WASHINGTON, D.C. — Independent Women today announced that national security advocate and political strategist Alexis Wilkins has joined its 2026 fellowship class as a visiting fellow with the Center for American Safety and Security.

Wilkins brings an important perspective to the national security conversation: a firsthand experience on the front lines of the modern information war. 

Earlier this summer, she participated in Independent Women’s national security briefing, “America’s Adversaries: The Russia Reality,” where she publicly shared her personal account of being targeted by foreign influence campaigns.

Wilkins shares her story of being targeted by foreign influence campaigns at Independent Women’s “The Russia Reality” summit.

“Independent Women has spent decades making the case that this country is best served by expanded opportunity for engagement and honest debate, and that work has never mattered more than right now,” said Alexis Wilkins, visiting fellow with Independent Women’s Center for American Safety and Security. “I am honored to join the team as a visiting fellow and to bring my own experience in media, policy, strategy, and security to the table. Independent Women is a pillar of moral clarity and strength, and I’m excited to help their incredible team with the mission.”

“America’s adversaries understand that the mind is a battlefield,” said Meaghan Mobbs, director of Independent Women’s Center for American Safety and Security. “Alexis Wilkins has experienced that fight firsthand, and she refuses to be intimidated by it. She is exactly the kind of voice we need in this fight, and I’m proud to welcome her to Independent Women’s Center for American Safety and Security.” 

“Alexis brings a unique combination of professional expertise and deeply personal experience to this work. She understands the forces shaping our information environment not just from a policy and communications perspective, but because she has experienced their impact firsthand. That combination will make her an invaluable voice as we work to expose these threats and equip Americans to recognize and confront them,” said Heather Madden, Independent Women’s vice president for policy initiatives. 

Throughout her fellowship, Wilkins will contribute to Independent Women’s Center for American Safety and Security across a broad spectrum of policy priorities, with a particular focus on digital warfare, foreign malign influence, and the increasingly sophisticated efforts by America’s adversaries to manipulate Americans from within.

THE WAR FOR AMERICA’S MIND

This fall, Independent Women’s Features (IW Features), the grassroots storytelling and original journalism arm of Independent Women, will release a new series, “The War for America’s Mind.” This series will feature Alexis’s story as she works to uncover the foreign operation that targeted her and the larger machinery increasingly aimed at America’s next generation. 

Foreign adversaries have engineered an online environment that parents, schools, lawmakers, and national-security institutions treat primarily as entertainment, communication, or commerce—but our adversaries understand something else: it is a digital battlespace. 

IW Features, along with Independent Women’s Center for American Safety and Security, will expose the new dimensions of the modern great power competition as young people are not just consuming content, but being studied, segmented, emotionally activated, isolated, recruited, and remade in order to erode American values and exceptionalism from within.

Wilkins sings the national anthem at Independent Women’s “The Russia Reality” summit.

Visiting fellows support Independent Women’s mission to shape public preferences, policies, and movements to create a better future for everyone by drafting policy content, participating in multimedia programming, engaging in state-level and grassroots efforts, and supporting Independent Women’s Network initiatives.

Independent Women’s Center for American Safety and Security sparks vital discussions on national security, public safety, and foreign policy with a dynamic, woman-led approach. See more below:

Direct media inquiries and booking requests to [email protected] 

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