Frank J. Gaffney
Frank Gaffney is the President of the Institute for the American Future. In addition, Mr. Gaffney is the host of “Securing America,” a daily program on the Real America’s Voice network and podcast; the driving force behind SecuringAmerica.Substack.com; and the author of a daily audio and video commentary, the “Secure Freedom Minute.”
Mr. Gaffney is also associated with the various coalitions supported by the Institute. For example, he serves as the Vice Chairman of the Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC) and the co-founder of the Sovereignty Coalition (SovCo).
In 1987, Frank Gaffney was tapped by President Ronald Reagan at the age of 34 to become the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy after his four years as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy. He went on to found and lead for thirty-seven years the Center for Security Policy to champion the practice of what “the Gipper” called “peace through strength” through a high-impact/low-overhead model Mr. Gaffney dubbed “the Special Forces in the War of Ideas,” now being practiced at the Institute for the American Future.
Rod D. Martin
Rod D. Martin, J.D., is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute for the American Future. He is a technology entrepreneur and investor in the Internet, biotech, aerospace and energy sectors and futurist who serves as the founder and CEO of Martin Capital, headquartered in Destin, Florida. And he is a founder of 10X Capital Management, Navigo, Alpha2 Pharmaceuticals, Martin Imaging, and Agincourt Ventures, among other endeavors.
Mr. Martin was a member of the pre-IPO startup team at Silicon Valley legend PayPal where he served as a senior advisor to founder and CEO Peter Thiel. Mr. Martin also helped lead the takeover and turnaround of Galectin Therapeutics, serving in such roles as Lead Director and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Mr. Martin previously served as Policy Director to Governor Mike Huckabee and as an aide to senior Congressional leader John Paul Hammerschmidt. He is also a former officer of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination.
Rod Martin is also: a member of Council for National Policy; the Committee on the Present Danger, and the Board of Advisors of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, and a three-time past President and later National Advisory Board Chairman of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies.
Christina Murphy
Christina Murphy, Esq. is a member of the Board of Directors. She serves as Executive Vice President of Martin Capital, Inc. and President of The Martin Foundation. She has led business development and strategic planning in C-level roles in three prior companies.
Ms. Murphy holds a degree in Chinese Studies (including proficiency in Mandarin) from the University of Colorado and a J.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Law, where she has served as Chairman of the Honors Council.
Dede Laugesen
Dede Laugesen is the Institute for the American Future’s Chief of Staff. In that capacity, she helps oversee and build-out the Institute’s operations and personnel.
Ms. Laugesen also serves as the Executive Director of Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC) and a founding member of the STPC Coalition – an informal, national coalition of scores of multifaith NGOs and community leaders.
In addition, Dede Laugesen is the Executive Secretary for the Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC) – one of the coalitions jointly sponsored by the Institute for the American Future and the American Strategy Group. Ms. Laugesen is co-author with Frank Gaffney of The Indictment: Prosecuting the Chinese Communist Party & Friends for Crimes against America, China, and the World
David Yerushalmi
David Yerushalmi, Esq. is General Counsel of the Institute for the American Future. He is an AV® Preeminent™ rated lawyer specializing in complex litigation and risk analysis, especially as it relates to due diligence requirements for domestic and international concerns, geo-political strategic policy, national security, intellectual property, international business relations, and constitutional law.
Mr. Yerushalmi has been involved in international legal and constitutional matters for over 30 years. In 2012, Mr. Yerushalmi, along with Robert J. Muise, co-founded the American Freedom Law Center, a national public interest law firm dedicated to fighting for limited government, federalism, and America’s Judeo-Christian heritage.
David Yerushalmi is an expert on national security especially in the context of Islamic law and its intersection with Islamic terrorism. He has published widely on the subject, including in connection with his design of a ground-breaking, peer-reviewed empirical investigation on Sharia-adherence and the promotion of violent, jihadist literature in U.S. mosques, first published in 2011 in the Middle East Quarterly and then republished in a more detailed format in Perspectives on Terrorism, the journal of the prestigious Terrorism Research Initiative.