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Holiday Message from NSI Founder & Executive Director Jamil N. Jaffer

Holiday Message from NSI Founder & Executive Director Jamil N. Jaffer

 

As we make our way through the holiday season in what has certainly been a tough year for so many, it is worth looking to the positive first.  Across the globe, a new set of vaccines are being distributed, bringing with them the hope that we may return to something approaching normalcy in the next few months.  Here in our country, we have held elections, there has been an outcome, and we are now preparing to go through a peaceful transition of power to a new Administration that brings with it hope for a more united nation.  While we may disagree amongst ourselves on a range of policy matters, the divisiveness that we have seen in recent years must come to an end if we are to maintain our status as the greatest nation the world has ever known.  We have likewise taken a hard look at who we are as a nation in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd and are committed to making changes to achieve the goals our framers set out for us over two centuries ago.  While the events that led to this internal reckoning are, of course, horrific, the fact that we are committed to change is a good thing and one that demonstrates the real genius of our nation.  And within our own community here at NSI, we’ve made the transition to a remote working and communications environment while still building our community, getting our views and message into the policymaking environment, and also committing to making changes to address our own shortcomings.  So, while we have certainly gone through a very tough time, I believe there is much to be thankful for this holiday season and much to be positive about as we look to the future.

 

And now to the recap!  This year, we began 2020 with the announcement of NSI 2020, a project focused on two of the top threats facing our country: countering the rise of China and preserving U.S. leadership in technology innovation.  However, as we got hit by the COVID pandemic early in the year, we got a bit of a late start on this project, and as a result, we’ve decided to expand NSI 2020 to be NSI 2020-21.  And what a start it was – we kicked off the NSI 2020-21 project with two awesome virtual events featuring Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI), co-chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission and the New York Times’ David Sanger and Michèle Flournoy, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and MSNBC’s Ali Velshi.  In addition, we hosted a number of other policy leaders on these throughout the year including Randall Schriever, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs and Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and engaged other key members of the media in our events, including Bloomberg Technology’s Emily Chang and CNN’s Kylie Atwood.  In total, NSI held over 40 events this year engaging on these and other vital national security issues in public forums, including our flagship virtual programming event, NatSec Nightcap.

 

Along with these events, NSI published over a dozen papers written by our fellows, advisors and colleagues, with research and editing support from our students, staff, and leadership team.  This surpassed our total from last year, despite the transition to working from home.  These papers and reports covered a variety of topics including how to support innovation in 5G and emerging technologies, responding to China at the United Nations, the militarization of space, and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.  The work of our fellows helped cut through the noise of the election year by providing concise and actionable analysis on the issues that matter of policymakers most.

 

NSI was able to continue these conversations around technology innovation and China through our flagship Fault Lines podcast, as well as our new NSI Live podcasts featuring interviews with Samantha Ravich, Vice Chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and member of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission; Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL); Kirsten Madison, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs; and Dr. Christopher Ford, Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-Proliferation.  In addition, as part of our commitment made earlier this year to expanding and diversifying our community, in cooperation with the Amazing Women of the Intelligence Community, we launched Iron Butterfly, a podcast named in honor the first female CIA station chief, Eloise Page, which features the stories of women in intelligence and national security.  Through these podcasts, NSI has been able to reach over 20,000 listeners from over 96 countries, and, in particular, Iron Butterfly has been a notable success, having rapidly expanded its listener base and being featured in posts on LinkedIn by GEN (ret.) David Petraeus and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, among others, and having been made required listening in at least one class at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

 

We’ve also taken other steps to highlight our commitment to expanding diversity in the national security community, including the public statement I released in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, as well as the programs we have undertaken since then, including two conversations on Fault Lines with NSI Visiting Fellows Harry Wingo and Bishop Garrison, and an event with Cambridge College in Boston, proposed by NSI Visiting Fellow Gary Evee, not to mention discussing these issues on multiple NatSec Nightcap conversations.  There is still more work to be done, of course, and NSI has a number of projects focused on these issues in 2021, including discussions on expanding our partnership with Cambridge College, and potential new efforts with Howard University, Hampton University, and others.

 

The pandemic not only changed our public policy work, but it also impacted our efforts to educate the next generation of national security leaders.  As NSI was inviting students to apply to our new Cyber, Intelligence, and National Security LLM, classes were shifted from on campus to online.  NSI was still able to attract the first cohort of students to this program which we are excited to graduate this spring.  Additionally, our National Security Summer Program had to be moved from Padua, Italy, home of the oldest law school in Europe, to Williamsburg, Virginia, home of the oldest law school in the United States.  With appropriate social distancing measures, students were able to safely attend classes taught by me and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and hear from leaders such as Sue Gordon, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Ellen McCarthy, Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research, Judge Patrick Bumatay of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Don McGahn, former White House Counsel.

 

NSI could not have had this much success this year without your support.  Together, we have made significant strides and the outlook for NSI, our nation, and our globe is positive as we look to the future.  We can and will continue to work together to achieve NSI’s goal of restoring strong, consistent, and courageous American foreign policy leadership and expanding our nation’s role as a force for good in this world.  I look forward to what we can accomplish together in 2021 and beyond!