The Peace Corps and AmeriCorps: America’s Best Defenses Against Authoritarianism
National service as democratic inoculation — how programs that deliver belonging and purpose counter the recruiting logic of extremism.
Eighteen years inside the institutions that keep American democracy standing — a police force, a federal agency, a classroom on the Mongolian steppe. I write about what’s happening to them now.
I served as Deputy Chief of Staff at U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the Biden-Harris administration, spent ten years as a San Francisco police officer and forensic investigator, and taught as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Choibalsan, Mongolia. My research, begun at Georgetown’s McCourt School, focuses on countering disinformation and extremism in law enforcement. Today I write on democratic resilience, the federal workforce, and national service as security infrastructure.
Service Record
2006–2008
Peace Corps Volunteer
Secondary School #5, Choibalsan, Mongolia
2012–2022
Police Officer & Forensic Investigator
San Francisco Police Department
2022
Master of Policy Management
Georgetown University, McCourt School of Public Policy
2023–2025
Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Commissioner
U.S. Customs and Border Protection — Biden-Harris Administration appointee
2025–
Senior Consultant
American Sunlight Project
Selected Work
Repairing Broken Windows: A Framework to Counter Disinformation and Extremism in U.S. Law Enforcement
How disinformation and extremist recruitment exploit the badge — and the interventions that counter them.
Democracy Is a Perishable Skill — Common Sense Take II: States, Schools, and Communities
Self-government is a practiced capacity, and the practice grounds are close to home — part of The Steady State’s Common Sense Take II series.
DHS–ICE: The Making of a Paramilitary Force in Plain Sight
How recruitment shortcuts, training degradation, and mission drift are constructing something the founders of DHS never authorized.
A Kremlin Talking Point Becomes an American Accusation
No, color revolutions aren’t what you think they are — tracing the genealogy of a phrase from Moscow’s playbook to American discourse.
Last Week(s) in Censorship
A weekly record of First Amendment, press freedom, and information-integrity developments.
Speaking
2025 · 2026
Cambridge Disinformation Summit — invited speaker; extremism, law enforcement, and democratic vulnerability
2023
National Peace Corps Association — “Service as Inoculation: How International Experience Builds Democratic Resilience”
2022
AmeriCorps NCCC Executive Leadership — “Mitigating Polarization and Extremism Through Service-Learning Initiatives”
2022
Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy — “Stop the Steal: Information Architecture of Democratic Subversion”
Affiliations
- The Steady State
- Federal Workers Alliance for Democracy
- Shriver Leadership Circle, NPCA
- American Sunlight Project