Misinformation and National Security

Bret Schafer is ISD-US’s Senior Director of Research & Policy for Information Operations. Prior to joining ISD, Bret was a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD), where he led ASD's information manipulation team. As an expert in computational propaganda, state-backed information operations, and tech policy, he has spoken at conferences around the globe and advised numerous governments and international organizations. His research has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, and he has been interviewed on NPR, NBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, and the BBC. He previously spent more than ten years in the entertainment industry, including stints at Cartoon Network and as a freelance writer for Warner Brothers. He has a BS in communications with a major in radio/television/film from Northwestern University, and a master’s in public diplomacy from the University of Southern California, where he was the editor-in-chief of Public Diplomacy Magazine.

J.J. Green is the national security correspondent at WTOP. He reports daily on international security, intelligence, foreign policy, terrorism and cyber developments. He provides regular reporting and on-air analysis on breaking and continuing security news. He also hosts the weekly podcast Target USA, which examines the threats facing the US, the weekly broadcast program, The Hunt, which tracks emerging terror threats. And he’s the author of WTOP’s Inside the SCIF newsletter.

He has been embedded with the US military three times in war zones –in Iraq, Afghanistan, East Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. He’s traveled to more than 50 countries investigating, reporting and analyzing some of the world’s top international security stories, including the war in Ukraine. He’s flown with the Air Force Thunderbirds, and received their 9G pin, and traveled underway on the USS Miami, a Los Angeles Class nuclear submarine.

In May of 2023, he was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from Champlain College for his “leadership as an author, correspondent, teacher, and expertise in international affairs.”

He has won more than 40 national, regional and local journalism awards for his work. He was the recipient of the 2017 Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation award for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense for his series Anatomy of a Russian Attack. He also received a National Edward R. Murrow Award in 2009 for his national security reporting aboard the USS Miami –Hidden Hunter. Additionally, he won the prestigious Associated Press Douglas S. Freeman award in 2010 for his investigative series, “Dignity Denied,” which explored decades of neglect at America’s hallowed Arlington National Cemetery.

In addition to his radio work, J.J. is a regular national security contributor on WJLA TV in Washington and has worked at six television networks as a reporter or host including ABC, CNN, BET, C-SPAN, Al Jazeera America, and News Nation.