The Dream Team

The next American president will confront a host of potential cataclysms: from a virulent financial crisis to a vicious terrorist enemy, nuclear proliferation to climate change. He'll need his country's brightest minds -- not his party's usual suspects. So, we asked 10 of the world's top thinkers to name the unlikely team that can best guide No. 44 through the turbulent years ahead.

NOVEMBER 1, 2008

ROBERT L. GALLUCCI
Dean of the Edmund A. Walsh School at Georgetown University

The No.1 challenge facing the next president is to prevent a terrorist group from detonating a nuclear weapon in an American city. If he successfully ended the conflict in Iraq, checked Iran, brokered an Israeli-Palestinian peace, cut carbon emissions, stabilized Pakistan, and artfully managed relations with China and Russia -- but lost a million citizens in a nuclear attack, the nation would not be grateful.

Strobe Talbott
Secretary of State
Capable of discerning America's interests, the Brookings Institution president and former deputy secretary of state has the gravitas and experience to execute policy and lead the department.

Robert Gates
Secretary of Defense
Secretary Gates is a keeper: He inspires confidence in all quarters, providing independent advice to the president while respecting the expertise of the professional military.

David Lipton
Secretary of the Treasury
A former under secretary of the Treasury, Lipton has a solid understanding of the global economy, with proven success in both the public and private sectors.

Marc Grossman
Director of National Intelligence
Grossman is a universally respected diplomat with the integrity, management, and leadership skills to coordinate the complex intelligence community -- while never forgetting that the purpose of intelligence is to improve policy.

Jessica T. Mathews
National Security Advisor
The Carnegie Endowment president is a brilliant analyst of the thorniest policy issues, with the temperament and strength to manage the national security bureaucracy for the president.

Susan Rice *BONUS PICK
Amb. to the United Nations
The former assistant secretary of state projects American values with intelligence and passion, while understanding that the United States must inspire others in order to succeed. Plus, her Africa expertise gives her an advantage in dealing with today's most vexing challenges.

 SUBJECTS: U.S. FOREIGN POLICY