Rebecca Skoryanc, Author at WestExec Advisors

Nick Rasmussen quoted in Philanthropy Magazine article, “When Extremists Leave Prison, Who Helps Them Find a New Life?”

"'How do you know it’s going to work?' That is a question Nick Rasmussen hears a lot, often from Members of Congress. Like Munter, Rasmussen spent most of his working life in government, most recently as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. When he left the public sector and went to work at the McCain Institute in 2017, he was inspired by a vision to address 'gaps' in national security that government can’t fill. As part of that, he now leads [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-17T16:08:45-04:00April 14, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Lisa Monaco interviewed on CNN’s Newsroom

"A week before the inauguration, I led an exercise that had the outgoing national security team from the Obama administration sitting side-by-side with the incoming national security team for the Trump administration. We sat in a very large room on the White House campus and walked through a series of scenarios. One was very specifically a pandemic scenario, and it raised exactly the types of questions that we've been confronting for many weeks: shortage of supplies; vulnerable populations; when to close [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-17T16:03:17-04:00April 13, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Lisa Monaco quoted in POLITICO article, “Inside America’s 2-Decade Failure to Prepare for Coronavirus”

"'I would get asked, what keeps you up at night?' said Lisa Monaco, who served as Obama’s homeland security adviser between 2013 and 2017. 'An emerging infectious disease like a new strain of flu was the thing I worried most about...'" Read the full article here: Full Article

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-17T16:07:24-04:00April 11, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Julie Smith quoted in Der Spiegel article, “How Trump Is Fueling a Corona Disaster”

"'Trump has systematically bled the government dry,' says Julianne Smith, who served as deputy national security adviser to Joe Biden when he was vice president. Trump has failed to fill many important positions in the government or he has dissolved them altogether. In one particularly disastrous move, he abolished the pandemic task force in the National Security Council that President Barack Obama set up after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa..." Read the full article here: Full Article

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-17T16:10:00-04:00April 11, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense, Geopolitical Perspectives|

Michèle Flournoy quoted in Bloomberg article, “For the Next Pandemic, Run the Trump Playbook in Reverse”

"There can only be one person in charge. And that person shouldn’t be the president. Yes, have a task force, but it should only consist of leaders with genuine expertise — in infectious diseases, logistics, manufacturing, communication and so on. The person in change needs to be an expert in managing disasters. 'You could take a senior person in industry or a retired military officer and say, "Here’s a chance to serve your country for a limited period of time,"' said [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-17T16:05:07-04:00April 10, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Bob Work quoted in the National Interest article, “Recent Wargames Show That America’s Military Dominance Over Russia and China Has Ended”

"American forces' over-reliance on large, vulnerable installations and big ships renders moot the high-tech qualities of the stealth aircraft that fly from the bases and the ships, said Robert Work, a former deputy defense secretary who also sat on the CNAS panel. "'In every case I know of, the F-35 rules the sky when it’s in the sky, but it gets killed on the ground in large numbers,' Work said, according to Freedberg... "Work said the Pentagon could free up the [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-17T16:06:13-04:00April 10, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michael Camilleri writes with Michael Shifter in The New York Times: “It’s Not the Time for War Games With Venezuela”

"With last week’s significant deployment of United States naval assets in the Caribbean, the Trump administration upped the ante in its confrontation with the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. For the past 15 months, the administration has applied 'maximum pressure' on Mr. Maduro’s regime, with the hope that the upper echelons of the military — the regime’s main pillar of support — would fracture and trigger a return to democracy. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:15:40-04:00April 10, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense, Geopolitical Perspectives|

Dennis Ross writes in New York Daily News: “Coronavirus Proves America First Is the Wrong Answer to Today’s Global Challenges”

"COVID-19 does not respect the powerful, the wealthy or borders. It attacks every country and every individual. No one is immune or has immunity until they have been afflicted with it. On the one hand, we are reminded that humanity is the target and 'we are all in this together.' On the other, individuals or nations can choose to hoard, protecting themselves first. Both realities exist today. "It will take time to emerge from this crisis, especially because we will likely [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:14:27-04:00April 9, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense, Geopolitical Perspectives|

Michèle Flournoy and Lisa Monaco write in POLITICO: “Now’s Not the Time for Isolationism”

"The coronavirus is a public health tragedy. If the United States isn’t careful, it could turn into a geopolitical one, too. "How the U.S. manages—or mismanages—the coronavirus pandemic will determine not only the long-term resilience of our economy but also our ability to compete, lead and protect American interests globally. If the United States continues to turn inward and focus most efforts on only limiting the damage done at home, the perception that U.S. power is in decline will continue to [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-13T12:22:49-04:00April 8, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michèle Flournoy participates in Bloomberg New Economy Forum, “A New World: Post-Coronavirus Power Shifts”

Michèle Flournoy, Professor Joseph Nye, Professor Jason Furman, and Andy Browne discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the global balance of power and what it will take to restore international cooperation... Read the full article here: Full Article

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-04-14T13:22:36-04:00April 7, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense, Geopolitical Perspectives|

About Rebecca Skoryanc