With over 25 years of experience in the space, satellite, and telecommunications industries, I am a passionate leader with a proven track record of creating innovative and profitable solutions for the global market. As the Founder, Chair, and CEO of Lonestar Data Holdings Inc., I am leading a venture to pioneer the future of data services from the Moon for the Earth

Multi-domain Operations Professional
Passionate leader experienced in managing logistics and supply chain operations, multi-organizational teams, and problem solving; diversified skill set brings 14 years of leadership in military operations, medical skills, and civilian personnel management to enhance an organization.

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David J. Kramer serves as the Executive Director of the George W. Bush Institute. Prior to joining the Bush Institute, he taught at Florida International University’s Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, where he also was Senior Fellow in the Václav Havel Program for Human Rights and Diplomacy and Director for European and Eurasian Affairs.

I am a foreign policy researcher focused on nuclear risk, artificial intelligence, and strategic stability. My work examines how states manage deterrence, escalation, and crisis decision-making under conditions of deep uncertainty and technological acceleration.

I lead the Future Security Scenarios Lab at New America, where we apply scenario planning and systems thinking to anticipate structural risks in nuclear stability, AI-enabled military systems, and emerging security technologies.

My research analyzes the evolution of arms control, export controls, and governance frameworks for sensitive technologies. I study how digital acceleration and interpretive overload affect crisis stability and nonproliferation, and I develop adaptive institutional approaches designed to strengthen resilience in ambiguous strategic environments.

Dr. Whiskeyman is a GNSI Non-Resident Senior Fellow and adjunct professor at Syracuse University's Maxwell School. He's also an adjunct faculty instructor at the U.S. Air Force Air Command Staff college. His experience also includes a stint as associate professor at the College of Information and Cyberspace at the National Defense University. 

Arman Mahmoudian is a Ph.D. student in the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies and also a Graduate Assistant in USF World Strategic and Diplomatic Studies. Arman earned his Master’s degree in International Relations and Global Security from Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (Moscow). During his Master studies he collaborated with Russian Media and think tanks on the Middle East. Arman was a researcher in IRAS (IRANIAN and RUSSIAN Studies), and worked on some issues like “Russia’s Role in the Middle East” or the “Consequences of Rise of Terrorism in the Middle East.”

regory Leighton earned his PhD in History and Welsh History at Cardiff University in 2018. His scholarly interests concern the history of the military orders and their activities in the Baltic Sea region from the thirteenth to fourteenth century. Specifically, the link between crusading and pilgrimage activities, and the role played by “landscape” in the crusade ideology for the Baltic crusades form the core areas of his research.

Dr. Leighton currently holds a NAWA-Ulam postdoctoral fellowship at the Nicholas Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, and has held a Visiting Researcher grant at the University of Stockholm in Sweden.

I earned a Bachelor's degree from the University of Milan, Italy in 2014 and Master's degree in history at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2017. Currently, I am a PhD Candidate (history) at the Ohio State University University with projected defense date of July 2023, and my research interest is at the intersectionality between military history, American history, and history of race, ethnicity, and national identity. My dissertation titled "Italian Yanks: Italian-American Service Members between Integration and Discrimination, 1941-1945"focuses on Italian-American service members in World War II and how military service influenced their assimilation into American mainstream society and the construction of modern-day Italian-American identity. As a historian and researcher, I have extensive expertise in conducting archival research at both local and larger archival centers, in the United States and abroad.

As a Senior Research Fellow at GNSI, I conduct policy relevant research in the areas of intelligence, grand strategy, & national security. I am also developing GNSI’s Future Strategist Program, which aims to prepare USF undergraduate & graduate students for careers in national security related fields. My research in American intelligence history has made me a believer in educating more informed citizens who will have to find new ways to balance liberty & security in our republic in response to the challenges of the 21st century. 

Prior to GNSI:  I was an assistant professor at the Joint Special Operations University in Tampa, FL & The Citadel in Charleston, SC. I was also previously a postdoctoral fellow in the National Security Affairs Department at the U.S. Naval War College. I currently sit on the boards of the International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence and the Society for Intelligence History.

Joshua M. Scacco (PhD, University of Texas at Austin) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication. Dr. Scacco also is the founding and current Director of the Center for Sustainable Democracy in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of South Florida. He specializes in political communication, media content and effects, and quantitative research methods.

Dr. Scacco’s research is focused on how agents and leaders in a democracy can effectively and ethically harness communication technologies to strengthen democratic governance. This aligns with his commitment to and experience applying his research through partnerships that extend democratic representation and employ democratically-focused approaches for government officials, journalists, and citizens. He is the coauthor, with Kevin Coe, of the book The Ubiquitous Presidency: Presidential Communication and Digital Democracy in Tumultuous Times (Oxford University Press).

I am a science and technology policy research fellow working at the intersection of emerging technologies, national security, and global supply chains. My work broadly examines how advanced scientific innovation translates into strategic advantage, with a focus on materials, infrastructure, and the policies that shape their development and deployment. I study technology supply chains and critical resources to understand where vulnerabilities arise and how policy frameworks can better manage risk in an era of great power competition. In parallel, I analyze the governance and security of foundational infrastructure that underpins the digital economy and modern defense systems. Overall, my research bridges science, policy, and geopolitics to inform strategies that strengthen U.S. technological leadership and economic resilience.

Dr Louise Tumchewics is a researcher, author and geopolitics commentator. She has a PhD in War Studies from King’s College London and is currently a research fellow at the Centre for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark, where she works on economic security and supply chain resilience. She has advised numerous international organisations and financial institutions. In 2025, Louise received the French Navy’s Admiral Castex Prize for her writing on maritime economic security.

Dr. Sean Guillory is a nationally recognized expert in cognitive warfare, influence operations, and behavioral strategy. With over a decade of experience supporting U.S. defense and intelligence agencies, Sean specializes in understanding and shaping human decision-making at scale within the world’s most contested information environments.

A Dartmouth-trained Ph.D. cognitive neuroscientist, Sean pioneers cutting-edge tools for non-kinetic warfare at the volatile intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and national defense. His career has evolved from mapping brain functions in neurosurgery patients to prototyping behavioral tools for federal agencies. Today, he advises clients on how prediction markets are reshaping geopolitical security and how to navigate the emerging risks in these digital environments.

I am the Program Director for Master’s in Middle East Studies Program at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. 
I teach graduate and undergraduate courses in international affairs, international security, and Iran’s foreign policy and national security. 

Political commentator with expertise on Iran ( domestic and foreign policy), JCPOA, Nuclear policy, Nuclear Proliferation, National Security, Political Islam, Middle East, U.S. Foreign Policy.

Author of forthcoming book, “Iran and the Bomb, the US, Iran and the nuclear Question.” 

General (Ret) Kenneth F. “Frank” McKenzie, Jr. became the Executive Director of the University of South Florida’s Global and National Security Institute in May 2022. In July 2022, he also became the Executive Director of the Florida Center for Cybersecurity, also known as Cyber Florida.

He is the former Commander of United States Central Command, retiring from that post in April 2022, capping off a 42-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps. He is currently the President of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Applied Engineering at the University of South Florida, a Distinguished Senior Fellow on National Security at the Middle East Institute, a Member of the International Advisory Committee of the National Council on U.S. Arab relations, and a Member of the National Security Advisory Council, U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.

With over 25 years of experience as a former Senior Foreign Service Officer leading cross-functional organizations and multi-million to billion-dollar portfolios across over 50 countries across Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, I specialize in transforming complex global challenges into stable, scalable operations.

Public Sector Advisory & Civ-Mil Coordination: Bridging the gap between defense, diplomacy, and development. Proven track record of aligning civilian operational goals with military stability operations in both stable and high-threat contingency environments.

Institutional Alliances & Agreements: Expert in the end-to-end lifecycle of global partnerships. Highly skilled in negotiating, drafting, and executing formal MOUs/MOAs and public-private partnerships with host-country governments, foreign officials, and industry leaders.

Dr. Heather Williams is the director of the Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) and a senior fellow in the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She is an affiliate with the MIT Center for Nuclear Security Policy, an associate fellow with the Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School, and a senior associate fellow with the Royal United Services Institute in London. Dr. Williams is a member of the UN Secretary-General Advisory Board on Disarmament Affairs, and she has been a member of the Defense Science Board and the Department of State International Security Advisory Board. Before joining CSIS, Dr. Williams was a visiting fellow with the Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School and a Stanton Nuclear Security fellow in the Security Studies Program at MIT. 

July 2022 – Present, Education and Military Science Consultant 

Consultant for the United Arab Emirates War College mentoring key leadership, developing curriculum and teaching about multidomain operations, strategic leadership, cyberwarfare, great power competition, and military theory, while advising faculty on curriculum design, including faculty development courses and Joint Professional Military Education standardization. 

Joint Special Operations University, Tampa, Florida, USA

Instructor, Course Director, Interagency Education Division Chief, Dean of Academics, Department and Center Director: Supported and supervised the development and execution of professional education courses and seminars. 


United States Military Group, United States Embassy in Venezuela 

Planned, coordinated or monitored contract compliance of all programs between the US Government and the 50,000-strong Venezuelan Army. 

Following service in the US Air Force, I completed medical school and internship at Tufts University, psychiatry residency at Yale University, and fellowships in research at Yale and neuropsychiatry at the Beth Israel Hospital/Harvard University. Since completing training, I have provided direct clinical care in neuropsychiatry, psychopharmacology, and geriatric psychiatry, in addition to consultation in forensic mental health and legal medicine. I am ABPN board certified in general and forensic psychiatry, and received Massachusetts DMH forensic certification.  I have consulted in public and private sectors with attorneys, courts, businesses, and government agencies, and have given numerous presentations in forensic psychiatry and risk management in the US and abroad.

Lt. Gen. Kirk Smith is Deputy Commander, United States Africa Command, Stuttgart, Germany. He is responsible to the Commander to help direct and enable operations, activities and investments for the command as they promote the national security interests for the U.S. in the 11.2 million-square-mile USAFRICOM area of responsibility, consisting of 53 African countries. USAFRICOM works with partners to counter transnational threats and malign actors, strengthen security forces and respond to crisis in order to advance US national interests and promote regional security, stability and prosperity. 

Lieutenant General (Ret.) Mike Plehn is the President of Plehn & Associates, LLC, a strategic consulting firm that advises on personal and institutional advancement, growth, and success.

During his 37+ years of active-duty service in the Air Force he was stationed in—or deployed to—Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Central Asia, and Latin America. He was a Master Navigator in Air Force Special Operations, with more than 2,000 flight hours, primarily on the AC-130 gunship, as well as several hundred hours of flight time in the U-28, MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper, and several other aircraft.

In his 13 years as a General Officer, he served primarily in Joint assignments including the Director of Special Plans at U.S. Central Command, the Principal Director for Middle East Policy in the Pentagon, the Military Deputy Commander of U.S. Southern Command, and as the 17th President of the National Defense University.

Manolis Priniotakis is CEO of Intelligence & National Security Directions LLC, an advisory firm delivering consulting, publishing, events, and education in the intelligence and national security domains. A retired member of the Senior National Intelligence Service, he previously served as Vice President for Research and Engagement at the National Intelligence University, where he oversaw a $50M+ budget, managed external partnerships, and advanced intelligence innovation.

Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at the President's Daily Brief within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and at the Department of Energy's Office of Intelligence & Counterintelligence. He also serves as an adjunct professor with multiple universities, teaching intelligence, national security, and policy with a focus on bridging academic theory and professional practice. 

I'm a fellow in the Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC. My research focuses on the geopolitics of energy transition technologies, critical minerals, and the role of next-generation advancements in decarbonization pathways. Alongside this work at Carnegie, I'm a nonresident fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University where I research direct lithium extraction.

Prior to joining Carnegie, I worked at the International Institute of Sustainable Development and Eurasia Group where I led their research on critical minerals. Alongside this work, I was an adjunct professor at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering. My writing has been published in Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development, Columbia Public Policy Review, GreenBiz, and routinely with Climate & Capital where I worked as the energy editor.

Mond is a behavioral threat assessor and risk management specialist with over 20 years of experience in U.S. federal law enforcement, including serving as an FBI Profiler and Assistant Legal Attaché in the Middle East. He brings a practitioner’s perspective to risk assessment, shaped by years of working high-stakes cases alongside world-class threat assessors and mental health professionals, with the benefit of conducting post-attack analysis on significant mass attackers. 

Nadwa Al-Dawsari is a veteran researcher, conflict analyst, and policy advisor with 20 years of field experience in Yemen and the broader Middle East. Currently, she serves as an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI) and a fellow at the Center on Armed Groups. She has provided advisory services to policymakers, US and European donors, regional actors, UN agencies, and humanitarian organizations. Nadwa is regularly featured as a guest speaker on panel discussions about Yemen and the broader Middle East and her work has been widely published by the top think tanks in the United States and Europe.

Nicole is an astronaut, aquanaut, artist, author of 'Back to Earth What Life In Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet – And Our Mission To Protect It', and most importantly a mom. She creatively combines the awe and wonder of her spaceflight experience with her artwork to inspire everyone’s appreciation of our role as crew mates here on Spaceship Earth.

He served as a transformational strategist at the US Air Force's Air University, the premier air force institution for strategy and policy education and concept development and was director of the Space Horizons Task Force, and Deputy Director of the Schriever Scholar Fellowship at the Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). 

Lt Col Garretson was previously the Division Chief of Irregular Strategy, Plans & Policy. He has previously served as an Airpower strategist and strategic policy advisor to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force on his Strategic Studies Group, and four years as the Chief of Future Technology for HQ USAF Strategic Planning. He was the first serving US officer to serve as a visiting fellow at India’s premier strategic think tank, the Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis (IDSA) as a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) international affairs fellow. 

Influential leader, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral (Retired) and selected by Homeland Security Today as a DHS "Trailblazer". As a prior warship captain, CFO, and Director of a joint, interagency/international task force who has successfully navigated nationally covered media stories, I bring tested leadership and a strategic perspective to resolve complex problems.

I energize cross-functional teams by creating and communicating a shared vision to drive collaboration and productivity. I inspire and build trust with individuals so teams can excel and enjoy the journey.

Proven success when leading homeland and defense operations, directing multi-national coalitions, responding to crisis situations, engaging in high profile media engagements, innovating for process improvement, and building partnerships within the interagency and international arenas. 

Richard Kerbaj is a BAFTA-winning and twice Emmy-nominated filmmaker, writer, and journalist specializing in crime and national security. Born in Melbourne, Australia, he moved to Lebanon in 1980 before returning to Melbourne, where his family ran a milk bar. He began his journalism career in Australia before relocating to the UK, where he worked for The Times, focusing on intelligence and counter-terrorism. ​

Kerbaj's notable works include the BAFTA-winning documentary My Son the Jihadi, which tells the story of a mother's struggle with her son's radicalization, and Hunting the KGB Killers, detailing the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko. In 2022, he published The Secret History of the Five Eyes: The Untold Story of the International Spy Network, offering an in-depth look into the intelligence alliance between the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. ​

Richard Harrison is the Vice President of Operations, Director of the Defense Technology Program, and co-Director of the Space Policy Initiative at the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC). He currently serves as managing editor of AFPC's Defense Dossier e-journal, which covers national security and defense issues, architect and program manager of the Strategic Primer initiative, and as editor of AFPC's Defense Technology Monitor e-bulletin. Harrison runs a briefing series on Capitol Hill to educate Congressional Staff on defense technology issues affecting U.S. national security.

Burrell is a resilience and resistance interdisciplinary scholar using data-driven and human-centric methodologies to analyze intrastate conflict ranging from nonviolent protest through belligerency. My disciplines include history, military science and international relations. I currently work as a Senior Research Fellow with Global and National Security Institute at University of South Florida.

From 2020-2024, I taught irregular warfare at Joint Special Operations University. Additionally, I am the former editor-in-chief of special operations doctrine. Previously, I also taught history at U.S. Naval Academy.  A retired Marine with combat experience, I am an Asia-Pacific expert with 12 years living and working in Japan, Korea, Philippines, and Thailand, as well as a diplomatic tour at the U.S. Embassy in Australia.

With 15+ years of experience in cybersecurity, cloud architecture, and compliance operations, I bring a dual lens of technical depth and executive leadership to securing regulated environments. As a U.S. Air Force veteran and former cyber officer, I lead with mission clarity, turning complex frameworks into operational outcomes.

I currently serve as Chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at the University of South Florida.  I have a passion for faculty development, building new programs, process improvement, and change management, particularly in the area of providing quality and efficient clinical care at a systems-level.

In addition, I am board-certified as a forensic psychiatrist and provide expert opinions on topics involving the intersection between psychiatry and the law.  My interests in this area include the assessment of malingering and the application of psychiatric knowledge to multiple legal settings.

Sean M. Wiswesser has nearly thirty years of experience working as a national security professional with intelligence, foreign service, and defense organizations. As a senior operations officer with the CIA, he served on multiple overseas tours and many other deployments on temporary duty, including war-zone service. He was a chief of station and had multiple joint-duty assignments with intelligence community partners. 

Sean was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a bachelor's degree in history and Russian & Slavic linguistics. He was awarded a Master of Strategic Studies in 2023 from the Air War College and received the Russia Integrated Deterrence

Dr. Tad Schnaufer II is the Strategy and Research Manager at USF's Global and National Security Institute (GNSI). In this position, he oversees the planning and execution of GNSI conferences and events. Additionally, he manages the institute’s internal research and publication programs. He is the host of the “What’s Really Happening” Podcast with General (Ret) Frank McKenzie (USMC), and he has hosted several GNSI speaker series interviews.

Dr. Schnaufer earned his Ph.D. in Security Studies from the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs (SPSIA) at UCF. He earned a master’s in Global Affairs from NYU. 

Dr. Schnaufer has published a book chapter in “The Challenge to NATO: Global Security and the Atlantic Alliance” titled, NATO Burden Sharing in the Age of Hybrid Warfare. He has published articles in journals, including the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs and the Journal of Strategic Security.

Retired senior military officer, national defense professional, educator, and published author working in non-profit, public, and private-sector, senior leadership positions. I have nearly 30 years of experience leading, managing, and working as a member of a team in national security, defense, and military operations. 

I have executive experience in creating and leading small non-profit organizations. My current role as Chief Academic Officer of the U.S. Diplomatic Studies Foundation is exceptionally fulfilling as we support the professional development, education, and training of professionals that work in or aspire to work in the interagency arena. I also lead, as Director, the Simons Center for the Ethical Leadership and Interagency Cooperation, hosting multiple speaker series in the Kansas City, Des Moines, and Fort Leavenworth areas.

Dr Vlado Vivoda is a distinguished scholar and researcher with over 17 years of expertise in international relations, critical minerals, energy security, and strategic studies. His work addresses some of the most pressing global challenges, focusing on the geopolitics of critical minerals, sustainable energy policies, and the strategic impacts of global energy transitions. Dr Vivoda has published extensively in leading journals and edited volumes, making significant contributions to understanding the intersection of resource governance and international policy.

In addition to his research, Vlado has authored major technical reports and working papers on mining governance, energy policy, and sustainable development. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Resources Policy, one of the world’s premier journals dedicated to the economics and policy dimensions of energy and mineral extraction, production and use.

Zachary Selden focuses on US national security and alliances with an emphasis on the transatlantic relationship. His first book, Economic Sanctions as Instruments of American Foreign Policy (Praeger,1999) examines the use of sanctions and provides a framework for understanding when and why they succeed or fail in furthering American national interests. In Alignment, Alliance, and American Grand Strategy (University of Michigan Press, 2016), he examines the different forms of alliance relations that the United States maintains, and how these alliances can be leveraged to ensure American security interests at a relatively low cost. His current research focuses on the development of the intelligence community and how specific events led to the growth of its size and power