With Honor

With Honor Co-Founder & CEO Rye Barcott joined Special Competitive Studies Project - SCSP President & CEO Ylli Bajraktari for a conversation on principled veteran leadership, bipartisanship, and how Congress can tackle some of the country’s most consequential challenges. It’s a conversation rooted in years of work. With Honor Action and members of the For Country Caucus helped advance recommendations from the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, supporting efforts to strengthen America’s national security, modernize our defense capabilities, and ensure the United States remains competitive in emerging technologies. From the Commission’s many recommendations, With Honor Action turned key proposals into law, including the creation of the Defense Department’s Cyber and Digital Service Academy, new emerging technology training for senior defense officials, and the establishment of the National Science Foundation’s Office of Research Security and Policy. Watch the full conversation: https://lnkd.in/e_y_AhiY

At the With Honor UNGA Reception, Rep. Jared Golden, Former For Country Caucus Co-Chair and Marine Corps veteran, explained why he broke with his own party to move the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 forward. For him, every vote is a test of his Three Cs: conscience, constituents, and country. When they don't line up, he puts principles before politics. Working across the aisle with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, he has kept pressure on Russia even when the odds were against them. That's why Ukraine, and President Zelenskyy personally, awarded him the Order of Merit (Third Class) last week. For principled leadership when it matters most. 🇺🇸🇺🇦

"Dictators will always test democracies." At the With Honor UNGA Reception, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Co-Chair, House Ukraine Caucus, warned against losing our resolve and explained why this fight is about staying power. He championed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 and worked across the aisle with Rep. Jared Golden to get it over the line. Few votes, he says, are directly linked to saving lives, and in some cases, a nation. For more than a decade of service to Ukraine, he has received the Order of Merit (First Class) from Ukraine and President Zelenskyy. This is what service to something bigger looks like. 🇺🇸🇺🇦

What do leaders who've served in uniform bring to the hardest questions in defense? At the London Defence Conference's Washington Forum, With Honor's SVP of Government Affairs Scott Cooper joined For Country Caucus member Rep. Pat Harrigan and Alistair Carns MP to discuss veteran leadership in defense and innovation. Their answer: the ability to adapt quickly, build trust with allies, and put mission ahead of party. Winning future wars will depend on the alliances and trust we build today. With Honor was proud to sponsor this year's Forum, which was conducted in partnership with the Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress (CSPC).

Yesterday, President Zelenskyy presented Ukraine's Order of Merit to Rep. Jared Golden and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick for their cross-partisan work supporting Ukraine's ongoing struggle for sovereignty, an award presented in the name of Ukraine's freedom, and America's. At the reception hosted by With Honor afterward, Rep. Golden, a Marine Corps veteran and former Co-Chair of the For Country Caucus, spoke about his decision last week to break with his party on a procedural vote. That vote let a bill expanding sanctions on Russia reach the House floor, telling the room he weighs every vote against three things: "conscience, constituents, and country." Rep. Fitzpatrick, Co-Chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus and a former FBI Special Agent, warned that adversaries are betting on America losing its staying power. "Dictators will always test democracies," he said. With Honor is proud to stand with cross-partisan leaders to make sure Ukraine's defense remains a shared American commitment. Slava Ukraini 🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦

During UNGA week, Tom Tugendhat MP, Alistair Carns MP, and Ukrainian MP Oleksandra Ustinova 🇺🇦 joined With Honor Co-Founder and CEO Rye Barcott for a reception and conversation on Ukraine, security, and the role of veteran leaders. The discussion focused on the stakes of the defense President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people are leading, the threat the Kremlin poses to democracies across Europe, and the urgency of getting through the coming winter. Veteran leaders put country over party. On Ukraine, that cooperation has never been more urgent.

On Ukraine, on national security, and on serving in Congress, For Country Caucus leaders Rep. Don Bacon and Rep. Salud Carbajal share a common mission, forged from their common background serving in uniform, that isn't just talking across the aisle, but friendship across the political divide. From With Honor's fourth cross-partisan delegation to Ukraine:

Last week, the U.S. House passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, and the $400 million Congress appropriated for Ukraine’s national defense is finally being released. This moment was shaped by voices from across the fight: Members of Congress, veterans, advocates, and Ukrainians living through the war. People who traveled to Kyiv, Kharkiv, and the front lines. A Ukrainian MP who watched a vote she thought impossible come together in six days. A Soviet Ukrainian refugee who came to the U.S. as a child, served and retired from the U.S. Army, and now fights for Ukrainian independence in the halls of Congress. Countries don't do things. People do. Sen. Thom Tillis, Rep. Don Bacon, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Rep. Eugene V., Rye Barcott, Oleksandra Ustinova 🇺🇦, Dan Twining, John Maslin, Lady Rose Cecil

FT editorial board member Gillian Tett joined With Honor's cross-partisan delegation on a trip to the front lines and came back with a sobering look at how AI is reshaping the war in Ukraine. She describes Ukraine's AI-enabled battlefield management system, ground drones with 30km range that evacuate wounded soldiers, and a reward system that gives soldiers more points for robotic medical evacuations than tank hits. As one young nurse told her, "robots save lives." Read her full piece in the Financial Times: https://lnkd.in/eUa_9cuR 6m

A Russian drone hit the gas station ten minutes after With Honor's cross-partisan delegation pulled out of it. A second hit a passenger train nearby, narrowly missing departing officials, including former CIA director David Petraeus. Writer, Marine veteran and With Honor board member Elliot Ackerman was traveling with the delegation. His read: "Russia escalates when it feels like it's got its back up against the wall." Days later, the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act passed Congress — legislation With Honor and the For Country Caucus endorsed and worked hard to pass. Read his superb piece in The Free Press: https://lnkd.in/eaSqMc2u