Chairmen Smith and the Board of Trustees: We, the undersigned students and alumni, are distressed to see Dr. J. Michael Waller is no longer a professor at the Institute for World Politics. IWP’s raison d’étre is, “…to fill a major national need for professional education in statecraft and national security affairs that in our estimation is not filled satisfactorily by any other institution of higher learning.” The Public Diplomacy and Political Warfare program at IWP represents the only serious study of its type in America. Furthermore, “…in an information-based age of mass communications and mass movements, the dynamics of international politics — especially from a long-term perspective — rest more on public diplomacy than on relations with governments”. Not learning how to communicate with a foreign nation’s citizens and discredit hostile ideologies is willful blindness to a growing national security crisis: America’s worldwide perception. Only IWP offers a program that focuses on this issue. Diminishing the educational quality of these skills would be inconsistent with IWP’s self-stated purpose. Dr. Waller personified the Political Warfare and Public Diplomacy specialization. His courses constituted the core of the entire concentration. His knowledge was extensive and culled from years of unique field experience. These qualifications and skill sets made him the best-qualified candidate to run the public diplomacy and public warfare specialization at IWP. Dr. Waller’s professional contacts and guest speakers enhanced his courses and the intellectual rigor required for his classes is still legendary. To cripple this specialization is counter to the institute’s core message and purpose. The loss of Dr. J. Michael Waller imperils IWP’s goals and degrades the quality of IWP’s educational product. Losing the singular professor responsible for the only domestic program dedicated to public diplomacy and political warfare discredits these tools as viable elements of statecraft. We the undersigned petition the board to resolve the matter by reinstating Dr. J Michael Waller to ensure the quality of the Public Diplomacy and Political Warfare program.