Civil Discourse is Essential for National Security
Thursday, March 30, 2023
9:00-10:00 am PST
NSF Hybrid Event
In-Person at Reno-Elks
597 Kumle Lane, Reno, NV
Event 8:00-10:00 AM PDT
Breakfast served 8:00-9:00, Forum 9:00-10:00am
Virtual on Zoom
Forum 9:00-10:00 am PST
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-UT9y9mmTLef43dSbJ6zew
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Keynote Speaker:
Ted Getschman (CDR USN, ret)
Braver Angels Nevada Alliance Co-Chair
Discussants:
Marshall Mason
Braver Angels Nevada Coordinator
Welcome NSF members and guests to our new format of hybrid meetings. We will be in person at the Reno Elks and on Zoom for those of you who are not in the area or opt to attend our forum events virtually. We have a new sound engineer managing our programs so everyone should be able to see, hear, and ask questions. For those joining us at Reno-Elks, we have shifted our events to a different day to avoid the Wednesday morning parking crunch, so you should have plenty of parking for this event. We have also moved to the Terrace Room at Elks, which should have better acoustics and screen visibility. Thank you to those of you who provided helpful feedback after our last meeting.
Program updates:
- NNSS Tour – Dates set for 1-3 May! Travel to Las Vegas on Mon 1st May, tour Nevada National Security Site on Tue 2nd May hosted by MSTS, Wed 3rd May visit the Atomic Testing Museum. Sign up link will be posted on our website shortly.
- NSF-WCSD Youth Security Forum – Scheduled for Tuesday 23rd May. Theme: “Bridging the Divide: Talking about national security issues in times of national division.” We are looking for volunteers to help facilitate sessions. If you are interested email me at: [email protected]
About our March 30th forum…
“A country’s form of government also determines what keeps it safe and what could destabilize it. For example, when a country is ruled by a single person, or a dictator, the government may believe the biggest national security threat would be someone taking out the leader. ‘But democracy is different,’ Ted said. ‘You break a democracy by breaking people apart.’” (G. Timmis, Braver Angels Dispatch, 18 April 2022)
NSF has covered many topics in our forums and events, but one topic lingers particularly large now as our country experiences widening division and divisiveness…whither “civil discourse.” As a founding principle for NSF, civil discourse around challenging national security issues, is fundamental to who we are as a community and a country. Being able to talk to each other, our friends and neighbors, people who share our views and those who don’t, is a pillar of our democracy. When civil discourse fails, our democracy suffers, and our adversaries win. Diverting from this path is not only important to maintaining peace at home, it is essential to our national security.
NSF is honored to be partnering with Braver Angels, a national organization dedicated to bridging the partisan divide and restoring the concept of civil discourse in communities and classrooms across America. In addition to presenting at our forum on Mar 30th, Braver Angels leaders will be helping to design and facilitate the NSF-WCSD Youth Security Forum in May.
We are honored to have Ted Getschman, the Nevada Braver Angels Alliance co-chair and military intelligence analyst for DoD’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), present his perspectives on how our adversaries are using our open society to sow discord among Americans and why this threatens our national security. Ted, a Carson City native, had an esteemed career in the US Navy before retiring, joining the private sector, and moving overseas with DIA. He will be joining us from London to talk about how our adversaries are using our free and open society to destabilize our democracy from within and what actions we can take to fight back and restore our security. Broadening our perspective of national security to include how we talk to each other about national security topics is an essential weapon in our national security arsenal.
Ted will be joined by Marshall Mason, Braver Angels State Coordinator, who will share more about Braver Angels programs and our plans for the NSF-WCSD Youth Security Forum. NSF is fortunate that Marshall lives in Reno, so he will be joining us in-person at Reno-Elks for this event.
To learn more about Braver Angels go to: https://braverangels.org
To read more about Ted Getschman go to: https://braverangels.org/braver-angels-plays-a-role-in-protecting-our-national-security-a-military-intelligence-analyst-shares-his-perspective/
We expect this program will help you gain more understanding about tools we can all use to encourage more civil discourse in our community and stimulate you to ask many questions.
Please join us for a very important and timely program and be ready to share your thoughts and questions with our speakers.
Tedman Getschman hails from Carson City, Nevada, and has spent almost a decade examining the challenges of and solutions to American polarization. He retired from the U.S. Navy in 2019 as a Commander having served as a naval aviator, integrated undersea surveillance officer, exercise planner, and foreign area officer at numerous duty stations including in Japan, the U.K., Germany, and Spain. His 28-year career as a naval officer, working with U.S. allies, partner nations, and the intelligence community, gives him an international perspective of the impact of our divided society upon the rest of the world. He continues to work with the Department of Defense and Defense Intelligence Agency as a planner. Ted holds a Masters’ of Science in International Relations, authored the Division Free Voting State Constitutional initiative in Nevada for 2022, founded Common Sense for Uniting America, and serves as the Regional Coordinator for Braver Angels Abroad as well as the Nevada Alliance Co-Chair. Ted lives with his wife Zelda on the other side of the pond, just north of London, U.K.
The National Security Forum is a non-partisan, educational, nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering civil discourse and informed discussion about timely and important national security topics. We bring expert speakers from around the U.S. to talk about national and international security, domestic and foreign terrorism, economic and financial threats, the safety of our food and water supply, energy policy, electrical grid stability, and a variety of other topics that affect all Americans. The National Security Forum partners with the Washoe County School District to host an annual Youth Security Forum to encourage future generations national security leaders.
To support NSF continuing to bring national security programs to our community and our local students please join NSF as a member or Friend of the Forum at: https://nationalsecurityforum.org/membership/about-our-membership/