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JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy

- Wednesday, April 30, 2014 |
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JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy performs innovative research and advocacy on vital U.S. defense, strategic and general national security issues.

Gemunder Center Policy Task Forces:


JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy performs innovative research and advocacy on vital U.S. defense, strategic and general national security issues.

Gemunder Center Policy Task Forces:

  • Iran Task Force

    The Gemunder Center’s revamped Iran Task Force brings together former senior military officers, high-ranking government officials, energy experts and business leaders to address the pressing challenges to U.S. national security posed by Iran and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program.

  • Gaza Assessment Task Force

    The Hamas strategy employed in the 2014 Gaza War represents the new face of war that threatens to undermine the effectiveness of conventional militaries, endangers civilians in irregular conflicts and distorts the international legal structure. The Gaza Assessment Task Force closely studied the evolution of Hamas’s strategy and Israel’s response, based on primary source research and discussions with senior Israeli, Palestinian and United Nations (U.N.) officials.

  • EMP Task Force

    JINSA’s Gemunder Center EMP Task Force convenes former high-ranking government and military officials, directors of national laboratories, nuclear engineers and other experts to raise awareness and develop actionable recommendations to enhance U.S. strategic deterrence, critical infrastructure and societal resiliency against the spectrum of electromagnetic threats.

Distinguished Fellows:

  • IDF Major General (ret.) Yaakov Amidror is a Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy Distinguished Fellow and the Anne and Greg Rosshandler Senior Fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies (JISS). General Amidror was formerly the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Israel, as well as the head of the National Security Council, from 2011-2013. During his 36-year career in the IDF, Maj. Gen. Amidror served as Commander of IDF Military Colleges, Military Secretary for the Minister of Defense, Director of the Intelligence Analysis Division, and as Intelligence Officer for the Northern Command. Maj. Gen. Amidror received a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Haifa, and has authored several books on intelligence and military strategy, including Winning Counterinsurgency War: The Israeli Experience.

  • General Charles Wald, USAF (ret.), former Deputy Commander of United States European Command (EUCOM) – General Charles Wald is a proven leader who specializes in global military strategy and development. As EUCOM Deputy Commander he was responsible for developing the air campaign in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Gen. Wald has also served as the Director of Strategic Planning and Policy at USAF Headquarters, Chief of USAF Combat Terrorism Center, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Air and Space Operations at the Pentagon. In 35 years as a USAF command pilot, Gen. Wald accumulated more than 3,600 flying hours and 430 combat hours.

Senior Advisors:

  • Lieutenant General David Deptula, USAF (ret.), former Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, U.S. Air Force Headquarters – Lt. Gen. David Deptula is a world-recognized expert in conceptualizing, planning, and executing military operations from humanitarian relief to major combat operations. He served as the principal planner for the air campaigns in Operations Desert Storm and Enduring Freedom, and was twice a Combined/Joint Task Force Commander. During his 34 years of service, Gen. Deptula piloted more than 3,000 flying hours and 400 combat hours. He is a member of the 2013 class of JINSA Generals and Admirals Trip participants, and has been published regularly in the Wall Street Journal and multiple defense publications.

  • The Honorable Stephen Rademaker, former Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation – The Hon. Stephen Rademaker has over 20 years’ experience working on national security issues in multiple branches of government. As Assistant Secretary of State he led multiple bureaus at the State Department, and also directed the Proliferation Security Initiative and nonproliferation policy toward Iran and North Korea. During this time he also headed U.S. delegations to the 2005 Review Conference of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). On Capitol Hill, Rademaker served as Chief Counsel for the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, and as Deputy Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He also held several positions in the George H. W. Bush Administration, including Deputy Legal Advisor to the National Security Council.

  • John Hannah, former National Security Advisor to the Vice President – John Hannah served in senior foreign policy positions for both Democratic and Republican administrations over the last 20 years. He is currently a Senior Counselor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where he focuses on U.S. strategy. From 2005-2009, he was chief foreign policy advisor in Vice President Dick Cheney’s Office of National Security Affairs, after serving as Deputy National Security Advisor for the Middle East for the Vice President from 2001-2005. Mr. Hannah also served as a senior advisor and speechwriter for Secretary of State Warren Christopher during the Clinton administration, and was a senior member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff under George H.W. Bush.

  • Larry Goldstein, Founder of Energy Policy Research Foundation, Inc. – Larry Goldstein is an internationally-recognized leader in the petroleum industry with experience testifying before both congressional committees and regulatory bodies. He is an expert on developments in domestic and international petroleum markets and has been appointed to the National Petroleum Council, an oil and natural gas advisory committee to the Secretary of Energy. Mr. Goldstein is credited with co-creating the concept of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve with Mr. John Lichtblau, former Chairman of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation. Mr. Goldstein is currently a trustee for the Energy Policy Research Foundation and serves as their Director of Special Projects. He was also a founder and President of PIRA Energy Group, a consulting firm retained by nearly 500 companies.

  • Professor Geoffrey Corn, former Army senior law of war expert in the Office of the Judge Advocate General and Chief of the Law of War Branch in the International Law Division – Professor Corn spent 21 years on active duty, retiring in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. His military career included service as a tactical intelligence officer in Panama, Chief Prosecutor for the 101st Airborne Division, Chief of International Law for United States Army Europe, and Regional Defense Counsel for the Western United States, and as a Professor of International and National Security Law at the Army JAG School. Professor Corn is currently a Presidential Research Professor of Law at the South Texas College of Law in Houston where he also serves as the faculty adviser to the National Security Law Society. He has been an expert witness at the Military Commission in Guantanamo, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and in federal court. Professor Corn is the lead author of The Law of Armed Conflict: An Operational Perspective, The Laws of War and the War on Terror, and National Security Law: Principles and Policy.

Policy Advisor:

  • Svante E. Cornell, expert on Turkey, Azerbaijan and the Caucasus – Svante E. Cornell is the Director of the American Foreign Policy Council’s Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and a co-founder of the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. His main areas of expertise are security issues, state-building, and transnational crime in Southwest and Central Asia, with a specific focus on the Caucasus and Turkey. He is the Editor of CACI’s Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst and Turkey Analyst, the Center’s electronic publications, and of its Silk Road Papers series of occasional papers.

    Cornell is the author of four books, including Small Nations and Great Powers, the first comprehensive study of the post-Soviet conflicts in the Caucasus, and Azerbaijan since Independence. Cornell is Senior Fellow for Eurasia at the American Foreign Policy Council. He was educated at the Middle East Technical University, received his Ph.D. in Peace and Conflict Studies from Uppsala University, and holds an honorary degree from the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. He is a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Military Science, and a Research Associate with the W. Martens Center for European Studies in Brussels. Formerly, Cornell served as Associate Professor of Government at Uppsala University and Associate Research Professor at Johns Hopkins University-SAIS.