The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization (AHI) is excited to announce that our annual Washington Program on National Security (WaPoNS) will be held June 15-29, 2022. Application materials should be sent by May 10, 2022 to either Senior Fellow Dr. Juliana Pilon (juliana.geran.pilon@gmail.com), or AHI President Robert Paquette (bob@theahi.org). There is no electronic application process.

The AHI WaPoNS program, now in its sixth year, aims to prepare promising and motivated college students for the challenges of a rapidly changing global environment by offering them an opportunity to engage with some of the best thinkers on and practitioners in the field of national security.  Participants will be afforded a rare inside glimpse of the many different cultures that must all work together to succeed. By observing the process of national security policymaking up close, from the perspective of the practitioners themselves, the program will serve to encourage and enhance the students’ leadership skills and open opportunities for future professional development.

The program is designed for a total of 16 students. As in previous years, each day the participants will have a chance to conduct discussions on specific readings from the text The Art of War: Engaging a Complex World, with its author and the program’s director, Dr. Juliana Geran Pilon. Among the topics to be addressed are:

*          Cognitive security, disinformation, and public diplomacy

*          Cyber warfare, nuclear proliferation, and terrorism

*          Cancel culture in media and the academy

2021 WaPoNS participants with program director Dr. Juliana Geran Pilon

Depending on the state of the pandemic, some of the interaction will take place online, so the amount of time actually spent in Washington, D.C., is yet to be determined, as will on-site visits to such locations as the Agency of Homeland Security/TSA, State Department/Global Engagement Center, the Heritage Foundation, the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Hudson Institute, and elsewhere.

Housing will be provided for those times when students will be in Washington, DC. Students will be responsible for travel to and from Washington, DC., but will be provided tickets for transportation during the program.

Application requirements:

  • The most recent transcript of courses and grades
  • Two letters of recommendation from faculty members
  • A 300-word essay explaining which of the topics indicated above would be of particular interest, and why.

The deadline for application is May 10, 2022.