I may work in #natsec, but I know that America’s most determined adversary is right here at home. Present at the founding and persistent for centuries, systemic racism has visited destruction and destitution upon countless Americans. @NatSecDiver #BlackNatSec #BlackVoices (1/8)

There’s a certain tension to being Black in the national security business. As a Black person, I am both uniquely subject to law enforcement and—as a former federal Executive Branch employee—an instrument of it. (2/8)

I’ve grappled with national security problems in the Situation Room. I’ve run for shelter as rockets rained down on the gates of Embassy Baghdad. I’ve done my share of handwringing over What to Do About China. (3/8)

Yet, it is my experience as a Black person that taught me that our best-laid policies and grandest strategies cannot succeed if we fail to match this nation’s character to its promise. (4/8)

Given our nation’s history and its present, why do this work? My #BlackNatSec colleagues and I work to buy time. (5/8)

Time for what? Time enough to prevail against the various foreign threats that haunt our dreams, memos, and radar scopes? Sort of, but the stakes are much higher than that. (6/8)

We do this work to buy time for the United States to excise its original sin of racism before it consumes us whole. We do this work so that the United States might be better and do better abroad and at home. We do this work for those who were not given enough time. (7/8)

We hope the wider national security community joins us in dismantling systemic racism. You can start by lifting up our voices. (8/8)