Our Values
- Foreign Policy Starts at Home. Our government’s first responsibility is protecting the American people and homeland. That means securing our Southern Border, stopping the flow of fentanyl and deadly narcotics, ensuring our college campuses are free of anti-Semitism and safe for Jewish students, and ending the CCP’s infiltration of our schools, phones, and businesses.
- We Must Put America First. U.S. actions overseas should deliver a return on investment for the taxpayer, align with our values, and advance our national interests. All policies should meet three core tests: make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
- We Prevent War With Deterrence, Not Retreat. America’s security increases when her enemies fear our response – not when they sense fear in us. We must maintain the strongest military in the world to address the most dangerous threats in the world and prevent us from ever needing to send our men and women in uniform into harm’s way.
- An America that Wins Helps the World. China and Russia dominate, intimidate, oppress, and invade their neighbors. America’s strength prevents authoritarian aggression and makes the world safer. Our example, values, businesses and people bring peace, prosperity and flourishing across the world.
- Trump’s Strength Can Fix Biden’s Weakness. For four years, the Biden White House allowed adversaries to hide behind threats of nuclear escalation and their veto power at the United Nations. President Trump and his administration can restore America’s credibility and reputation abroad with ‘Peace Through Strength’ policies.
A New Way Forward
For decades, U.S. foreign policy has been failed by decades of myopic strategy by Washington’s political elite. America’s adversaries have exploited this naïveté to advance their interests at the expense of U.S. national security.
The Biden Administration accelerated this blunder, deviating from its core security mission by pursuing woke distractions and emboldening our adversaries with weakness. In four short years, the United States suffered a historic collapse of deterrence across the globe. After ushering in the Taliban’s conquest of Afghanistan thanks to its 2021 retreat, the Biden White House failed to prevent Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine while ignoring the millions of illegal migrants and flows of contraband smuggled across our Southern Border. It appeased the Iranian regime with sanctions relief and tens of billions of dollars in cash inflows, culminating in October 7, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
These failures made America less safe and our world more dangerous.
In November, Americans made clear they reject President Biden’s strategy of retreat and are desperate for U.S. leadership to end the chaos and restore order. President Trump has inherited a more dangerous world than any leader in decades, but history shows us the way forward: answering four years of ‘War Through Weakness’ with four years of ‘Peace Through Strength.’
Our Founder
Morgan Ortagus
Morgan has over 2 decades of experience in foreign policy, national security, financial services, and venture capital, and is a U.S. Navy Reserve Officer. Morgan currently serves as Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East.
In 2021, Morgan was on the founding team establishing Rubicon Founders, a healthcare services investment fund and venture studio. She also founded Polaris National Security, a think tank focusing on American foreign policy.
From 2019-2021, she served at the Department of State as the Spokesperson for President Donald J. Trump. At the State Department, she worked closely with the White House on the historic Abraham Accords and led U.S. government efforts to push back against sophisticated Chinese, Russian, and Iranian malign influence campaigns. She previously worked at the Department of the Treasury as a financial intelligence analyst, and from 2010-2011 was the deputy U.S. Treasury Attaché to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Morgan began her national security career at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
In 2005, Morgan graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida Southern College, and she also earned a dual Master of Arts in Government/Master of Business Administration from The Johns Hopkins University in 2013.
Our Team
Gabriel Noronha
Gabriel Noronha is the Executive Director of POLARIS National Security. Since co-founding POLARIS in 2021, Gabriel has become a leading advisor to Congress on national security policy and he regularly provides testimony and advice to the State Department, Treasury Department, Senate, and House of Representatives. His research on Iran, Russia, and China has been cited in dozens of letters, statements, testimonies, and pieces of legislation by Congress; and his policy recommendations have been passed into several laws. He exposed a major $10 billion nuclear deal between Russia and Iran and worked with Congress to sanction the program.
From 2019 to 2021, Gabriel served as Special Advisor for the Iran Action Group at the U.S. Department of State, where he coordinated policy that deprived the regime of around $200 billion that otherwise could have gone to support terrorism, and he directed the Department’s communications and congressional affairs for Iran.
From 2017-2019, he worked as the Special Assistant for the Senate Armed Services Committee under Chairmen John McCain and Jim Inhofe, helping write, negotiate, and pass the annual national security legislation, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Gabriel worked for U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte from 2015-2016. He is also a fellow in JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy. He previously served as Executive Director of the Forum for American Leadership and works on a range of national security and political projects. Gabriel speaks and conducts research in Russian, Mandarin, and Spanish.
Sebastian Borda
Sebastian Borda serves as the Policy Director of POLARIS National Security. A graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, he received a Master in Public Policy after working in Congress as a Legislative Correspondent for Sen. James Lankford.
Sebastian has conducted foreign policy research for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Vandenberg Coalition, and the Trinity Forum. He is passionate about American leadership in the world, faith-based national security decision-making, and advancing U.S. interests within multilateral organizations.
Sebastian received a B.A. with highest honors in public policy studies and a minor in history from Duke University in 2020.
Caitlynn Rasmussen
Caitlynn Rasmussen serves as the Director of Operations for Polaris National Security.
Caitlynn grew up in a small town in Northern Alberta, Canada. After graduating high school, she moved to Northern California to pursue a secondary education program. She quickly fell in love with the country and eventually made her permanent home in the southern United States.
Throughout her career, Caitlynn has gained experience in a variety of industries, from food service to childcare. After relocating to Nashville, Tennessee, she worked as a nanny for two years before transitioning into an administrative role. She joined Polaris National Security as an Executive Assistant, where she spent two years refining her leadership and operational skills. Her dedication and strong skill set led to a promotion to Director of Operations, where she now plays a key role in overseeing the organization’s day-to-day functions.
Tara Spicer
Tara Spicer is a seasoned strategist with over 20 years of political experience. Tara is the Finance Director for Team Graham, Inc., the campaign committee for US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). She is a Partner in Strategic Partners of SC, a South Carolina based political firm specializing in issue management, fundraising and event planning – both corporate and political.
Since January 2019, Tara has led the finance operations for South Carolina’s senior Senator, Lindsey Graham. During the 2020 election cycle, Team Graham, Inc. raised a record $112 million in support of Senator Graham’s re-election campaign. This was achieved through national and in-state fundraising events coupled with unprecedented digital and direct mail fundraising. The South Carolina senate campaign was the most expensive race of all senate campaigns during the 2020 election cycle nationwide and set a new SC record for campaign spending.
In her role as Senator Graham’s Finance Director, Tara has worked on behalf of a number of conservative initiatives and campaigns that Senator Graham is close to, including POLARIS National Security, an advocacy organization that supports a strong America via peace through strength, and the 2024 Trump 47 Re-election Committee, among others.
Cale Brown
Cale Brown is a Senior Advisor to Polaris National Security.
He previously served as the State Department’s Principal Deputy Spokesperson, where he helped coordinate messaging efforts across the Department from 2019 to 2021.
Before that, he was Director of Strategic Communications on the National Security Council Staff at the White House. There he was responsible for portfolios ranging from Weapons of Mass Destruction to African Affairs to the National Security Strategy of 2017, in addition to serving as senior advisor to the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor.
Cale served as an infantry officer in the US Army for 26 years, retiring as a colonel. While on active duty he led infantry units from platoon to battalion level. His assignments included teaching at the United States Military Academy, advising the Syria Ceasefire Task Force in Geneva, conducting peacekeeping operations in Egypt, and combat deployments to Afghanistan.
A graduate of West Point, Cale later earned master’s degrees from Tulane University and the National Defense University. He is also an alumnus of the MIT Seminar XXI Program.
John Noonan
John Noonan is a seasoned national security expert and defense strategist with a distinguished career spanning military service, legislative roles, and advisory positions in both governmental and private sectors.
In the Air Force, Noonan served as a nuclear launch officer for the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile system. During his tenure, he completed over 300 alerts—24-hour tours of duty—in missile alert command centers across Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado. He advanced to the role of instructor on the Minuteman III REACT-A system before transitioning from active duty.
Following his military service, Noonan spent over a decade on Capitol Hill. He worked as a professional staff member on the House Armed Services Committee under Chairmen Howard “Buck” McKeon and Mac Thornberry, playing a pivotal role in crafting annual National Defense Authorization Acts. Noonan also served as National Security Advisor to Senator Tom Cotton, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
In the political arena, Noonan held senior advisory positions during two presidential campaigns: as national security advisor to Governor Jeb Bush and as defense policy advisor to Governor Mitt Romney.
He is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, where he earned a degree in military history and a commission in the United States Air Force.