‍June 24, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

‍LCWINS Celebrates Another Year

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The Leadership Council for Women in National Security (LCWINS) is proud to celebrate its third anniversary. LCWINS launched in June 2019 with a focus on improving the representation of women in national security leadership. Since its inception, LCWINS has:

• Built a database of over 900 women who are well-qualified and ready to serve in approximately 200 Senate-confirmed national security positions, including 37% women of color and 5% women who identify as LGBTQ+. We have shared and continue to share slates of women with the White House Presidential Personnel Office; 
• Hosted a series of webinars aimed at demystifying the political appointments process, providing helpful tips and equipping women to succeed;
• Tracked political appointments by gender to support continued improvement on gender parity in these senior positions; and
• Created an opportunity board that solely lists job opportunities with salary transparency; 

With all the work we have accomplished over the years, we were honored that Foreign Policy for America (FP4A) recognized and awarded the LCWINS Founders – Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, Rosa Brooks, Nina Hachigian, Heather Hurlburt, Julie Smith, and Tamara Cofman Wittes – with the Community Leadership award at their Leadership Summit last week. FP4A is a home for Americans who support principled American engagement in the world. At LCWINS, we know our foreign policy and national security are strengthened when our leaders look like America. We are thankful for FP4A for believing in our mission. 

“The Foreign Policy for America Board of Directors was proud to honor the six Co-Founders of LCWINS for their outstanding community leadership. We work alongside countless partner organizations to strengthen support for principled American engagement in the world, and each of them inspires us in their own way. No one has had a more decisive and meaningful effect on our community this year than LCWINS. We are truly grateful for their leadership,” said Lionel Johnson, FP4A Board Chair.

Andrew Alberston, Executive Director of FP4A said “I have been inspired not only by the mission of LCWINS – to spotlight and support women national security leaders so that our country can truly benefit from our full talent pool – but also by their effectiveness. You realize in key moments that change isn't inevitable but requires decisive leadership: to invest time and energy, to design and pursue effective tactics, and to push back when resistance inevitably comes. That's what we saw in the six LCWINS co-founders. That's what we're seeing today as their powerful and important work continues.”

LCWINS was founded with the passion and commitment to make the path better for women of all backgrounds and we continue to push that vision forward. “Our first three years of impact are a testament to the importance of gender parity in national security leadership. We know that diverse teams are stronger. Including more women at the table helps to bring different perspectives and diverse approaches to problem solving, which strengthens the performance of our national security institutions. LCWINS is proud to honor our founders by continuing their commitment,” said Shelly O'Neill Stoneman and Jamie Jones Miller, LCWINS Executive Committee Co-Chairs. 

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‍The Leadership Council for Women in National Security improves national security by ensuring that women, in all their diversity, have equal space at the policy-making table. LCWINS is an organization of women and allies from across the political spectrum working to advance gender inclusion at the highest levels of the U.S. national security and foreign policy workforce.

For more information, contact: Press@lcwins.org | 703-795-1929