Alex Zerden is the founder of Capitol Peak Strategies, a risk advisory firm based in Washington, DC. Capitol Peak works with leading financial institutions, companies and organizations to navigate emerging technologies, financial regulation, and economic crisis. As a regulatory lawyer, economic policymaker, and financial diplomat, Alex brings a depth of public and private sector experience at the intersection of financial services, economics, and national security covering anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), economic sanctions, investment security, financial regulation, economic crisis response, anti-corruption, financial enforcement and oversight investigations, and public-private partnerships. Alex has worked across the U.S. government, including at the White House National Economic Council, House of Representatives, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), and the Treasury Department’s Office of International Affairs, Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). In 2018-2019, Alex deployed to Afghanistan to lead the Treasury Department office at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul as the Financial Attaché. Alex is also an Adjunct Senior Fellow at CNAS, a Senior Advisor to WestExec Advisors, and a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Svetlana Savranskaya
Dr. Svetlana Savranskaya is a Senior Analyst at the Archive and since 2001 the director of the Archive’s Russia programs. She leads the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program of the Archive, focusing on the Nunn-Lugar initiative and the ongoing challenges of U.S.-Russia cooperation, and manages the Archive’s relationships with Russian academics and organizations. She served as lead organizer for the historic 2013 Nunn-Lugar conference at Musgrove, and the 2015 Kazakhstan Nunn-Lugar conference in Astana and Kurchatov. Previously, she organized and led six summer schools in Russia, the successful Archive partnerships with Kuban State University, Tbilisi State University, the Gorbachev Foundation, Memorial, the Moscow Helsinki Group, and organizations in the Caucasus culminating in the series of four major international conferences on access to information in the former Soviet space. She earned her Ph.D. in political science and international affairs in 1998 from Emory University, where she studied with Professors Robert Pastor and Thomas Remington. A "Red Diploma" (equivalent of summa cum laude) graduate of the Moscow State University in 1988, she went on to study at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1989-90, before moving to Emory.
Melanie Robbins
Melanie is a Jewish-American, Israeli advocate for peace, justice and reconciliation with nearly two decades of experience in the field. After her BA in Political Science, Middle East Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Melanie moved to Israel to work in a joint Palestinian-Israeli peace education program, and later became Director of Development for the veteran Israeli peace movement Peace Now. In Israel, Melanie built an alternative tour to the West Bank, bringing hundreds of Jewish-Americans to experience the effects of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and complicate the narratives of this conflict. Melanie earned her MA in Security and Diplomacy from Tel Aviv University’s Executive Leadership program. In 2016, Melanie joined the Anti-Defamation League becoming Deputy Director for the New York – New Jersey regional office. In her role there, she continued to build bridges, between Jewish-Muslim-Arab, Black, and Latin American communities across NY and NJ. After her tenure with ADL, Melanie joined the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest as Director of the Global Connections Department (Israel and Overseas Programs). Currently, Melanie works as a media, policy and strategy consultant, focusing on individuals and initiatives which practice principles of democracy, and seek to build an authentically shared society across political, social and religious divides. She remains particularly connected with Palestinians and Israelis who are part of building peace and reconciliation.
Negar Razavi
An anthropologist by training, Negar Razavi joined Princeton University's Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies, from Northwestern University. The research project she's working on is titled: "The Security Paradox: Policy Expertise, Transnational Security, and the Politics of Knowing (and Unknowing) Iran from Washington." Intersecting political science and anthropology, Razavi's research brings a critical, people-centered approach to studies of international security, gender, expertise, and empire to U.S.-Iran relations. Her proposed project draws on ethnographic fieldwork in Washington D.C. and Tehran where she evaluated the expanding influence of a transnational network of policy experts in shaping U.S. security policies toward Iran and the broader Middle East. She explores how and why non-state analysts have collectively promoted security approaches toward the Islamic Republic that not only exacerbate insecurities for local communities but seem to contradict the U.S.' stated security objective. Her Ph.D interests in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania State concentrated on political subjectivities, citizenship, and knowledge formation. Her dissertation title: “With Grave Concern”: Policy Experts, National Security, and U.S. Policy towards the “Middle East.”
Claire Putzeys
Claire is the Deputy Director for U.S. Refugee Admissions for the U.S. Department of State. Previously, she was the Director for Refugees on the National Security Council at the White House. She is the former Syria Team Lead at the U.S. Department of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). She also held the same position as Team Lead for Iraq and Yemen. Prior to that, she was the Humanitarian Policy Officer for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Her government work also included a Political Assistant role in the U.S. Embassy in Rabat, Morocco and earlier, she was a Refugee Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Her earliest work, which confirmed her interest in refugee issues included a consultancy for Mapendo International (now Refuge Point) and work with the Refugee Family Reunification Program for the International Rescue Committee while studying at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where she received her MALD degree.
Sherif Mansour
Sherif Mansour is the Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), where he has dedicated over 20 years to advocating for democracy, human rights, and press freedom. With a master’s in international relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a bachelor’s in education from Al-Azhar University, Sherif has extensive experience in protecting journalists, monitoring elections, and building capacity for civil society organizations across the Middle East and the U.S. He has written for leading international outlets and appeared on major news networks, earning recognition for his impactful work.
Linda Kulman
Linda Kulman is a New York Times, Amazon, and Wall Street Journal bestselling ghostwriter who has successfully collaborated on more than a dozen books. Her most recent work is Dr. Anthony Fauci’s memoir, On Call, which debuted as a #1 New York Times bestseller in June 2024. Kulman’s elite list of clients also includes former Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack, two-time heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman, former First Lady Hillary Clinton, Senator George McGovern, former Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and Amanda Knox, who was wrongfully imprisoned for murder in Italy. Kulman is known for her expertise at telling each person’s unique story in the most powerful manner possible.
Daniel Kramer
Daniel is a Managing Partner at Duo Group, having several years of experience as a founder and operator of hospitality ventures in Washington, D.C. including Duke’s Grocery, Gogi Yogi, and Duke’s Counter. Most notably is his work with Duke’s Grocery where he draws upon his Jewish and his love for food from celebrating Jewish holidays as a kid in Los Angeles. East London-themed pub and supper spots in Dupont Circle, Navy Yard, Foggy Bottom & British Embassy, featuring scratch made seasonal dishes inspired by that creative culinary scene in the English capital.Prior to opening his first restaurant, Daniel worked in government, consulting, and youth athletics. He is a graduate of Tufts University who was in the Pi Sigma Alpha Honor Society and President of Delta Tau Delta. He also played varsity sports in Lacrosse and golf for all four years where was Captain and All-NESCAC.
Allison Jeffery
Allison Jeffery is a humanitarian protection practitioner and researcher focusing on child protection and gender-based violence prevention and response. She is experienced in case management, mental health and psychosocial support, child marriage, gender analysis, and reproductive health in humanitarian, development, and nexus settings. Allison gained skills in quality improvement, project management, policy analysis, qualitative research, and training design and implementation. She graduated with her BA in International Affairs from Tufts University and MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Peter Della-Rocca
Peter Della-Rocca is an analyst on the U.S. Climate team at the Environmental Defense Fund, where he pushes rapid decarbonization on the state level. He leverages timely research and analysis to advocate for responsible climate policy in states including Pennsylvania and Virginia, while contributing to the knowledge base of EDF’s coalition partners in those states. Previously, he worked at the Climate Leadership Council, where he conducted research and advocacy on carbon pricing and related policies. He holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard University.
Valerie Cleland
Valerie is a senior manager for Ocean Energy and Nature for the National Resources Defense Council, Valerie advocates for policies that protect and restore our oceans. Prior to joining NRDC, Cleland was a NOAA Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellow in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation where she worked to develop, analyze, and guide oceans legislation through the committee process. She originally hails from the Pacific Northwest where she worked as an environmental scientist on marine and aquatic projects for a small environmental firm and taught sea kayaking. Cleland attended Tufts University and received a master's of marine affairs from the University of Washington. She is based in NRDC's Washington, D.C. office.
Matan Chorev
Matan Chorev is the Principal Deputy Director of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff. Prior to his appointment, he served as Chief of Staff of the National Security and Foreign Policy team on the Biden-Harris Transition and as the foreign policy author of the 2020 Democratic Party Platform. From 2015-2020, he was Chief of Staff of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He previously served as speechwriter and advisor to Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns and as a member of the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff. He has also served as a Crisis, Governance, and Stabilization Foreign Service Officer at the United States Agency for International Development with assignments in Morocco and Yemen, and as a Rosenthal Fellow at the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning. Prior to his government service, Matan was researcher at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, where he was the Executive Director of the Future of National Security Project. He is a David Rockefeller Fellow at The Trilateral Commission and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds degrees from Tufts University, New England Conservatory, and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Tom Blanton
Tom Blanton is the director since 1992 of the independent non-governmental National Security Archive at George Washington University (www.nsarchive.org). He won the 2004 Emmy Award for individual achievement in news and documentary research, and on behalf of the Archive received the George Polk Award in 2000 for “piercing self-serving veils of government secrecy.” His books have been awarded the 2011 Link-Kuehl Prize from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, selection by Choice magazine as “Outstanding Academic Title 2017,” and the American Library Association’s James Madison Award Citation in 1996, among other honors. The National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame elected him a member in 2006, and Tufts University presented him the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award in 2011 for “decades of demystifying and exposing the underworld of global diplomacy.” His articles have appeared in Diplomatic History, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, and the Washington Post, among many other journals; and he is series co-editor for the National Security Archive’s online and book publications of more than a million pages of declassified U.S. government documents obtained through the Archive’s more than 60,000 Freedom of Information Act requests.
Ralph Alswang
One of the nation's premiere photographers for more than 25 years, Ralph worked for Newsweek, Reuters, and, for eight years, at the White House under Bill Clinton as the President and First Lady’s official documentary photographer. This job took him to every state in the union and to more than 60 countries, where he captured history as it was unfolding. Ralph has photographed hundreds of celebrated people and events. Here is his site.
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib is an American writer and analyst who grew up in Gaza City, having left in 2005 as a teenage exchange student to the United States. He writes extensively on Gaza’s political and humanitarian affairs and has been an outspoken critic of Hamas and a promoter of coexistence and peace as the only path forward between Palestinians and Israelis. Alkhatib is a resident senior fellow with the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s in intelligence and national security studies. His writing has been published in US and Israeli outlets, and his opinions and comments have been featured in the international press.
MaryAnn Mills
For twenty years, Mary Ann Mills has built her career in marketing communications with experience in the areas of event management, strategic planning, cause-related marketing, brand building and media relations.
Ms. Mills spent eight years in New York City with McGrath/Power Associates. As Vice President, she managed an account group that included Reebok International, The Body Shop, TRAVEL & LEISURE Magazine, and Yankelovich Clancy Shulman. She developed strategic long-term public-relations plans creating and coordinating events and launching numerous products and national and grass-roots campaigns.
As Vice President of Marketing for Earth Force, a start-up environmental group for young people, Ms. Mills developed and executed the launch strategy and ongoing outreach efforts with an emphasis on hands-on action events for youth.
Ms. Mills served as Director of Special Events and Public Relations at WashingtonInc. She planned and executed all aspects of event production from fundraising to list production to menu selection and protocol.
For eight years, Ms. Mills and her two partners owned and operated five DC-area The Body Shop stores. Ms. Mills’ focus was event planning, communications, and community outreach.
Ms. Mills lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband, Dr. Jason Clay.
Ariel E. Levite Op-ed: Israel's Security Is Crumbling..
Author: Ariel E. Levite
Reposted from Haaretz
It's an axiom that a nation's defense strategy must rest on four legs – diplomacy and statesmanship, military (including intelligence), economy and society and information (including public diplomacy). But over the last year, it has become clear that Israel is pinning all its hopes for security solely on one leg – the military. And the results have been commensurate with this single-minded focus. Its military achievements (both overt and covert), however impressive they may be, have been confined to operational gains.
We have scored great successes invading, killing and destroying our enemies to the extent needed, and perhaps even beyond it. But since those accomplishments haven't been accompanied by any effort on the diplomatic, socioeconomic and information fronts, Israel is faltering in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Lebanon, as well as against Iran and its proxies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The latest retaliation against Iran does not change this reality, with Iran retaining its highly advanced nuclear weapons threshold, and leveraging it.
Israel hasn't been wise enough to translate the investment, sophistication, risk and sacrifice entailed in its military gains into a better, stable security situation.
The threat horizon looks more worrying than ever. We're facing a guerrilla war of indefinite duration in Gaza, a wave of terror in and from the West Bank, both an air and a ground war in Lebanon, direct military clashes with a nuclearizing Iran and growing friction with its proxies throughout the Middle East and perhaps even beyond.
Israel's military power and intelligence prowess is succumbing to the toll exacted by the supreme effort invested in an entire year of constant fighting on multiple fronts. Meanwhile, one terror attack follows another. For every terrorist, let alone leader, we manage to kill, a successor thirsting for vengeance arises and manages to inspire others to follow him.
Deterrence, killing and destruction are at times absolutely necessary. But their benefits, if when real, are necessarily temporary and depend on a nonmilitary leg to complement them.
For now, Israeli society is bleeding, riven and scarred, while the fate of the hostages is gnawing away at our social contract. Most of the country's population depends on alerts from the Home Front Command, our air defense system and the Shin Bet to maintain any semblance of a normal life in light of the unending waves of rockets and missiles, drones and frequent terror attacks. Those hostages in Gaza who are still alive are enduring mortal suffering, and their numbers are dwindling. Only parts of society are still willing to enlist and/or continue serving in the military. Israel's economic situation is deteriorating and showing strains, while many businesses are moving their centers of activity abroad, either by choice or necessity.
The foundations of Israel's scientific, technological and commercial superiority are in real danger. The functioning of most government ministries has been pitiful and is driven mainly by narrow, short-term political considerations. Trust in them – and, even more importantly, in our ability to forge a better future for this country and nation – is disappearing among wide segments of society. Many, too many, have already despaired of living in Israel or are considering migrating.
The world is closing in on us. Even our best friends are having trouble standing beside us or backing us up, at the very moment when, more than ever before, we need their support and assistance, material, political and moral, both to sustain the fight now and to recover afterward. Belief in the justness of our cause is being steadily eroded in the absence of any viable vision that could present a credible alternative to a perpetual, multifront war.
The country's leadership, which in the past was wise enough to address all these issues, has consistently eschewed the opportunity to present Israelis or our partners elsewhere any credible vision for ending the fighting, any practical way to transform the fight and leverage its gains into a different, better, stable reality, or even to offer any strategy for surviving until then.
Nor are we seeing any realistic plan of action for coping with all of these challenges in the long run. Instead, myopia prevails, and we keep on hearing the mantra that we have to unite and support the leadership that is steering us into an escalating, never-ending war on multiple fronts.
But perhaps we're doing an injustice to the current government, and especially to the person who heads it, by implying that they have no strategic vision. Perhaps it does exist, but they simply haven't bothered to share it with us. Actions on the ground as well as statements here and there hint that this may indeed be the case, at least with regard to an ongoing occupation of Gaza and building some settlements there, annexing the West Bank and encouraging Palestinian migration from it (ultimately turning Jordan into Palestine), attacking Iran's nuclear facilities ourselves in the hopes that the United States will join in and finish the job once and for all, establishing a security zone in southern Lebanon and, above all, inciting our enemies' populations to rise up against their leaders in the hopes that regimes friendlier to Israel will emerge in their stead.
It seems clear that diplomatic agreements (starting with a hostage deal and continuing with forming an Arab-led governance scheme for Gaza, not to mention the West Bank) aren't part of the current government's agenda. Nor is a realistic plan to bolster our security, enhance social cohesion and mobilize society toward renewal, reviving the economy, improving Israel's international standing, strengthening Israel's relationship with the United States and more.
Given that we are a country whose future hinges on remaining a vibrant, modern society, our very survival as a nation now depends on closing ranks behind a clear vision and a plan of action to implement it, led by a competent political leadership and professional staff capable of advancing this. For this reason, Israelis now have no choice.
They must demand that the government immediately lay out for all to see its strategy for bailing us out of the current predicament – not only regarding the three neglected legs of the country's defense strategy, but also on how to maintain its military and security superiority over time given the serious challenges it faces both from within and without. For instance, over the long run, it can't continue relying on a constantly shrinking segment of society to bear the military burden, now that it's more difficult and burdensome than in the past.
But we should not confine this demand solely to the current leadership. Everyone in the opposition who presumes to provide an alternative to this leadership must be expected to do likewise. They must present us with their alternative vision, a practical plan of action and an inspiring team to carry them out. It's vital to have a public debate about these contrasting visions now, then put them to the voters for a decision.
Political leaders who refuse to explain to us their vision and plan of action for realizing it should be forced to vacate their positions immediately. Living by the sword forever, and continuing to run in place, are a surefire recipe for undermining the Zionist dream.
Dr. Ariel (Eli) Levite is a senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Matt Bai Op-Ed: What Biden’s aides did that infuriated people
Author: Matt Bai
Reposted from The Washington Post
If there were any lingering doubts about whether Democrats did the right thing by pushing Joe Biden off the ticket in July, any remaining thought that maybe the president — even in a somewhat diminished state — was right to think that he could have beaten Donald Trump, then the exit polls from this week’s election should have put them to rest.
Because however history remembers Biden (and I think it will be kinder), it’s clear that a solid majority of Americans have determined his presidency to be a decisive failure. In Pennsylvania and Georgia, states Biden narrowly won in 2020, just over 40 percent of voters this week approved of his job performance. Nationally, that number was a tick lower, and roughly consistent with just about every poll over the past two years.
More than two-thirds of voters said the economy was in bad shape, but I don’t think that alone tells the story of Biden’s repudiation. The real reason, I think, goes deeper than any one policy or economic indicator.
Biden’s term started out promisingly enough. I thought he misread his mandate and pursued a more expansive agenda than a lot of voters endorsed, but however one judged the substance of his presidency, you couldn’t argue with his legislative success. Biden signed into law about $2.5 trillion in short-term aid and longer-term investments in education, energy and infrastructure. His administration bungled the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, but he rallied Europe capably in its defense of Ukraine.
Biden performed well enough to stave off his party’s losses in the 2022 midterm elections, which emboldened him to run again. But by then, his approval ratings had already been dropping for months. Consumers were reeling from inflation — the result, at least in part, of massive public spending. Americans were increasingly concerned about migrants streaming across the southern border, too.
Underlying all of this, always, was the issue of Biden’s age. He simply didn’t look or sound up to the job. He shuffled rather than strode, slurred his words, kept to scripted material. When Biden gave a perfectly average State of the Union speech earlier this year, managing to depart from the text with a quip here and there, Democrats — and, truth be told, much of the news media — rejoiced as if he’d just won the “kitchen debate” with Nikita Khrushchev.
The problem wasn’t merely the president’s age. It was his denial of reality — and his party’s. White House aides portrayed Biden as keeping his young advisers working late into the night, quizzing them for details. They repeated this nonsensical idea that he was the only Democrat alive who could beat Trump, just because he was the only one who had. Democrats denounced anyone who raised the fitness issue as ageist and accused us of abetting Trump.
Ultimately, of course, the world saw Biden at his worst in a televised debate, and party insiders were forced to act, too late. But we’ve been through all that already. The point I want to make is that there’s a common thread in all of this.
Canada reportedly foils Iranian plot to kill former justice minister Irwin Cotler
Reposted from The Guardian
Canadian authorities foiled an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate a former justice minister and rights activist who has been a strong critic of Tehran, the Globe and Mail newspaper has reported.
The 84-year-old was justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2015 but has remained active with many associations that campaign for human rights around the world.
According to the Globe and Mail, he was informed last month that he faced an imminent threat – within 48 hours – of assassination from Iranian agents.
Authorities tracked two suspects in the plot, the paper said, citing unnamed sources.
In an email to AFP, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, where Cotler is international chair, confirmed the Globe and Mail report.
Cotler “has no knowledge or details regarding any arrests made”, said Brandon Golfman, an organization spokesman.
“We cannot comment on, nor confirm specific RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) operations due to security reasons,” a spokesperson for Dominic LeBlanc, the public safety minister, told AFP.
Jean-Yves Duclos, the government’s senior minister in Quebec province, where Cotler lives, commented that it was likely “very difficult for (Cotler), in particular, and his family and friends to hear” about the alleged plot.
Another senior government minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, called the plot “very concerning.”
Cotler had already been receiving police protection for more than a year after the 7 October 2023 attack in Israel by Hamas.
He is Jewish and has advocated globally to have Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps listed as a terrorist entity.
Cotler’s name reportedly also came up in an FBI investigation of a 2022 Iranian murder-for-hire operation in New York that targeted the American human rights activist Masih Alinejad.
Ottawa, which severed diplomatic ties with Iran more than a decade ago, listed the Revolutionary Guard as a banned terror group in June.
As a lawyer, Cotler also represented Iranian political prisoners and dissidents. He is also international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and a strong backer of Israel.
His daughter, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, is an Israeli politician and diplomat who previously served as a member of Israel’s parliament.
Celebrating the Hon. Irwin Cotler
This past Sunday, November 3, TAU Canada and 550 guests celebrated the remarkable life and legacy of The Honourable Irwin Cotler.
Family and friends from Canada and beyond gathered in Montreal, in what became an unforgettable and powerful event. We paid tribute to a very special person, who has dedicated his life and career to making the world a better place. As former Canadian Supreme Court Justice Rosie Abella said in her special address, “We are all better people today because of Irwin.”
Funds from this campaign will support the continued work of the Irwin Cotler Institute, the Cotler International Graduate Fellowship Program and the Annual Global Antisemitism Report at Tel Aviv University, in its fight against the global surge of antisemitism and hate, with a focus on protecting Democracy, Human Rights and Justice.
As one of Irwin’s close friends, Stephen Lipper, said, “The evening celebrating Irwin Cotler was a never to be forgotten event. Everyone joined together in an evening of love and appreciation for the person who did so much for human rights throughout the world. The speeches were outstanding, given by very special people, who were very important in Irwin’s life, as Irwin was in theirs.”