On the average, the CSA presents four lectures a year. Its speakers, just as those of the regular lecture series, often speak not only to a Council audience but when possible, also to high school groups.

Over the past few years the CSA has presented such headliners and heroes as presidential advisor and columnist David Gergen, ABC news reporter Jon Donvan, former congressman Lee Hamilton, former CIA director James Woolsley, former CIA director Porter Goss (when he was still a congressman), former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, and retired four-star Air Force General Chuck Horner.

Other speakers have been authors on book-promotion tours, locally or regionally available experts, and often members of the Council who have foreign affairs expertise to share.

CSA lectures are often given at St John's when available, or at the new Community Room at the Naples Daily News Building on Immokalee Rd. The Center’s auditorium seats 200. Audiences generally number 100 to 150, which makes for a more intimate setting that facilitates the question-and-answer exchange.