PRESS
RELEASE
from Newt 2012
November 22, 2011
GINGRICH ANNOUNCES NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISORY
TEAM
Atlanta,
GA - Newt Gingrich announced members of his National Security
Advisory Team today.
“I have depended on the counsel of this world-class group of experts
throughout my career, and I am honored that they have decided to be
with me as we work to ensure that the United States remains the safest,
strongest, and freest country in the world,“ Gingrich said.
“I look forward to drawing on their vast knowledge and experience as we
assert our vision of an exceptional America that, contrary to what
Barack Obama may believe, will continue to be both the world’s leading
power and most assiduous defender of freedom for generations to come.”
“In order to lead, one must have a comprehensive knowledge of world
issues and dynamics that can only come from decades of study and
experience,” said Herman Pirchner, the team’s director.
“I have worked with Speaker Gingrich for many years, and in these
dangerous times, he is by far the best candidate to lead when American
lives and American interests are at stake.”
“Newt Gingrich's personal commitment to the security of the United
States, and its ideals and values has been one of the most striking and
enduring attributes of his political career,” said former Under
Secretary of State Bill Schneider. “His grasp of the
compelling nature of 21st century security threats to the US and its
interests enables him to translate his commitment to US security into
concrete and effective policies.”
“Gingrich has been one of the most outspoken national advocates for
strong US-Israel relations for over three decades,” said Dr.
David Wurmser, who will be advising Gingrich on Middle East
issues. “He is firm in his conviction that Americans and Israelis have
a number of shared goals and interests, and we must work together to
protect Israel from a number of existential threats.”
“As an Army brat, turned educator, turned national leader, the Speaker
has always been ahead of the curve thinking about a grand strategy to
protect America and advance her interests,” said Dr. Kiron
Skinner, who will be advising Gingrich on strategic issues.
“He has trained a generation of military leaders as the longest serving
teacher at the Joint War Fighting Course. President after president has
sought his counsel on security issues. He will bring an unparalleled
working knowledge of military, diplomatic, intelligence and economic
issues to the White House.”
Several team members will be accompanying Gingrich to tonight’s
national security debate in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Heritage
Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, and CNN.
Detailed biographies of the team members are below. Affiliations are
for identification only.
Norman A. Bailey is an Adjunct Professor of Economic
Statecraft at the Institute of World Politics in Washington and
President of the Institute for Global Economic Growth. Dr. Bailey
served as a professor at the City University of New York until 1981,
when President Reagan appointed him Special Assistant to the President
for National Security Affairs and Senior Director of International
Economic Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. Since
1984 Dr. Bailey has been an international economic consultant to
governments, government agencies, corporations, banks, investment
banking firms, trade associations and trading companies on five
continents.
Ilan Berman is Vice President of the American Foreign
Policy Council in Washington, DC. An expert on regional security in the
Middle East, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation, he has consulted
for both the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Department
of Defense. Mr. Berman is a member of the Associated Faculty at
Missouri State University's Department of Defense and Strategic
Studies. He also serves as a member of the reconstituted Committee on
the Present Danger, a columnist for Forbes.com, and as Editor of The
Journal of International Security Affairs.
Ken de Graffenreid is currently Professor of
Intelligence Studies at The Institute of World Politics. Following
service in the US Navy as a naval aviator and intelligence officer, he
was appointed to President Reagan’s National Security Council in 1981.
Mr. deGraffenreid was Senior Director of Intelligence Programs at the
National Security Council from 1981 to 1987, when he was charged with
evaluating and coordinating a broad range of intelligence,
counterintelligence, security countermeasures, space policy, arms
control, strategic nuclear and command, control and communications
issues. He served at the Pentagon in the second Bush Administration as
Deputy Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy, then as Deputy National
Counterintelligence Executive at the Central Intelligence Agency.
John Fonte is a Senior Fellow and Director of the
Center for American Common Culture at Hudson Institute. The Center
provides analysis and policy advice on civic education, citizenship,
and issues concerning the interplay of national identity, the
assimilation of immigrants, global organizations, and the future of
American liberal democracy. His book, Sovereignty or Submission: Will
Americans Rule Themselves or be Ruled by Others? was published by
Encounter Books in August 2011. Previously, Fonte was a visiting
scholar at the American Enterprise Institute where he directed the
Committee to Review National Standards under the chairmanship of Lynne
V. Cheney. He also served as a senior researcher at the U.S. Department
of Education and a program administrator at the National Endowment for
the Humanities (NEH).
Robert McFarlane has had a distinguished record of
public service including ten years in
the White House and State
Department serving variously as Military Advisor to Henry
Kissinger
and Brent Scowcroft, Counselor to the Secretary of State and rising
ultimately
to serve President Reagan as his National Security Advisor.
He is perhaps best remembered as the architect of the comprehensive set
of U.S. policies
– including most notably the Strategic Defense
Initiative – which so
stressed the Soviet economy as to bring it down
and in the process accelerated the
collapse of Marxism in the former
Soviet Union. He is a graduate of the US Naval
Academy and served in
the US Marine Corps (where he commanded an artillery battery in
the
first landing of American forces in Vietnam).
Herman Pirchner is the founding President of the
American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC), a non-profit public policy
organization headquartered in Washington, DC since 1982. Under his
leadership, AFPC has hosted the Washington visits of hundreds of
foreign officials, ranging from the Prime Minister of Malta to the
Prime Minister of Russia; conducted hundreds of briefings for members
of Congress and their staffs; and organized dozens of fact-finding
missions abroad for current and former senior American officials. Prior
to founding AFPC, Pirchner worked for current Iowa Senator Charles
Grassley and former Iowa Senator Roger Jepsen.
Tina Ramirez is the Director of International and
Government Relations for the Becket Fund, a non-profit, public-interest
legal and educational institute that protects the free expression of
all faiths. Previously, she served in a number of positions in Congress
as a senior foreign policy advisor and expert on international
religious freedom, and helped establish and direct the Congressional
International Religious Freedom Caucus. Ms. Ramirez and the Caucus
played a critical role in raising the profile of numerous religious
freedom issues in Congress and with both the Bush and Obama
Administrations, leading to the release of many individuals imprisoned
for their faith and ensuring relief for many suffering under religious
persecution.
Bill Schneider is President of International Planning
Services, Inc. and an Adjunct Fellow of the Hudson Institute. Dr.
Schneider served as Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance,
Science, and Technology (1982-86) under President Reagan, following
service as Associate Director for National Security and International
Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget (1981-82). He served as
Chairman of the General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and
Disarmament from 1987-93, then as Chairman of the Defense Science Board
(DSB) from 2001-9, and currently serves as a Senior Fellow of the DSB.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates awarded Schneider the DoD’s Medal for
Distinguished Public Service in November 2009.
Kiron Skinner is the W. Glenn Campbell Research Fellow
at the Hoover Institution, where she is a member of the
Shultz-Stephenson Task Force on Energy Policy. She also is an associate
professor of international relations and politics at Carnegie Mellon
University and director of the university’s Center for International
Relations and Politics. Her government service includes membership on
the US Defense Department’s Defense Policy Board as an adviser on the
Iraq and Afghanistan wars (2001–7); the Chief of Naval Operations’
(CNO) Executive Panel (2004–present); the National Academies Committee
on Behavioral and Social Science Research to Improve Intelligence
Analysis for National Security (2009–11); and the National Security
Education Board (2004–11).
Abraham Wagner teaches in the areas of national
security and intelligence at Columbia University’s School of
International and Public Affairs, and is also a Senior Research Fellow
at the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies. Outside
of SIPA he is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies
on Terrorism and serves as a consultant to several U.S. Government
agencies. Prior to joining the Columbia faculty Prof. Wagner served in
the U.S. Government, holding positions at the National Security
Council, the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community.
R. James Woolsey is Chairman of Woolsey Partners LLC,
a Venture Partner with Lux Capital Management, and Chair of the Board
of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mr. Woolsey previously
served in the U.S. Government on five different occasions, where he
held Presidential appointments in two Republican and two Democratic
administrations, most recently (1993-95) as Director of Central
Intelligence. During his 12 years of government service, in addition to
heading the CIA and the Intelligence Community, Mr. Woolsey was:
Ambassador to the Negotiation on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
(CFE), Vienna, 1989–1991; Under Secretary of the Navy, 1977–1979; and
General Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services,
1970–1973. He was also appointed by the President to serve on a
part-time basis in Geneva, Switzerland, 1983–1986, as Delegate at Large
to the U.S.–Soviet Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) and Nuclear
and Space Arms Talks (NST).
David Wurmser is the executive and founding member of
the Delphi Global Analysis Group, LLC, where he provides analysis on
the geopolitics and economics of Israel and the Middle East. Dr.
Wurmser was the senior advisor to Under Secretary of State John Bolton
at the State Department until 2003, then rose to senior advisor to Vice
President Richard Cheney on Middle East, proliferation and strategic
affairs. Before entering government, Dr. Wurmser founded the Middle
East studies program at the American Enterprise Institute in 1996.
While at AEI, Dr. Wurmser published Tyranny’s Ally: America's Failure
to Defeat Saddam Hussein and over 35 articles in major periodicals.
Stephen Yates has been the president of DC
International
Advisory, a consultancy, since 2006. Before opening DC
International Advisory, Mr. Yates served in the White House as Deputy
Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs from 2001
through 2005. During his tenure in government, he was deeply involved
in the development and execution of U.S. foreign policy priorities in
Asia, Latin America and Africa. Mr. Yates previously served as Senior
Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation from 1996 to 2001, and from
1991 to 1996 he served as an international affairs analyst at the U.S.
Department of Defense.
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Contact: R.C. Hammond