Harold Brown Chair; Director, Transnational Threats Project; and Senior Adviser, International Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Seth G. Jones holds the Harold Brown Chair, is director of the Transnational Threats Project, and is a senior adviser to the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He teaches at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.
Prior to joining CSIS, Dr. Jones was the director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation. He also served as representative for the commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, to the assistant secretary of defense for special operations. Before that, he was a plans officer and adviser to the commanding general, U.S. Special Operations Forces, in Afghanistan (Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command–Afghanistan). In 2014, Dr. Jones served on a congressionally mandated panel that reviewed the FBI’s implementation of counterterrorism recommendations contained in the 9/11 Commission Report.
Dr. Jones specializes in counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, unconventional warfare, and covert action, including a focus on al Qaeda and ISIS. He is the author of A Covert Action: Reagan, the CIA, and the Cold War Struggle in Poland (W.W. Norton, 2018), Waging Insurgent Warfare (Oxford University Press, 2016), Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of al Qa'ida after 9/11 (W.W. Norton, 2012), and In the Graveyard of Empires: America’s War in Afghanistan (W.W. Norton, 2009). Dr. Jones has published articles in a range of journals, such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and International Security, as well as newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Dr. Jones is a graduate of Bowdoin College and received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
Freedom Scholar, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Dr. Michael Ledeen is freedom scholar at FDD, and is an internationally-renowned scholar on Iran, Iraq, terrorism, and international security, and a world-renowned Italianist and expert on fascism. Ledeen has served as a consultant to the National Security Council and the Departments of State and Defense, and as a special advisor to the Secretary of State.
He is the author of more than 35 books, including Field of Fight: How to Win the War Against Radical Islam and its Allies, co-authored with General Michael T. Flynn (St. Martin’s Press, 2016). His previous books include Accomplice to Evil: Iran and the War Against the West; The War Against the Terror Masters; The Iranian Time Bomb; Tocqueville on American Character; and Freedom Betrayed: How America Led a Global Democratic Revolution, Won the Cold War, and Walked Away.
Ledeen regularly appears on cable news and talk radio programs, blogs at Forbes, The Hill, and PJ Media, and contributes periodically to The Wall Street Journal. Michael holds a PhD in Modern European History and Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin, and has taught at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Rome.
Principal, BGR Government Affairs
Lester Munson joined BGR’s International practice after a 26-year career on Capitol Hill and in the Executive Branch. He most recently served as the Staff Director for Chairman Bob Corker of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he led policy, oversight, legislative and communications efforts for a staff of 25 and negotiated committee priorities with the White House, the State Department and Congressional leadership.
In the past two and a half years, the committee has passed into law several bills regarding U.S. policy toward Ukraine and Russia, including major sanctions legislation, has engaged in efforts to fundamentally reform, reauthorize, or modify key foreign assistance programs, including food aid, PEPFAR, arms transfers, and has taken up legislation on the most important foreign policy and national security issues of the day, including the negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program, authorizations for the use of military force, and various international treaties and agreements.
Previously, Mr. Munson was Chief of Staff in Senator Mark Kirk’s (R-Ill.), Washington, DC office. During Lester’s tenure, Senator Kirk became the leading Republican voice in the Senate on Iran and other national security issues.
During the Bush Administration, Mr. Munson was a 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.
Prior to serving in the Bush Administration, at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Munson was the Republican Communications Director and oversaw foreign assistance oversight and legislation. At the House International Relations Committee, he was the Communications Director and Professional Staff Member for Asia-Pacific issues as well as African affairs.
Mr. Munson is a 1989 graduate of the University of Chicago and holds a Master’s degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis. He is married with two children.
Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor, Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Harold Brown Chair; Director, Transnational Threats Project; and Senior Adviser, International Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Seth G. Jones holds the Harold Brown Chair, is director of the Transnational Threats Project, and is a senior adviser to the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He teaches at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.
Prior to joining CSIS, Dr. Jones was the director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation. He also served as representative for the commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, to the assistant secretary of defense for special operations. Before that, he was a plans officer and adviser to the commanding general, U.S. Special Operations Forces, in Afghanistan (Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command–Afghanistan). In 2014, Dr. Jones served on a congressionally mandated panel that reviewed the FBI’s implementation of counterterrorism recommendations contained in the 9/11 Commission Report.
Dr. Jones specializes in counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, unconventional warfare, and covert action, including a focus on al Qaeda and ISIS. He is the author of A Covert Action: Reagan, the CIA, and the Cold War Struggle in Poland (W.W. Norton, 2018), Waging Insurgent Warfare (Oxford University Press, 2016), Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of al Qa'ida after 9/11 (W.W. Norton, 2012), and In the Graveyard of Empires: America’s War in Afghanistan (W.W. Norton, 2009). Dr. Jones has published articles in a range of journals, such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and International Security, as well as newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Dr. Jones is a graduate of Bowdoin College and received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
Freedom Scholar, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Dr. Michael Ledeen is freedom scholar at FDD, and is an internationally-renowned scholar on Iran, Iraq, terrorism, and international security, and a world-renowned Italianist and expert on fascism. Ledeen has served as a consultant to the National Security Council and the Departments of State and Defense, and as a special advisor to the Secretary of State.
He is the author of more than 35 books, including Field of Fight: How to Win the War Against Radical Islam and its Allies, co-authored with General Michael T. Flynn (St. Martin’s Press, 2016). His previous books include Accomplice to Evil: Iran and the War Against the West; The War Against the Terror Masters; The Iranian Time Bomb; Tocqueville on American Character; and Freedom Betrayed: How America Led a Global Democratic Revolution, Won the Cold War, and Walked Away.
Ledeen regularly appears on cable news and talk radio programs, blogs at Forbes, The Hill, and PJ Media, and contributes periodically to The Wall Street Journal. Michael holds a PhD in Modern European History and Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin, and has taught at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Rome.
Author, Ronald Reagan in Private: A Memoir of My Years in The White House
Mr. James Kuhn develops policy and business initiatives through government relations, lobbying, strategic planning and business development. He utilizes his strong bipartisan, working relationships with the Senate and the House of Representatives to affect key public policy which includes outreach to agencies throughout the federal government.
With 35-plus years of professional experience in leadership positions in both the public and private sectors, and close working relationships with Congress and Administration officials, Mr. Kuhn engages legislators and agency executives on behalf of corporations, national associations and organizations. He has helped with such legislation as the development and passage of The Telecommunications Act of 1996, (the first rewrite of telecommunications law since 1934).
Representing the Washington-based Asia Pacific Policy Center, Mr. Kuhn helped major U.S. corporations successfully engage with the Asia-Pacific region fostering business relationships between senior governmental and business representatives throughout Asia Pacific. Additionally, for a number of years Mr. Kuhn represented the Government of Iceland and the Icelandic Heart Association.
Currently, Mr. Kuhn is engaged with clients in the areas of public works infrastructure, project management and veterans’ issues (Vietnam Veterans of America). Additionally, Mr. Kuhn has worked with Offices of Governors and State Legislatures on legislation at the state level to change state statutes on procurement of major transportation projects along with capital (facilities) projects. For an eight-year period Mr. Kuhn represented the Design-Build industry through his close work with the Design-Build Institute of America.
Formerly, in his capacity as Assistant to The President in the Reagan White House (Second Term), Mr. Kuhn had the honor of being an integral part of President Reagan’s inner circle serving by his side in the Oval Office interfacing with the White House Chief of Staff, the National Security Advisor and other key White House senior staff to ensure the constant, effective flow of information to the President while providing precision and continuity on the President’s daily agenda. In this same capacity, Mr. Kuhn traveled with the President on all domestic and international trips while accompanying the President and Mrs. Reagan on 91 weekend trips to Camp David.
Mr. Kuhn is from the farmlands of northwestern Ohio and is the author of Ronald Reagan in Private: A Memoir of My Years in The White House which was published by Penguin Group USA/Sentinel in 2004.
Author, Lady in Red: An Intimate Portrait of Nancy Reagan (April 2018)
Sheila Tate served for twenty years as president and vice chairman of Powell Tate, the firm she co-founded in 1991 with Jody Powell, Presidential Press Secretary to President Jimmy Carter. She retired in 2012.
Mrs. Tate’s political and government experience ranges from her 1981-85 service as White House Press Secretary to First Lady Nancy Reagan to the 1988-89 Presidential campaign and transition during which she served as press secretary for President-elect George H. W. Bush. She was also communications director for the successful 1996 Republican convention in San Diego.
Most of Mrs. Tate’s business career has been devoted to agency work. She was twice affiliated with Burson-Marsteller, and was also employed twice by Hill.
She served two five-year terms on the Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), appointed by both Presidents Reagan and Bush. She served as vice chairman from 1990-92 and chairman from 1992-94. She also served nine years on the National Advisory Board of the Salvation Army where she chaired the Community Relations and Development Committee.
Mrs. Tate was a member, an officer and director of the National Press Foundation for 10 years. She also served as chairman of the Civilian Public Affairs Committee for the United States Military Academy. During the George H. W. Bush administration she was a member of the United States Information Agency’s private sector public relations committee.
In 2001, the Washingtonian magazine named her one of the “100 Most Powerful Women in Washington.” In 1999, PRWeek selected her as one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Public Relations” and one of the “100 Most Influential PR People of the 20th Century.”
She was named to the Public Relations Society of America’s National Capitol Hall of Fame in 2015.
Mrs. Tate, a native of Washington, DC, holds a B.A. in journalism from Duquesne University and has done graduate work in mass communications at the University of Denver.
Author, Movie Nights with the Reagans
Mark Weinberg is a former spokesman, advisor and speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan. He served on the 1980 Reagan campaign, all eight years on the Reagan White House staff, and two years thereafter as Director of Public Affairs in the office of former President Ronald Reagan. He currently works as a communications consultant in the private sector. Mr. Weinberg and his wife live in the New York City area with their two children.
Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor, Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Principal, BGR Government Affairs
Lester Munson joined BGR’s International practice after a 26-year career on Capitol Hill and in the Executive Branch. He most recently served as the Staff Director for Chairman Bob Corker of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he led policy, oversight, legislative and communications efforts for a staff of 25 and negotiated committee priorities with the White House, the State Department and Congressional leadership.
In the past two and a half years, the committee has passed into law several bills regarding U.S. policy toward Ukraine and Russia, including major sanctions legislation, has engaged in efforts to fundamentally reform, reauthorize, or modify key foreign assistance programs, including food aid, PEPFAR, arms transfers, and has taken up legislation on the most important foreign policy and national security issues of the day, including the negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program, authorizations for the use of military force, and various international treaties and agreements.
Previously, Mr. Munson was Chief of Staff in Senator Mark Kirk’s (R-Ill.), Washington, DC office. During Lester’s tenure, Senator Kirk became the leading Republican voice in the Senate on Iran and other national security issues.
During the Bush Administration, Mr. Munson was a 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.
Prior to serving in the Bush Administration, at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Munson was the Republican Communications Director and oversaw foreign assistance oversight and legislation. At the House International Relations Committee, he was the Communications Director and Professional Staff Member for Asia-Pacific issues as well as African affairs.
Mr. Munson is a 1989 graduate of the University of Chicago and holds a Master’s degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis. He is married with two children.
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