Director of Studies Paul Pillar comments on the role of Iran's Supreme Leader in the ongoing standoff over that country's nuclear program. "He is on record as having made a statement that would not make it shameful or a sign of weakness to come to an understanding with the West ... that clearly rules out a nuclear weapon," says Professor Pillar.

Professor Christine Fair speaks to CSM's Howard LaFranchi about the prospects for Afghanistan once US troops leave the country. "I don't think there's any way to come out of this that Afghanistan is going to be more stable than when we went in," says Dr. Fair. "A lot of people, including me, expect another civil war."

Director Bruce Hoffman answers questions from the the official publication of Georgetown's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. "I think a more forceful and open debate about this than perhaps some of the wishful thinking that permeates our assumptions about Iran needs to occur so we are not caught off guard and so that the government does not further lose the confidence and trust of the American people," says Dr. Hoffman. "It may be that sanctions will work—it may be that we have the time—but I do not think we really know these things for sure."