As part of our “Women on Wednesdays” series, please join the Women & Politics Institute for a virtual conversation with WPI Executive Director Betsy Fischer Martin and former Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA), author of the new book, Insanity Defense: Why Our Failure to Confront Hard National Security Problems Makes Us Less Safe, an “insider's account of America's ineffectual approach to some of the hardest defense and intelligence issues in the three decades since the Cold War ended.”

Harman will discuss her role on the House Intelligence Committee and the past, present, and future of women in national security. Her book, Insanity Defense, explores the shortcomings in American policy decisions in post-Cold War intelligence and the need for our governing institutions to adapt our foreign policy strategies to an increasingly globalized and technologically innovative world. Pre-order the book here

Former Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA) is the author of the new book, Insanity Defense: Why Our Failure to Confront Hard National Security Problems Makes Us Less Safe. She served nine terms in Congress, including four years after 9/11 as ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, and recently completed a decade at the non-partisan Wilson Center as its first female president and CEO. She sat on advisory boards for the CIA, Director of National Intelligence and the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and State. Harman is currently a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the Advisory Board of the Munich Security Conference, and co-chairs the Homeland Security Experts Group with former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Harman earned her bachelor’s degree in government from Smith College and her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School.

Betsy Fischer Martin is an Emmy-winning journalist and former TV news executive. Currently, she is the Executive Director of the Women & Politics Institute at American University and a faculty member in the School of Public Affairs, where she teaches courses on campaigns and elections. During her earlier career in television news, she spent 23 years at NBC News serving as the longtime Executive Producer of Meet the Press with Tim Russert and as the Managing Editor of NBC News Political Programming.

A native of New Orleans, Fischer Martin did her undergraduate and graduate work at American University in Washington, DC. She is a cum laude graduate of their School of Public Affairs and earned a master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from the AU School of Communication.

“Women On Wednesdays”: Women in National Security - Jane Harman, author of “Insanity Defense”