Staff
John Sullivan - Executive Director
Executive Director
John is the Programs Director at PSA. He is native of Falls Church, Virginia and received his B.A. from the Catholic University of America, where he was on the men’s lacrosse team. Before joining PSA, John was a professional staff member with the House Homeland Security Committee working on the Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications Subcommittee. John was also a Deputy to the Member Service Director for the full committee and served as a Legislative Assistant & Clerk. He has also interned at the Office of Congressman Ed Royce, the Heritage Foundation, and AMIDEAST.
Jenifer Mackby – Senior Advisor
Senior Advisor
Jenifer Mackby is a Senior Advisor at the Partnership for a Secure America, focusing on international security issues, including a project on Strengthening the International Atomic Energy Agency. Previously, she worked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Asian and European Trilateral Nuclear Dialogues, U.S.-U.K. Nuclear Cooperation, Strengthening the Global Partnership, and a Russian-European study on bioterrorism, among others. Ms. Mackby served as senior political affairs officer for the negotiations on the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Group of Scientific Experts, Transparency in Armaments and the Biological Weapons Convention review process at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and then as secretary of the work on verification at the CTBT Organization Preparatory Commission in Vienna. She also worked in the United Nations on nuclear, biological, conventional, and outer space issues. She has co-authored a number of books and has written articles for the New York Times, Newsweek, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, publications of the National Defense University and the European Union Joint Research Center. Ms. Mackby has served as rapporteur for several international conferences, and has spoken at conferences in Europe, Asia, South America and the US. She has lectured at universities and speaks fluent French and Spanish.
Curtis M. Silvers – Senior Advisor
Senior Advisor
Curtis M. Silvers is the Executive Director of Partnership for a Secure America (PSA). He oversees program development and operations in pursuit of PSA’s mission to advance bipartisan approaches to U.S. national security and foreign policy challenges. Mr. Silvers has over thirty-years’ experience analyzing Congress and creating lasting foundations of support centered on common interests of political, business, and other stakeholders. Earlier in his career Mr. Silvers served as the principal advisor to Senator Fred Thompson for all foreign policy, defense, and international trade issues. Prior to working for Senator Thompson, he was on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under the Chairmanship of Senator Richard Lugar. Mr. Silvers also worked at Bannerman and Associates, Inc. as a foreign policy consultant to numerous foreign governments, international educational institutions, and business organizations. He is a founding partner of the government relations consulting company Vanguard Government Strategies and served as Executive Vice President of an international trade NGO, helping transform it into a robust and effective member-based chamber for the 21 st Century.
Colin Smith – Programs Administrator
Programs Administrator
Colin S. Smith is the Programs Administrator at PSA. A native of Silver Spring, Maryland, he received his B.A. from Southern Virginia University where he founded a campus chapter of the Virginia Young Democrats and played lacrosse. After graduating he worked in education, eventually spending a year in China where he decided that he wanted to be more involved in shaping U.S. foreign policy. He graduated in 2021 with a M.A. in International Affairs from American University’s School of International Service where his studies focused on the domestic politics of U.S. foreign policy. While a student he interned in the office of Senator Chris Van Hollen, the Office of Global Criminal Justice at the Department of State, and for PSA.
Sam Stamos – Research & Programs Assistant
Research & Programs Assistant
Sam Stamos is the Research and Programs assistant at PSA. Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, he received two B.S. degrees from the University of Utah in Political Science and Writing in Rhetorical Studies. During his undergraduate years, he performed five internships through the Hinckley Institute of Politics serving in the European Parliament, the United States Congress, Utah Transit Authority, and several political campaigns in Utah. Before moving to Washington D.C., Sam was a youth counselor in a juvenile detention center in South Salt Lake for two years. He is now a graduate student of American University’s School of International Service studying U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security. In his free time he enjoys amateur boxing and rock climbing.
Partnership for a Secure America is an equal opportunity employer. PSA does not discriminate based on race, color, citizenship status, national origin, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, creed, physical or mental disability, marital status, veteran status, political affiliation, or any other factor protected by law.