JINSAGemunder Center Distinguished Fellows Archives - JINSA

LTC Geoffrey S. Corn, USA (ret.)

Nolan Judd — Wed, 26 Sep 2018 17:27:15 +0000

LTC Geoffrey S. Corn is a Distinguished Fellow at JINSA’s Gemunder Center and a member of JINSA’s Gaza Assessment and Hybrid Warfare Task Forces. He is the George R. Killam Jr. Chair of Criminal Law at Texas Tech University School of Law. He previously served as the Gary A. Kuiper Distinguished Professor of National Security Law at South Texas College of Law Houston. Prior to joining the South Texas faculty in 2005, Professor Corn served in the U.S. Army for 21 years as an officer, retiring in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2004, and a final year as civilian legal expert on law of war matters. Professor Corn’s teaching and scholarship focuses on the law of armed conflict, national security law, criminal law, and criminal procedure. His Army career included service as the Army’s senior law of war expert advisor, tactical intelligence officer in Panama; supervisory defense counsel for the Western United States; Chief of International Law for US Army Europe; Professor of International and National Security Law at the US Army Judge Advocate General’s School; and Chief Prosecutor for the 101^st Airborne Division. He earned is B.A. from Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY, his JD with highest honors from George Washington University, his LLM as the distinguished graduate from the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s School. He is also a distinguished military graduate of U.S. Army Officer Candidate School, and a graduate of U.S. Army Command and General Staff Course. Professor Corn has testified as an expert witness at the Military Commission in Guantanamo, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and in federal court. He is co-author of The Law of Armed Conflict: An Operational Perspective; The Laws of War and the War on Terror; National Security Law and Policy: Principles and Policy; U.S. Military Operations: Law, Policy, and Practice; National Security Law and the Constitution, and Law in War: A Concise Overview (with K. Watkin and J. Williamson).

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Gen Charles “Chuck” Wald, USAF (ret.)

Nolan Judd — Wed, 26 Sep 2018 17:36:23 +0000

General Charles Wald, USAF (ret.), is a JINSA Distinguished Fellow. General Wald is the former Deputy Commander of United States European Command (EUCOM), where he was responsible for developing the air campaign of 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.

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Sander Gerber

Nolan Judd — Wed, 26 Sep 2018 17:40:31 +0000

Sander Gerber serves as a Distinguished Fellow at JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense & Strategy.

Mr. Gerber is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Hudson Bay Capital, a global investment firm. He has over three decades of investing experience in multiple securities classes and derivatives across a broad range of strategies.

In 2008, Mr. Gerber developed the Gerber Statistic, which was accepted as an innovation complementary to his own work by the late Dr. Harry Markowitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and father of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT). The Gerber Statistic is utilized by Hudson Bay to identify the co-movement of financial assets, enabling early detection of concentration risks and insufficient diversification.

Subsequently, Mr. Gerber and Dr. Markowitz, in a landmark research paper published in The Journal of Portfolio Management, gave further validation to replacing historical correlation in the calculation of covariance with the Gerber Statistic.

The result, as described in Institutional Investor, “leads to outperformance in cumulative return, average geometric return, and Sharpe ratio.”

Mr. Gerber began his investment career in 1991, as a member of the American Stock Exchange working as an equity options market maker. In 1997, he founded Gerber Asset Management to develop and engage in proprietary investment strategies. In late 2005, Mr. Gerber founded Hudson Bay Capital, which concentrates on generating positive returns while maintaining a focus on risk management and capital preservation.

Mr. Gerber is a trustee of the Economic Club of New York, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and an investment committee member of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. He served as a member of the Senior Advisory Group to the Director of National Intelligence from 2017-2019 and as a member of the United States Agency for International Development’s Partnership for Peace Fund Advisory Board from 2022-2025. Formerly, he was the Vice Chairman of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and Chairman of its Investment Committee.

Mr. Gerber graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, with a BSE in Finance from Wharton and a BA in Humanistic Philosophy from the College of Arts and Sciences.

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IDF MG (ret.) Yaakov Amidror

Nolan Judd — Wed, 26 Sep 2018 17:42:07 +0000

IDF Major General (ret.) Yaakov Amidror is a Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy Distinguished Fellow. 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.

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IDF MG (ret.) Amikam Norkin

Nolan Judd — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 22:25:04 +0000

IDF MG (ret.) Amikam Norkin joined JINSA as a Distinguished Fellow in February 2023.

General Norkin is the Former Commander of the Israeli Air Force and a former member of the Israel Defense Forces General Staff. As the IAF’s Commander, he was responsible for all of the IDF’s aviation operations, including all air and space defense and offense activities, turning the IAF to the IDF’s leading strategic arm and leading this critical organization in a rapidly changing environment with various multiple challenges. As a member of the IDF’s General Staff Forum, he was a central figure in advising Israel’s Cabinet, including the Prime Minister on the most sensitive issues of national security.

Under Norkin’s command, the IAF entered into the era of fifth-generation fighter jets, and the collaboration with the IDF’s difference branches and the defense industries was strengthened.

Also, during his tenure, strategic relationships with foreign Air Forces, including key forces in the Middle East were formed and the unique cooperation with the American Air Force was strengthened. For that, he was awarded the Legion of Merit from the American Secretary of Defense, one of the highest American military medals that can be awarded to foreign officers. His efforts for promoting relations between the IAF and the German Air Force were recognized by the President of Germany, and he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit in 2021.

Prior to being the IAF Commander, Major General Norkin was the Head of the IDF Planning Directorate for 2 years. One of his achievements was promoting the Quality Military Edge (QME) agreement between the USA and Israel for the coming decade. Prior to that he was the Head of the Air Division and Chief of Air Staff, and was responsible, among others, for the successful operaion of distruction the Syria’s nuclear reactor in 2007. Major Norkin’s career at the IAF was exceptional from his graduation with honors from the Pilot training, through him being the youngest F-15 pilot in the world, and continued through his fast advancement through the ranks until becoming the Force’s Commander.

EDUCATION

2008 Master of Science, Political Science, University of Haifa (with honors). Thesis: The influence of the Information Revolution on models of control and commenndement
2008 National Defense Studies, Israel National Defense College (with honors)
2008 Program for Senior Executives, Columbia University, USA
1999 Squadrons’ Commanders Course
1992 Bachelor of Science, Economics, University of Haifa

MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

2021 Israel’s National Security Award
2021 Federal Cross of Merit on behalf of the President of Germany
2019 The Legion of Merit, on behalf of the American Secretary of Defense
2019 Israel’s National Security Award
1996 Officer of Excellence, on behalf of the IDF Chief of the General Staff 1993 Officer of Excellence, on behalf of the IDF Chief of the General Staff 1987 Pilot training, Outstanding Cadet

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Amb. Ron Dermer

Nolan Judd — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 19:04:57 +0000

Ambassador Ron Dermer is a Distinguished Fellow at JINSA.

From 2013 to 2021, Amb. Dermer served as Israel’s ambassador to the United States and was widely seen as one of the most consequential ambassadors ever in that role, as well as one of the most creative and influential ambassadors from any country during his tenure in Washington. One of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest advisers, he was a driving force behind many of the era’s most important diplomatic developments, working in close partnership with U.S. counterparts on securing long-term military assistance and missile defense funding for Israel, moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, attaining U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, implementing the maximum pressure campaign against Iran, and achieving the historic breakthrough that led to the Abraham Accords and the normalization of Israel’s relations with several Arab nations. Throughout his tenure, he also remained a fixture in the media as a powerful voice defending the Jewish State.

Between 2021 and 2022, Amb. Dermer was a JINSA Distinguished Fellow before returning to government service.

From 2022 to 2025, Amb. Dermer was Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs, helping steer Israel’s strategic policymaking on consequential matters like the U.S.-Israel bilateral relationship, expansion of the Abraham Accords, and the post-10/7 conflict against the Iranian terror axis. Following his tenure as Minister of Strategic Affairs, Amb. Dermer again joined JINSA as Distinguished Fellow in July 2026, and is helping advance the policy and research work of JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy.

Amb. Dermer is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the bilateral relationship between Washington and Jerusalem, and the central role it should play in securing the vital interests of the democratic West in the 21st century.

A native of Miami Beach, Fl., Amb. Dermer earned a degree in Finance and Management from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from Oxford University. He is a former columnist for The Jerusalem Post, is the co-author of the best-selling book, The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror, and has previously served as Senior Advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu.

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COL. Marc Warren, USA (ret.)

Nolan Judd — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 19:19:25 +0000

Colonel (Ret.) Marc Warren, USA is a Distinguished Fellow at JINSA’s Gemunder Center. Colonel Warren was the senior legal advisor for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), and for Coalition Forces during the invasion…

Amb. Eric Edelman

Lizzy Norcott — Wed, 03 Oct 2018 18:17:54 +0000

Amb. Eric Edelman is a Distinguished Scholar at JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense & Strategy and the Co-Chair of its Iran Policy Project and Eastern Mediterranean Policy Project.

Amb. Edelman served in senior positions at the Departments of State and Defense as well as the White House where he led organizations providing analysis, strategy, policy development, security services, trade advocacy, public outreach, citizen services and congressional relations.

From August 2005 to January 2009, he served as the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. He oversaw strategy development as the Department of Defense’s senior policy official with global responsibility for bilateral defense relations, war plans, special operations forces, homeland defense, missile defense, nuclear weapons and arms control policies, counter-proliferation, counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, arms sales, and defense trade controls.

He served as U.S. ambassador to the Republics of Finland and Turkey in the Clinton and Bush Administrations and was principal deputy assistant to the vice president for national security affairs.

Amb. Edelman has been awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the Presidential Distinguished Service Award, and several Department of State Superior Honor Awards. In January 2011, he was awarded the Legion d’Honneur by the French Government.

He received a bachelor’s degree in history and government from Cornell University and has a doctorate in U.S. diplomatic history from Yale University.

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