The National Security Institute and the National Security Law Journal hosted the Spring Symposium panel “The Final Signature: Peacemaking and Accountability in Conventional and Asymmetric Conflict” as part of the 2025–2026 series, Starting and Ending Wars: Charting a Course from Conflict to Resolution in the 21st Century.
Most discussions focus on how conflicts begin, not how they end, particularly in today’s complex environment involving both nation-state and non-state actors. This panel explored the legal and policy challenges involved in bringing modern conflicts to a close, including those involving both nation-states and non-state actors.
Panelists examined key questions surrounding the viability of peace agreements with designated terrorist organizations, mechanisms for accountability and reconstruction, the role of international tribunals such as the ICC and ICJ, and the challenges of unwinding complex sanctions regimes. The discussion also drew comparative insights from ongoing and recent conflicts, including Ukraine and operations involving groups such as the Taliban and ISIS.
Speakers:
- Jamil N. Jaffer – Founder and Executive Director, National Security Institute
- Lester Munson – Head of International Practice, BGR Group and NSI Advisory Board Member, Former Staff Director, U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
- RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery – Senior Director, Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, Former Policy Director, U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee
- LTG (Ret.) Karen Gibson – Former Director of Intelligence, U.S. Central Command
- Tara McFeely – Former Deputy Staff Director, U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Jamil N. Jaffer
Jamil N. Jaffer is the Founder and Executive Director of the National Security Institute (NSI) at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, where he also serves as an Assistant Professor of Law, Director of the National Security Law and Policy Program, and Director of the Cyber, Intelligence, and National Security LL.M. Program. He teaches courses on counterterrorism, cybersecurity, intelligence, surveillance, and national security law, including a summer program abroad with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch. Jamil is also affiliated with Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and was previously a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution.
Jamil is a Venture Partner at Paladin Capital Group, focusing on dual-use national security technologies, and serves on the boards of RangeForce, Tozny, and the advisory boards of U.S. Strategic Metals, Constella Intelligence, Beacon Global Strategies, and Duco. He is the Managing Director of Trigraph Caveat Capital and actively engaged with numerous civic, policy, and nonprofit organizations including the Global Cyber Alliance, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Greater Washington Board of Trade, and the Reagan Institute Strategy Group. He has also held board roles with the Center for Intelligence Policy and Speech First, and serves on the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society’s International Law and National Security Practice Group.
From 2015 to 2021, Jamil was a senior executive at IronNet Cybersecurity, working directly for former NSA Director Gen. (Ret.) Keith Alexander and former Zscaler COO Bill Welch. He helped grow the company from an early-stage startup through VC funding rounds and its public listing. In government, he served as Chief Counsel and Senior Advisor to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under Chairman Bob Corker, and as Senior Counsel to the House Intelligence Committee under Chairman Mike Rogers. He played a lead role in authoring the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, AUMF proposals, and the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. Jamil also served in the Bush Administration as Associate Counsel to the President and as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, where he led major initiatives in cybersecurity, FISA litigation, and counterterrorism.
Earlier in his career, Jamil served in the DOJ’s Office of Legal Policy, in private practice at Kellogg Huber, and on Capitol Hill with Congressman Bob Goodlatte. He clerked for Judge Edith H. Jones on the Fifth Circuit, then-Judge Neil Gorsuch on the Tenth Circuit, and Justice Gorsuch on the U.S. Supreme Court. He has testified before Congress on cybersecurity and China, advised the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and appeared in major media outlets including CNN, Fox News, NPR, and The Wall Street Journal. Jamil holds degrees from UCLA (B.A., cum laude), the University of Chicago Law School (J.D., with honors), and the U.S. Naval War College (M.A., with distinction).
Lester Munson
Lester Munson serves as Co-Head of the International Practice at BGR Group, a leading government relations firm in Washington, D.C., where he consults with foreign governments, corporations and advocacy groups. His work has focused on sovereign clients in the Middle East, Europe and Latin America.
Lester leads BGR’s foreign assistance practice, which provides advisory and government relations services to companies, advocacy groups and non-governmental organizations in the international aid policy area. As a former senior USAID official and veteran of multiple congressional committees, Lester provides clients with unique knowledge, skills and abilities to advance their goals.
Lester joined BGR Group in November 2015 after a 26-year career on Capitol Hill and in the Executive Branch. He was most recently Staff Director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Previously, Lester was Chief of Staff for Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois. During his tenure, Senator Kirk became the leading Republican voice in the Senate on Iran and other national security issues.
During the Bush Administration, Lester served as Deputy Assistant Administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he focused on legislative affairs as well as global health issues. He led legislative efforts to develop and implement the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and won an award for his contribution to the creation of the President’s Malaria Initiative.
He also serves as adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University and speaks regularly on the foreign policy role of Congress and on U.S. foreign assistance issues. He is a visiting fellow at the U.S. Studies Centre in Sydney, Australia. He is a co-chair of the Executive Committee of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Senior Fellow at George Mason’s National Security Institute and a commentator on Bloomberg News and other media outlets.
In addition, Lester is the host of the weekly podcast “Fault Lines,” a bipartisan discussion of foreign policy issues associated with the National Security Institute.
Rear Admiral (Ret.) Mark Montgomery serves as senior director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) and as an FDD senior fellow. Mark served for more than three decades in the U.S. Navy, held senior leadership roles in Congress, and is a recognized expert on cyber and technology policy.
At CCTI, Mark leads efforts to advance U.S. national and economic security through technology innovation, counter cyber threats against the United States and its allies, and combat adversary cyber-enabled economic warfare (CEEW) campaigns. He also directs CSC 2.0, an initiative focused on implementing the recommendations of the congressionally mandated Cyberspace Solarium Commission, where he previously served as executive director. Additionally, Mark co-leads FDD’s Air and Missile Defense Program.
Prior to joining FDD, Mark was policy director for the Senate Armed Services Committee under Sen. John S. McCain, where he coordinated efforts on national security strategy, force posture, capabilities, and cyber policy.
Mark served 32 years in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear-trained surface warfare officer, retiring as a rear admiral in 2017. His flag officer assignments included director of operations (J3) at U.S. Pacific Command; commander of Carrier Strike Group 5 aboard the USS George Washington in Japan; and deputy director for plans, policy, and strategy (J5) at U.S. European Command. From 1998 to 2000, he served at the National Security Council as director for transnational threats.
Mark frequently testifies before Congress and regularly appears on major media outlets including Fox, CNN, and the BBC. His writing and analysis have been published in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, and Foreign Affairs, among others. He regularly travels to Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel to engage in strategic policy discussions, lead tabletop exercises, and support military planning and training. Mark holds graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oxford and completed the U.S. Navy’s nuclear power training program. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.
LTG (Ret.) Karen Gibson
The Honorable Karen H. Gibson was appointed Sergeant at Arms (SAA) of the U.S. Senate in March, 2021. As the Senate’s chief law enforcement officer, she was responsible for security in the Capitol and Senate buildings and for the Senate’s emergency, life safety, and continuity of government programs. She was the Senate’s protocol officer and executive officer, enforcing rules regulating the Senate and was responsible for the Senate’s cybersecurity and technology support, as well as a broad array of support services for the Senate community.
Prior to her appointment in the Senate, Ms. Gibson served on active duty in the U.S. Army for 33 years, attaining the rank of Lieutenant General. She performed in numerous intelligence and cyberspace roles, culminating her service as a Deputy Director of National Intelligence for National Security Partnerships at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
She previously served as Director of Intelligence for U.S. Central Command, where she wielded National and Defense intelligence assets ranging from clandestine ground operatives to exquisite technical collection from space to support national security objectives and military operations in the U.S. Central Command region spanning from Egypt to Pakistan and Yemen to Kazakhstan. She is especially proud of her service as Director of Intelligence for Operation Inherent Resolve, the multinational coalition to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and as Deputy Commanding General for U.S. Army Cyber Command, where she designed and built U.S. Cyber Command’s first functional Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber for synchronizing offensive and defensive operations in cyberspace.
A seasoned combat veteran, Ms. Gibson has led intelligence-operations centers in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, and East Africa. Among other awards and decorations, she is a recipient of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Superior Service Medal with combat device.
A Montana native, Ms. Gibson earned a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, a M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National War College, and a M.S. in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University. She teaches national security strategy as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and is an Exceptional Woman Awardee for 2023.
Tara McFeely
Tara Caroselli McFeely is a senior national security executive with expertise spanning defense, intelligence, and technology policy, political, and budgetary domains. She serves on the Strategic Council at Silverado Policy Accelerator, advising on innovative, data-driven national security policy initiatives, and is an Adjunct Professor in the Master of Science in Foreign Service program at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.
In government, she most recently served as the Republican Deputy Staff Director on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) driving the national security and intelligence policy and Executive Branch oversight strategic direction. She also co-led the professional staff oversight functions of the policies and programs of the U.S. intelligence enterprise spanning six Departments: Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, Treasury, State; and two independent agencies: the Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Prior to this role she served as the SSCI Budget Director, leading the staff oversight of the Intelligence Community (IC) and Defense Intelligence Enterprise annual $100.0+ billion budget and programs. Formerly, she was the SSCI Chairman’s Senior Advisor for Counterterrorism and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s intelligence programs.
In the research domain, Ms. McFeely was the Deputy Director of the Intelligence Analyses Division at the Institute for Defense Analyses. In this role she led a large team of senior social sciences and STEM researchers on complex multidisciplinary research and analysis projects.
At Booz Allen Hamilton, she was a senior advisor for multiple IC and Department of Defense clients. She also led numerous multifaceted contracts across the U.S. Government landscape globally, including multilateral counter-Biological Weapons (BW) program initiatives.
Ms. McFeely began her career serving globally in the U.S. Navy, initially as a Surface Warfare Officer conducting U.S. 2nd Fleet and NATO operations across the Atlantic, and subsequently as a Naval Intelligence Officer supporting operations in the Balkans and the Global War on Terror.
Ms. McFeely has a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the U.S. Naval Academy where she was a letterwoman on the Women’s Varsity Basketball Team. She also has a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.