About Us

Founded in 2026, the Civil Defense Institute is a nonpartisan investigative research organization. We research people, organizations and networks whose conduct undermines civil society and Americans’ freedom to participate in public life. Our work examines extremist and conspiracy-driven campaigns, foreign influence, organized harassment and the institutions that enable them.

Our investigative research and public reporting are built on primary sources. Our research team casts a wide net for publicly available information, including tax filings, corporate and property records, court filings, congressional testimony and inquiries, as well as the organizations’ own statements and published materials. We then synthesize these sources into articles and organizational profiles that are published on the Civil Defense website.

Leadership

Tom Joscelyn is president of the Civil Defense Institute. Tom was a senior professional staff member on the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol. He is one of the principal authors of the committee’s final, 814-page report. Prior to joining the committee, Tom was a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and senior editor of FDD’s Long War Journal, a widely read publication dealing with counterterrorism and related issues that he co-founded in 2008. He is also an executive editor at Just Security.

Much of Tom’s research focuses on extremism and terrorism, as well as the proliferation of conspiracy theories and foreign influence campaigns. He has testified as an expert witness before the U.S. Congress on more than 20 occasions, including before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, as well as the House Homeland Security Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the House Armed Services Committee and the House Judiciary Committee. His testimony covered a range of complex counterterrorism, counterextremism and foreign policy issues.