Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization
Washington Program on National Security
WAPONS
EXPERTS
Ellie Cohanim
Ellie Cohanim served as U.S. Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism at the U.S. Department of State during the Trump Administration. There she was the lead official on creating and implementing policy on countering anti-Semitism in both the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America regions. Ellie Cohanim arrived as a child refugee to the US, after she and her family fled the escalating anti-Semitism in Iran during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Prior to her appointment to the US State Department, Ellie Cohanim was Senior Vice President and Special Correspondent for the Jewish Broadcasting Service, where she handled on-air reporting and anchored the broadcast of major international gatherings. Previously, she was an executive at Yeshiva University; The Jewish Theological Seminary; and UJA-Federation of New York. She has served on the boards of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), the New York Jewish Community Relations Council, and the Ester Chapter of Hadassah.
John J. Dziak
Dr. Dziak has served almost five decades as a senior intelligence officer and Senior Executive in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and in private consulting, with long experience in counter proliferation, counterintelligence, counter deception, strategic intelligence, and intelligence education. Dr. Dziak has served as DIA representative to DCI-led major espionage damage assessments, with special emphasis on U.S. critical technologies, and was U.S. representative to senior-level allied intelligence groups concerned with espionage penetrations and hostile special operations. Dr. Dziak received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University, is a graduate of the National War College, and is the recipient of numerous defense and intelligence awards and citations from DoD, DIA, CIA and the Director of National Intelligence, including the Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service. He lectures at the National Intelligence University, has taught at the National War College, Georgetown and George Washington Universities, the Institute of World Politics, and lectures on intelligence, counterintelligence, and foreign affairs throughout the US and abroad. He is the author of the award-winning, Chekisty: A History of the KGB (1988), numerous other books, articles, and monographs, including "The Military Relationship Between China and Russia, 1995 – 2002" (2002) for AFPC, and is finishing a book on foreign counterintelligence systems. Dr. Dziak is co-founder and President of Dziak Group, Inc.
John Gentry
Dr. (LTC, USAR, Ret) John A. Gentry is an adjunct professor with the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He formerly was an intelligence analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency and later taught at the College of International Security Affairs, National Defense University; the College of Strategic Intelligence, National Intelligence University; and Columbia University. While serving as an Army Reserve officer, most of his assignments were in the special operations and intelligence arenas. He is a member of the Editorial Committee of the International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. John received a PhD degree in Political Science from George Washington University. His most recent book is Neutering the CIA: Why US Intelligence Versus Trump Has Long-Term Consequences (2023). His previous book, co-authored with Dr. Joseph S. Gordon, is Strategic Warning Intelligence: History, Challenges, and Prospects (Georgetown University Press, 2019).
Mike Gonzalez
Mike Gonzalez, the Angeles T. Arredondo E Pluribus Unum Senior Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, writes on critical race theory, identity politics, diversity, multiculturalism, assimilation and nationalism, as well as foreign policy in general. He spent close to 20 years as a journalist, 15 of them reporting from Europe, Asia and Latin America. He left journalism to join the administration of President George W. Bush, where he was speechwriter for Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox before moving on to the State Department’s European Bureau. His books include: NextGen Marxism: What It Is and How to Combat It, co-authored with Katharine Cornell Gorka (2024); BLM: The Making of a New Marxist Revolution was published by (2021);The Plot to Change America: How Identity Politics is Dividing the Land of the Free (2020) and A Race for the Future: How Conservatives Can Break the Liberal Monopoly on Hispanic America (2014).
Mason Goad
Mason Goad is a researcher with the National Association of Scholars, investigating the rise of Critical Theories in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine (STEMM) under the guise of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity
(DIE) as well as so-called "Anti-Racism." His undergraduate thesis, A Quantum of Solace: How Quantum Computers Affect Cryptography and the Greater Implications for National Security, has recently been listed as among the "100 Best Quantum Computing Books of All Time," and is currently being revised for the release of a second edition. He has also written on the topic of TEMPEST technologies, and the integration of physics within the field of information security for The Cipher Brief, and his other writings have appeared with the Foundation for Economic Education, American Greatness, Minding the Campus, and The American Intelligence Journal. He is a WAPONS 2019 alumnus.
Todd Leventhal
Todd Leventhal has some 25 years of experience in countering Russian, Soviet, Iraqi, and other disinformation, conspiracy theories, and false stories, mainly for the U.S. Information Agency and the U.S. Department of State, starting in 1987. He was the sole or main U.S. government official countering disinformation from 1989 to 1996, 2002 to 2010, and in 2015. He received an “Exceptional Performance Award” from the Director for Central Intelligence for his contributions to the 2003 White House report Apparatus of Lies: Saddam’s Disinformation and Propaganda 1990-2003. After retiring from 33 years of U.S. government service in May 2018, Mr. Leventhal served as a Senior Counter-Disinformation Advisor in the Russia Division of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) from late 2018 to April 2022, where he wrote 14 GEC Counter-Disinformation Dispatches.
Paul Lieber
Dr. Lieber is Peraton’s Chief Data Scientist for its Cyber Mission Sector also an Associate Research Scientist at the University of Maryland. He possesses specific expertise in research, modeling, communication and assessment of complex phenomena via artificial intelligence and machine learning. A board member of the Information Professionals Association, he served as the Command Writer for two USSOCOM Commanders, likewise Strategic Communication Advisor to the Commander of Special Operations Command-Australia. Within academic environs, Dr. Lieber was a full-time member of the Graduate faculty at Joint Special Operations University, Emerson College, University of South Carolina, and the University of Canberra, respectively. Within these roles, he taught across the entire strategic communication and influence curriculum, with a research emphasis on data driven persuasion and methodological design. He holds a Ph.D. in Mass Communication and Public Affairs, a Masters of Mass Communication from Louisiana State University, and B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from Syracuse University.
Yael Lieber
Dr. Lieber is a Licensed Psychologist, with extensive clinical experience servicing both adult and child populations across the US and Australia. She specializes in research, assessment and interventions for autistic and low incident populations, and served in array of school, adult clinical, and military settings. Currently a psychologist at Dr. Lake and Associates (Tampa, FL), she’s been on staff as a psychologist at Hillsborough County Schools, Calvary Hospital, Governor Morehead School for the Blind, and at US Special Operations Command. Dr. Lieber’s also taught specialized coursework on psychological best practice at Australia National University, Louisiana State University and Tulane University, respectively. She holds a PhD and Masters Degree from in School Psychology from Tulane University, and Bachelors of Science from the University of Rhode Island.
Juliana Geran Pilon
Juliana Geran Pilon, Ph.D., is Senior Fellow at the Alexander Hamilton Institute, teaches, writes, and lectures in both the United States and abroad. The author of over two hundred articles and reviews on international affairs, human rights, literature, and philosophy, she has made frequent appearances on radio and television. Her books include: An Idea Betrayed: Jews, Liberalism, and the American Left (2023); The Utopian Conceit and the War on Freedom (2019); The Art of Peace: Engaging a Complex World (2016); Soulmates: Resurrecting Eve (2012); the anthology Cultural Intelligence for Winning the Peace (2009); Why America is Such a Hard Sell: Beyond Pride and Prejudice (2007), the anthology Every Vote Counts: The Role of Elections in Building Democracy, which she co-edited with Richard Soudriette (2007); The Bloody Flag: Post-Communist Nationalism in Eastern Europe -- Spotlight on Romania (1991); and Notes From the Other Side of Night (1979, 1994, 2014). Her writings have recently appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Law & Liberty, the Jewish News Syndicate, Academic Questions, InFocus, Starting Points, DocEmet Productions, The American Mind, and The Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, among others. After receiving her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago, she held post-doctoral fellowships in international relations at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and at the Institute of Humane Studies, and subsequently taught at several universities including the National Defense University, George Washington University, and the Institute of World Politics where she was Director of the Center for Culture and Security. She currently teaches at American University, serves as faculty advisor for AU’s Alexander Hamilton Society chapter, and is a regular lecturer for the Common Sense Society in the U.S. and Europe. In the 1980s, she was a Senior Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation where she founded the United Nations Assessment Project which exposed the organization’s corruption and politicization. In 1988, as Executive Director and then Vice President of the National Forum Foundation, she oversaw a Visiting Fellows program for young professionals from the newly liberated Soviet bloc. During the 1990s she became Vice President for Programs at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), where she designed, conducted, and managed projects related to a wide variety of democratization projects. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Information Professionals Association, the Advisory Board of the Swat Relief Initiative, and the International Editorial and Advisory Board of the Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs.
Jay Richards
Jay W. Richards, PhD, is Director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family and the William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow in American Principles and Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation. He is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and Executive Editor of The Stream, author or editor of more than a dozen books, including the New York Times bestsellers Infiltrated (2013) and Indivisible (2012); The Human Advantage; Money, Greed, and God, winner of a 2010 Templeton Enterprise Award; The Hobbit Party with Jonathan Witt; and Eat, Fast, Feast. His articles and essays have been published in The Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Washington Post, The New York Post, Newsweek, Forbes, Fox News, National Review Online, The Hill, Investor’s Business Daily, Washington Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Huffington Post, The Federalist, The Daily Caller, and many other publications.Goad is a researcher with the National Association of Scholars, investigating the rise of Critical Theories in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine (STEMM) under the guise of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (DIE) as well as so-called "Anti-Racism." His undergraduate thesis, "A Quantum of Solace: How Quantum Computers Affect Cryptography and the Greater Implications for National Security," has recently been listed as among the "100 Best Quantum Computing Books of All Time," and is currently being revised for the release of a second edition. He has also written on the topic of TEMPEST technologies, and the integration of physics within the field of information security for The Cipher Brief, and his other writings have appeared with the Foundation for Economic Education, American Greatness, and Minding the Campus.
Eric Rozenman
From 2002 to 2016 Mr. Rozenman served as Washington director for CAMERA, the Boston-based Committee for
Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. Rozenman worked as deputy and acting communications director for B’nai B’rith International from 1997 to 2002, edited the Washington Jewish Week from 1992 to 1997, prior to which he was publications editor for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, editor of Near East Report; press secretary for U.S. Rep. Robert N. Shamansky and reporter for the Ohio Scripps-Howard Newspapers state bureau, among other posts. His work-related and freelance commentaries and analyses have appeared in daily newspapers including The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, Philadelphia Inquirer, USA Today, Washington Post, Washington Times and Jerusalem Post, and in periodicals including Policy Review, Journal for the Study of Antisemitism and Journal of International Security Affairs.
J. Michael Waller
Michael Waller, PhD, is Senior Analyst for Strategy at the Center for Security Policy. He holds a Ph.D. in international security affairs from Boston University and received his military training as an insurgent with the Nicaraguan contras. He was a co-founder of the Blue Team on China in the 1990s. For 13 years he was the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Professor of International Communication at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC. A former instructor with the Naval Postgraduate School, he is an instructor/lecturer at the John F Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg. The author or editor of books relating to intelligence, political warfare, public diplomacy, terrorism, and subversion, he publishes in Daily Beast, Daily Caller, The Federalist, Forbes, Insight, Investor’s Business Daily, Kyiv Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, New York Times, Reader’s Digest, Real Clear Politics, USA Today, Washington Examiner, Washington Times, and The Wall Street Journal.