Sigurd Neubauer is an internationally recognized authority on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Persian Gulf Security, U.S.-Arab relations, Middle East politics, Arab-Israeli relations, Afghanistan, and U.S. defense industry. His expertise also includes NATO, Norwegian defense policy and transatlantic relations. Over the past decade, Neubauer has authored dozens of scholarly articles and hundreds of commentary pieces, including for The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, CNN, Fox News, Al Arabiya, Arab News, Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post and The Forward, among others. Neubauer is a frequent contributor to the Al Jazeera television network, both English and Arabic channels. He is also a Non-Resident Fellow at Gulf International Forum. From 2009-2018, Neubauer supported various U.S. government clients at Exovera (a subsidiary of SOS International LLC) with open-source intelligence, information engagement and stability operations support. From 2015-2017, Neubauer was a Non-Resident Fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and an opinion columnist for Al Arabiya English. Fluent in seven languages, Neubauer is a graduate of Yeshiva University in New York where he studied Jewish History (M.A.), Political Science (B.A.) and French Literature (B.A.). Originally from Norway, Neubauer lives in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area with his family. Giorgio Cafiero is the CEO of Gulf State Analytics. He is a frequent contributor to Middle East Institute, Atlantic Council, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Middle East Policy Council, Al Jazeera, New Arab, Qatar Peninsula, Al Monitor, TRT World, and LobeLog. Throughout Cafiero’s career, he has spoken at international conferences and participated in closed door meetings with high-ranking government officials, diplomats, scholars, businessmen, and journalists in GCC states, Iran, Turkey, and Egypt. From 2014-2015, he worked as analyst at Kroll. Cafiero holds an M.A. in International Relations from the University of San Diego.