson trial made her famous, Clark had built an enviable legal reputation. The one-time professional dancer left private practice to become a Los Angeles assistant district attorney in 1981, a fortuitous career choice that allowed the twenty-eight-year-old lawyer to combine her interest in victim advocacy with powerful preparatory skills and a strong courtroom style. Clark prevailed in nineteen successful homicide prosecutions in just over a decade against such high-profile defendants as the murderer of TV actress Rebecca Schaeffer and Los Angeles vigilante James Hawkins. She is noted for her ability to critically examine complex scientific evidence. Ms. Clark is a frequent media commentator and columnist on legal issues, and is the author of the highly praised national bestseller novel Guilt By Association, and its soon to be released follow-up Guilt By Degrees.

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Charles Murray is no stranger to controversy. Named by The National Journal as one of the 50 “People Who Make a Difference” in national policy-making, he is one of the select few leading today’s debate on social policy. He is known for his frank and candid approach, and his bestselling books Losing Ground, The Bell Curve, and other works have provided a much needed dose of reality when it comes to the issues surrounding education, government, and social reform. He is the H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. In addition to his books and articles in technical journals, Murray has published extensively in The New Republic, Commentary, The Public Interest, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, National Review, and the Washington Post. He has been a frequent witness before congressional and senate committees and a consultant to senior government officials on education and welfare.

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Bob Barr represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, and now practices law in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the Libertarian Party’s nominee for President in 2008, but has since returned to the Republican Party. He is Chairman of Liberty Guard, Inc. a non-profit and non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting individual liberty, and he heads a consulting firm, Liberty Strategies, Inc. Bob is a registered Mediator and Arbitrator and teaches constitutional law at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, in addition to serving on the boards of directors for the National Rifle Association and 1Force, a company providing domestic and international security.

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Ted Lewis is the Executive Director of the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and author of over a dozen books. His most-recent book, “Bak's Sand Pile: Strategies for a Catastrophic World,” explains why massive power blackouts are certain to happen, why terrorism will die out, and how commercial air travel reduces the likelihood of global pandemics.

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Brigitte Gabriel is one of the leading terrorism experts in the world, and the founder, president and CEO of ACT! for America, the largest grassroots citizen action network dedicated to preserving national security and combating Islamic supremacy.   She’s the author of two New York Times Bestsellers, BECAUSE THEY HATE: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America and THEY MUST BE STOPPED: Why we must defeat radical Islam and how we can do it.  She has addressed the Australian Prime Minister, members of The British Parliament/House of Commons, members of the U.S. Congress, The Joint Forces Staff College, The U.S. Special Operations Command, the FBI, and many others.  In addition, Gabriel is a former news anchor for Middle East Television, and today is a regular guest analyst on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC and various radio stations across America.  She serves on the board of advisors of the Intelligence Summit.

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Paul R. Ehrlich a biologist and educator who is the Bing Professor of Population Studies in the department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University and president of Stanford's Center for Conservation Biology. He is widely considered one of the most controversial thinkers of the past half century. By training he is an entomologist specializing in Lepidoptera (butterflies), but he's also a prominent ecologist and demographer. Ehrlich is best known for his warnings about population growth and limited resources, and for his 1968 book The Population Bomb – one of the most highly debated writings of the 20th century.

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Vinton G. Cerf is widely known as one of the "Fathers of the Internet,” as he is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. In December 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his colleague, Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the technology; and in November 2005, President George Bush awarded Cerf and Kahn the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their work. He has served as Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google since October 2005, where he is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies to support the development of advanced, Internet-based products and services. He also is the former senior vice president of Technology Strategy for MCI, and previously served as MCI’s senior vice president of Architecture and Technology. In December, 1994, People magazine identified Cerf as one of that year's "25 Most Intriguing People."

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Frank Newport, Ph.D., is Gallup's Editor in Chief and the immediate past president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. He focuses on analyzing the Americans' views of their elected officials and public attitudes toward and behavior relating to key policy and issue areas, including the economy, religion, wellbeing, and key indicators of public mood and consumer behavior. His analyses appear on Gallup.com; in his blog, "Polling Matters"; in books and other publications; and on video, in podcasts, and through radio and television appearances. Dr. Newport is coauthor of Winning the White House 2008: The Gallup Poll, Public Opinion, and the Presidency and author of Polling Matters: Why Leaders Must Listen to the Wisdom of the People. He is co-author with Stuart Rothenberg of The Evangelical Voter: Religion and Politics in America and his book Religion Matters will be published by Gallup Press in 2012. Dr. Newport has written for such publications as the The New York Times, and Los Angeles Times, and his weekly radio show, "What Are We Thinking?" is produced and syndicated by Philadelphia NPR affiliate WHYY-FM, and he is the featured analyst on "Attitude Check", broadcast weekly on public radio's "Marketplace."

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