Westminster Institute talks

R. James Woolsey is a Venture Partner with Lux Capital Management. He also Chairs 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. Follow us at westminster-institute.org and youtube.com/user/WestminsterInstitute

Dr. John M. Poindextermost recently served as Director of the Information Awareness Office (IAO) at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Dr. Poindexter served as National Security Advisor and Deputy National Security Advisor for President Ronald Reagan from 1983 to 1986, and as Military Assistant in the White House prior to that. Dr. Poindexter served 29 years active duty in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of Vice Admiral. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. Follow us at westminster-institute.org and youtube.com/user/WestminsterInstitute

Follow us at westminster-institute.org and youtube.com/user/WestminsterInstitute On October 1, 2013 at 9:00am in the Winners Room of the National Press Club, the leaders of an American delegation of Middle East and counterterrorism experts – most of whom are former U.S. military officers – held a press conference to discuss findings and policy recommendations based on a September 27-30 visit to Cairo that included meetings with Egyptian Minister of Defense el-Sisi, Egyptian military leaders, the head of Egypt’s constitution-drafting body and several leaders of various faiths. This was the only delegation of U.S. experts on the Middle East, counterterrorism and democracy development to have met with Minister el-Sisi and other leaders of the Egyptian government since former President Morsi was removed on July 3rd. The delegation was sponsored by The Westminster Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan think-tank established in response to the growing threat of ideological extremism and to the perceived need to better understand and engage in the war of ideas. The Institute, which does not accept any government funds, works with the U.S. military, FBI, local law enforcement, NCTC, and DHS, as well as with the State Department and Congress. Delegation leaders included: Lt. Col. Rick Francona (US Air Force, Ret.), a retired intelligence officer with extensive work throughout the Middle East and military analyst for CNN. Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely, a former Deputy Commanding General for the U.S. Army, Pacific, Command, with expertise in Special Operations, Civil-Military Operations, and counter-terrorism. Col. Ken Allard (US Army, Ret.), a former Dean of the U.S. National War College and a widely known commentator on foreign policy and security issues. Lt. Col. Bill Cowan(Ret.), a FOX News Channel contributor and internationally acknowledged expert in the areas of terrorism, homeland security, intelligence and military special operations.

Patrick Sookhdeo is a leading expert on jihadist ideology and radical Islam, advising governments around the globe. He has spoken at many military and security events and is the author of numerous books, including Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam, Understanding Shari’a Finance: The Muslim Challenge to Western Economics, and Faith, Power, and Territory:  A Handbook of British Islam.  He received his Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London, and he is currently Visiting Professor at the Defence Academy of the UK, and Adjunct Professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. He has served as advisor to Permanent Joint Headquarters UK and as Cultural Advisor to RC South, Afghanistan (2010), to ISAF, in Kabul, Afghanistan (2007) and to GOC, Basra, Iraq (2007). Follow us at westminster-institute.org and youtube.com/user/WestminsterInstitute

Dr. Tawfik Hamid, an expert in cognitive psychology, is an Islamic thinker and reformer, and one time Islamic extremist from Egypt. He was a member of a radical Islamic organization Jamaa Islameia JI (of Egypt) with Dr. Ayman Al-Zawaherri, who later became the leader of Al-Qaeda. After being radicalized in the JI (approximately thirty-five years ago), he had an awakening of his human conscience, recognized the threat of Radical Islam, and started to teach modern peaceful interpretations of classical Islamic core texts. Dr. Hamid is the author of Inside Jihad: How Radical Islam Works; Why It Should Terrify Us: How To Defeat It. He also spoke at The Westminster Institute on Inside Jihad: How Radical Islam Works and How to Defeat It. Follow us at westminster-institute.org and youtube.com/user/WestminsterInstitute

Professor J. Michael Waller has been a scholar-practitioner in public diplomacy, political warfare, psychological operations and information operations in support of US foreign and military policy for more than 25 years. He was a member of the staff of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, served on the White House Task Force on Central America, was an operative for members of the White House Active Measures Working Group, and has been a consultant to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the U.S. Information Agency, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Office of the  Secretary of Defense, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Special Operations Command. Follow us at westminster-institute.org and youtube.com/user/WestminsterInstitute

Stephen Ulph is a member of the board of the Westminster institute and Senior Fellow with The Jamestown Foundation. One of the preeminent analysts of the Islamic world, Mr. Ulph specializes in the analysis of jihadist and Islamist ideology and regularly lectures on aspects of Islamist and Jihadist ideology impacting on Western democracies and the course of the war on terrorism. He is the founder and former editor of Islamic Affairs Analyst and Terrorism Security Monitor for Jane’s Information Group. His publications include an analysis on jihadism in Syria for the CTC, an ideological analysis of the ‘Virtual Border Conflict’ (the online arena for Islamist extremism) for The Borders of Islam, an in-depth examination of the relationship of Islamism to other totalitarian systems of thought in Fighting the Ideological War, and a 4-part reference work, Towards a Curriculum for the Teaching of Jihadist Ideology, available online at the Jamestown Foundation. He is also the Director of The Reform Project and its bi-lingual website Almuslih (‘The Reformer’ www.almuslih.org) which supports Arab reformist writers and promotes their work to an English-language readership. Follow us at westminster-institute.org and youtube.com/user/WestminsterInstitute

Robert R. Reilly has been on the board of Westminster since its founding. In his 25 years of government service, he has taught at National Defense University (2007), and served in the Office of The Secretary of Defense, where he was Senior Advisor for Information Strategy (2002-2006). He participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 as Senior Advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of information. Before that, he was director of the Voice of America, where he had worked the prior decade. Mr. Reilly served in the White House as a Special Assistant to the President (1983-1985), and in the U.S. Information Agency both in D.C. and abroad. Follow us at westminster-institute.org and youtube.com/user/westminsterinstitute

Recent events in Egypt, Syria, Benghazi, Mali, and Nigeria demonstrate that U.S. policy in the Middle East and Africa is failing—neither is it making Americans safer nor is it helping to bring about regional peace and democracy. The U.S. government built its strategy on the belief that supporting “non-violent” Islamists, notably the Muslim Brotherhood, would weaken the violent Islamists—Al Qaeda and all affiliated movements. With the violence throughout the region signaling a clear failure of this strategy, the United States must radically reassess its strategic approach. This conference brings together leading experts on Islamist ideology, terrorism, and the Middle East, to lay out a new U.S. strategy which will increase domestic security at home, undermine al Qaeda, and stabilize the region. Follow us at westminster-institute.org and youtube.com/user/WestminsterInstitute

Diana West's work has appeared in many publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The Weekly Standard, and The Washington Post Magazine, and her fiction has appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. She has made numerous television and radio appearances, and was recently featured in the Glenn Beck TV documentaries “The Project” and “Rumors of War III.” Her weekly newspaper column is syndicated by Universal Uclick, and West also serves as Washington Correspondent for the European weekly newspaper Dispatch International. West is one of 19 co-authors (including Frank Gaffney, Andrew C. McCarthy and James Woolsey) of Shariah: The Threat to America, a publication of the Center for Security Policy. Follow us at westminster-institute.org and youtube.com/user/WestminsterInstitute