Mitt Romney announces his foreign policy team

In a move to highlight his national security credentials in the GOP presidential race, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has publicized a new roster of campaign advisers working on foreign policy and defense issues. The announcement comes ahead of a major foreign policy speech that Romney is scheduled to deliver at the Citadel military college in South Carolina on Friday.

The new team, which the Romney campaign listed in a PR announcement to the press on Thursday, draws heavily on Republicans with mainstream policy credentials--a clear point of continuity with the playbook the Romney campaign has adopted in domestic, social and economic policy. The list features few advisers affiliated with the more aggressively hawkish or isolationist wings of the party--but the exceptions are notable.

Not surprisingly, the list leans heavily on veterans of past Republican White Houses. Here, for example, is a partial list of some of the more prominent former Bush White House hands now working on the Romney foreign policy team: former CIA Director Michael Hayden, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Eric Edelman, former Pentagon comptroller Dov Zakheim, former State Department Policy Planning Chief and North Korea expert Mitchell Reiss. The roster of George W, Bush veterans also include Robert Joseph and Stephen Rademaker, who both served as under secretaries of State for international security and arms control; former Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky; former State Department envoy on war crimes Pierre Prosper, former spokesman for the U.S. viceroy in Iraq Dan Senor; and former CIA counter terrorism chief turned Blackwater executive Cofer Black.

Advising Romney on Afghanistan and Pakistan: the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Ashley Tellis, and former Bush-era Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs James Shinn. On Asia: former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Evan Feigenbaum, now affiliated with the Council on Foreign Relations. On Defense: former Reagan Navy Secretary John Lehman and Roger Zakheim.

Among those advising Romney on the Middle East: former Bush deputy National Security Adviser on Iraq adviser Meghan O'Sullivan, and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Mary Beth Long.

However, some Washington Middle East experts have already flagged Lebanese-American scholar Walid Phares as a controversial co-chair of the Romney Mideast team.

"Walid Phares is advising Romney on Middle East policy? For realz? That's terrifying + not just because of [Lebanese Forces] LF history," George Washington University Middle East expert Marc Lynch wrote on Twitter, referring to Phares' past reported role with the right-wing Lebanese Christian militia during that country's civil war. "To be clear: I have nothing against Gov. Romney," the Center for New American Security's Andrew Exum similarly wrote at Twitter. "But appointing Walid Phares your M.E. advisor is NUTS." Phares, now affiliated with the National Defense University, was an outspoken advocate of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and of a hawkish Middle Eastern policy during the Bush years.

The region is the subject of such American national security preoccupation given the nearly 40,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, the Iran nuclear issue, the stalemated Israeli Palestinian peace process and the Arab spring revolutions that have convulsed the region the past year.

Meanwhile, a key Romney nonproliferation adviser, the Heritage Foundation's Kim Holmes, has opposed American ratification of the U.S.-Russian START nuclear arms reduction treaty, which has been overwhelmingly supported by lawmakers from both parties going back to Reagan. The Senate ratified the new START accord last December.

Also advising Romney: Brookings foreign policy scholar Robert Kagan, former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Kristin Silverberg, former Assistant Secretary of State for non proliferation Stephen Rademaker, two former Bush-era U.S. ambassadors to Brazil (John Danilovich and Clifford Sobel), former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and former Rep. Jim Talent (R-Mo.).

You can read the full (and quite long) list or Romney advisers below the jump:

Special Advisers and Co-Chairs of regional and functional working groups are listed below. Titles and affiliations are for identification purposes only.

SPECIAL ADVISERS

Cofer Black

Vice President of Blackbird Technologies; Director of the CIA Counter-Terrorism Center (1999-2002); United States Department of State Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism (2002-2004)

Christopher Burnham

Vice Chairman of Deutsche Bank Asset Management; United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Management (2005-2006); United States Under Secretary of State for Management (2001-2005)

Michael Chertoff

Chairman of the Chertoff Group; United States Secretary of Homeland Security (2005-2009); Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (2003-2005)

Eliot Cohen

Director of the Strategic Studies Program at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; Counselor to the United States Department of State (2007-2009); Defense Policy Advisory Board Member (2001-2009)

Norm Coleman

Chairman of the Board, American Action Network; Adviser to the Republican Jewish Coalition; United States Senator (R-MN) (2003-2009)

John Danilovich

Member of the Trilantic European Advisory Council; CEO of Millennium Challenge Corporation (2005-2009); Ambassador to Brazil (2004-2005); Ambassador to Costa Rica (2001-2004)

Paula Dobriansky

Senior Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs (2001-2009)

Eric Edelman

Visiting Scholar at School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University; Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (2005-2009); Principal Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs (2001-2003)

Michael Hayden

Principal of the Chertoff Group; Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2006-2009); Director of the National Security Agency (1999-2005)

Kerry Healey

President, Friends of the Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan; Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (2003-2007); Trustee, American University of Afghanistan

Kim Holmes

Vice President of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation; Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (2001-2005)

Robert Joseph

Senior Scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy; Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security (2005-2007)

Robert Kagan

Syndicated Columnist; Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in the Center on United States and Europe; Board Member of the Foreign Policy Initiative

John Lehman

Chairman and Founding Partner, J. F. Lehman & Co.; National Security Advisory Counsel for the Center for Security Policy; Secretary of the Navy (1981-1987); Member of the 9/11 Commission

Walid Phares

Professor of Global Strategies at the National Defense University in Washington; Member of the Advisory Board of the Task Force on Future Terrorism at the Department of Homeland Security (2006-2007)

Pierre Prosper

Partner at Arent Fox; United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues (2001-2005); Special Counsel and Policy Adviser to the Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues (1999-2001)

Mitchell Reiss

President of Washington College; Director of Policy Planning at State Department (2001-2005); Special Envoy for Northern Ireland (2005-2007)

Daniel Senor

Partner at Rosemont Capital; Coalition Provisional Authority Spokesman and Senior Advisor (2003-2004); Director and Co-Founder, Foreign Policy Initiative

Jim Talent

Distinguished Fellow at the Heritage Foundation; United States Senator (R-MO) (2002-2007)

Vin Weber

Managing Partner, Clark & Weinstock; Member of the United States House of Representatives (R-MN) (1981-1993)

Richard Williamson

Partner at Winston & Strawn; United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (2004); Special Envoy to Sudan (2008-2009); Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (1988-1989)

Dov Zakheim

Senior Advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) (2001-2004); Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Planning and Resources (1985-1987)

WORKING GROUP CHAIRS AND CO-CHAIRS

Afghanistan & Pakistan

James Shinn, Co-Chair

Lecturer at Princeton University; Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs (2007-2008)

Ashley Tellis, Co-Chair

Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Senior Adviser to the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs (2003)

Africa

Tibor Nagy, Chair

Vice Provost for International Affairs at Texas Tech University; Ambassador to Ethiopia (1999-2002); Ambassador to Guinea (1996-1999)

Asia-Pacific

Evan Feigenbaum, Co-Chair

Executive Director of the Paulson Institute; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia (2006-2009); Member for East Asia, Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff (2001-2006)

Aaron Friedberg, Co-Chair

Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University; Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs and Director of Policy Planning, Office of the Vice President (2003-2005)

Kent Lucken, Co-Chair

Director at Citigroup Private Bank in Boston; Former Foreign Service Officer; Board Member for the US-Asia Institute

Counter-Proliferation

Eric Edelman, Co-Chair

Visiting Scholar at School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University; Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (2005-2009); Principal Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs (2001-2003)

Robert Joseph, Co-Chair

Senior Scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy; Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security (2005-2007)

Stephen Rademaker, Co-Chair

Principal at Podesta Group; Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation (2002-2006); Policy Director for National Security Affairs and Senior Counsel to Senator Bill Frist (2006-2007)

Counterterrorism & Intelligence

Michael Chertoff, Co-Chair

Chairman of the Chertoff Group; Secretary of Homeland Security (2005-2009); Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (2003-2005)

Michael Hayden, Co-Chair

Principal of the Chertoff Group; Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2006-2009); Director of the National Security Agency (1999-2005)

Defense

John Lehman, Co-Chair

Chairman and Founding Partner, J.F. Lehman & Co.; National Security Advisory Council for the Center for Security Policy; Secretary of the Navy (1981-1987); Member of the 9/11 Commission

Roger Zakheim, Co-Chair

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (2008-2009)

Europe

Nile Gardiner, Co-Chair

Director of the Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom; Foreign Policy Researcher for British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (2000-2002)

Kristen Silverberg, Co-Chair

Chief Operating Officer at Vorbeck Materials; Ambassador to the European Union (2008-2009); Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (2005-2008)

Human Rights

Pierre Prosper, Chair

Partner at Arent Fox; United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues (2001-2005); Special Counsel and Policy Adviser to the Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues (1999-2001)

International Assistance

Grant Aldonas, Co-Chair

Senior Adviser at Center for Strategic and International Studies; Under Secretary for International Trade at the Commerce Department (2001-2005); Member of the Board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (2001-2005)

Daniel Runde, Co-Chair

Director of Prosperity and Development at Center for Strategic and International Studies; Former Director of the Office of Global Development Alliances at USAID (2005-2007); Head of Philanthropy Relations at the International Finance Corporation (2007-2010)

International Organizations

Christopher Burnham, Co-Chair

Vice Chairman Deutsche Bank Asset Management; United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Management (2005-2006); United States Under Secretary of State for Management (2001-2005)

Paula Dobriansky, Co-Chair

Senior Fellow at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government; Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs (2001-2009)

Robert O'Brien, Co-Chair

Partner at Arent Fox; US Alternate Representative to the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly (2005-2006); Former legal officer with the United Nations Security Council (Compensation Commission) (2006-2008)

Latin America

Clifford Sobel, Co-Chair

Ambassador to Brazil (2006-2009); Ambassador to the Netherlands (2001-2005); Member United States Holocaust Memorial Council (1994-1998)

Ray Walser, Co-Chair

Senior Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation; Director of the Foreign Service Institute's Western Hemisphere Area Studies program (2005-2007); 27-year Foreign Service Officer

Middle East & North Africa

Mary Beth Long, Co-Chair

Senior Vice President at Neural IQ Government Services; Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (2007-2009)

Meghan O'Sullivan, Co-Chair

Lecturer at Kennedy School of Government; Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan (2004-2007)

Walid Phares, Co-Chair

Professor of Global Strategies at the National Defense University in Washington; Member of the Advisory Board of the Task Force on Future Terrorism at the Department of Homeland Security (2006-2007)

Russia

Leon Aron, Co-Chair

Resident Scholar and Director of Russian Studies at the American Enterprise Institute; Author of Yeltsin: A Revolutionary Life and other noted works; Contributed to The New Russian Foreign Policy

William Martel, Co-Chair

Associate Professor of International Security Studies at the Fletcher School, Tufts University

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