DFF’s Mission: Keeping America Strong, Promoting Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Abroad
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DFF Chairman Ambassador J. William Middendorf, II with former President Ronald Reagan. DFF first began its bipartisan forums during the Reagan Presidency to promote on Capitol Hill the need to re-build America’s defenses. Since that time DFF’s programs have expanded to not only work for a strong American military but also to promote freedom, democracy and human rights abroad, the major philosophy of President Ronald Reagan. |
The Defense Forum Foundation (DFF) is a non-profit, tax-exempt educational foundation that was founded during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan for the purpose of educating Congressional staff about the need to re-build America’s defense. DFF’s founder Chadwick R. Gore, began in the 1980’s a series of briefings on Capitol Hill that are known today as the Congressional Defense and Foreign Policy Forum. He formally established DFF in 1987 to continue these bipartisan forums to provide the opportunity for expert speakers to come to Capitol Hill to address defense issues critical to our nation and our allies. Ambassador J. William Middendorf, II, became Chairman of DFF in 1988 and Suzanne Scholte, a founding Board Member, became President of DFF in 1989.
In the early years the forums focused chiefly on national security and defense issues but over the years the programs expanded to encompass foreign policy and human rights issues because the greatest threats to the
United States are always from regimes that terrorize their own people. In addition, DFF began programs specifically to promote freedom, democracy and human rights abroad as a direct result of presentations
made at the Forums.
DFF’s Congressional Defense and Foreign Policy Forum, a program unlike any held on Capitol Hill, has grown to become one of the most popular programs for Congressional staff, a must for those who handle defense, foreign affairs and human rights issues for the U.S. Congress. Approximately, one hundred Senate and House staff members attend the forums on a regular basis.
The Forum has given our nation’s most important military and defense leaders the opportunity to address issues on Capitol Hill in a bipartisan, informal setting promoting a greater understanding of these issues in the
Congress. Most recently, these forums have addressed the war on terror, what we face, what we have accomplished and what it will take to win this very different war.
DFF forums have been credited with leading to Senate and House Congressional hearings and legislation on topics ranging from nuclear proliferation to terrorism, from the spread of weapons of mass destruction to
military preparedness, as well as foreign policy and human rights issues affecting Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Central America and Russia.
In addition to promoting a strong national defense and support for our military, DFF has been centrally involved in two major issues in Asia and Africa. It is regarded as being the driving force behind the promotion
of freedom and human rights in North Korea and brought the first defectors from North Korea to the United States. It is also the foundation credited with being the driving force behind the growing support for a free
Western Sahara and the liberation of the only country in Africa that has not been decolonized. DFF first became involved with the North Korea issue in 1996 and with the Western Sahara issue in 1993.
This Annual Report highlights the programs that DFF sponsored during the year 2004.