The Citizens Commission on National Security (CCNS) is a national security watchdog organization. It is not a Washington think tank, but rather an activist group working to strengthen America’s national security. And we have the right people and experience to do it. The CCNS evolved out of the Citizens Commission on Benghazi (CCB), which was formed by Roger Aronoff in 2013 under the auspices of Accuracy in Media. The CCB issued two major reports and received much publicity for its press conferences at the National Press Club and the Heritage Foundation. You can see all of the press conferences, read the CCB reports and articles on Benghazi, a timeline of events and the status of our FOIA requests here.
We launched the CCNS in June of 2018 as a tax deductible 501(c)(3) organization, establishing our website, posting articles, and starting to reach out to Congress, the media, and the public. Here is an article laying out the mission of the CCNS, just as we got started. We have been posting articles by our members, as well as select guest columns, and doing radio interviews and podcasts. Our members include three retired generals (two Air Force, one Army), and we are saddened by the loss in 2018 of our most senior member, 4-star Admiral James “Ace” Lyons, who was commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet. Our members also include Allen West, retired Lt. Col. in the Army and former Congressman, as well as a former CIA officer and the three founding members of Special Operations Speaks. You can see all of the members here, including their bios. We are currently ramping up our activities, and are determined to have a historic role and impact on furthering America’s national security. We are growing into a powerful voice in DC and across the country.
Our first major event took place in February of 2019, titled “The U.S.-Israeli Alliance and its National Security Implications.” It aired live across the country on the Jewish Broadcasting Service, or JBS-TV, for five and a half hours. The event included a Q&A with Alan Dershowitz about the national security implications of the alliance between Israel and the U.S. It also included three panel discussions with top notch experts on various aspects of the U.S.-Israeli alliance, the current threats to Israel, and the latest “peace plan” that was being discussed and encouraged by the Trump administration. You can watch the entire symposium, or any individual part of it, and learn about the fantastic speakers and experts who took part in it, right here. Or, you can watch a 15-minute summary of the event here.
Our plans include highlighting the issues that we believe are the most significant threats to our national security. Since the Biden administration came to power in Washington, those threats have dramatically increased. We see the problems caused by the open southern border through which more than two million migrants have crossed, mostly illegally and many with dubious claims of asylum. The result of the failure to secure the border is a massive increase in drug- and human-trafficking, as well as a complete suspension of health standards and the value of American citizenship. While this country has been the most generous in the world, allowing approximately a million legal immigrants a year, the policies of the Biden administration has made a mockery of the legitimate immigration process.
Other national security issues of grave concern, especially heightened by the year-and-a-half of the failed policies of the Biden administration, include our energy policy, the economy, China, Big Tech censorship in collaboration with our law enforcement agencies, the weaponization of the Department of Justice, Iran, military readiness, and a maniacal belief that the greatest threat to our country is climate change. Enabling all of this is a corrupt news media, another focus of our attention. We plan to highlight these issues in a variety of ways. Each event will be webcast, broadcast or recorded and shown later, archived on our website, and distributed as widely as possible, including through social media.
Our look at China includes a look at China’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic. We have and will continue to look at China’s ties to the World Health Organization and the role that that played, as well as the true source of the coronavirus that has caused it all. We have published some outstanding original work on the origins of the virus. We feature leading experts to weigh in, and we will name names, connect the dots, and identify who should be held accountable for the global pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide and sparked a global recession.
We have proven in the past to have excellent media contacts and skills in getting media to attend our events and follow up to get our people on the air to talk about the topics and the issues raised. Roger Aronoff, the Executive Director of the CCNS and the Editor of the CCNS website has been a frequent guest on Neil Cavuto’s shows on Fox News and Fox Business News. Aronoff also produced a weekly PBS TV series called “Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg,” and those same PBS stations aired his most recent of six documentaries, “Fighting Words: A Tale of How Liberals Created Neo-Conservatism.” Aronoff produced, directed and co-wrote the award-winning documentary.
Also, we have recently begun producing a weekly, national security-focused video podcast, hosted by Mr. Aronoff, that will be on several platforms, both audio and video. Aronoff has hosted well over 100 shows and podcasts, with guests ranging from Donald Rumsfeld, to Andrew Breitbart, Claudia Rosett, Sol Wisenberg, Ben Shapiro, Caroline Glick, Bernard Weinraub and Jackie Mason.
The CCNS also works to influence and inform policy behind the scenes through our network of contacts at the Pentagon, the White House and in Congress. As we did with Benghazi, the CCNS will be filing Freedom of Information Act requests when appropriate. One of our members was Pete Hoekstra, who had previously been chairman of the House Intel Committee and then Ambassador to the Netherlands under President Trump.
Our immediate plan is to present monthly special events covering these various issues. The purpose is to inform and educate the American public, our politicians and members of the media, with crucial information and perspective on a number of issues that affect America’s national security.
This is an evolving plan, as threats to U.S. national security may change depending on policies, personalities and threat assessments. The CCNS will be doing its best to address these issues in ways designed to educate the public, the media and the politicians, and most importantly, to strengthen America’s national security, for now, and many years to come.
Other topics that we plan to cover over the next year include:
- Were we right to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal?
- Is Global Warming really a major national security threat?
- What is the state of Military Readiness following years of sequestration?
- Is America Prepared Enough for Cyber-warfare?
- Do we currently have a coherent national strategy for counterterrorism?
- The deterioration of U.S. national intelligence and “security-mindedness”
- Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Taliban
To support the work of the CCNS, please send a check made out to CCNS, and send it to:
CCNS
P.O. Box 80587
Austin, TX 78708
Or to make a secure online donation through our website, please go here, or to the Donate button at the top of the homepage.
Thanks so much for your interest and support.