an Assistant Dean and Senior Lecturer at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, a lawyer and the former Dean of Admissions at Yale Law School, and before that, Special Agent in the counterintelligence division of the FBI, Asha Rangappa's substack "The Freedom Academy" brings together her interests in foreign affairs, law and policy, and counterintelligence. Her goal is to use this platform to educate and create a community around understanding the threat of disinformation and its impact on democracy. Perhaps it’s fitting that this Freedom Academy is manifesting in an online format, given that the threat of information warfare today presensts largely in cyberspace. The great part is that this format has the capacity to bring together more people than the original concept ever imagined!

The title is drawn from a lament over a failed effort to train US government personnel, US civil society leaders, and the equivalent in friendly nations abroad on Russian (primarily) political warfare tactics. The Senate bill to launch the Freedom Academy, this “Political West Point” as LIFE magazine called it, was ultimately killed by Senator Fulbright in 1963 despite enjoying significant bipartisan support in both chambers and the wider public. In 1963, the private group of citizens that originated the concept gave up the fight with what is, unfortunately, an evergreen hope: “Someday this nation will recognize that global non-military conflict must be pursued with the same intensity and preparation as global military conflicts.”

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In this substack, Matthew Armstrong shares his expertise on subjects of US public diplomacy and defending against foreign political warfare.

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