Online enrollment is open for Fall 2012 sessions.

Dates and Locations

Washington, D.C.

• Fall 2012

Educators & Mentors

• Nominate students or change your information.
• 

Online Store

• Visit the NYLF online store to get your Forum on National Security t-shirts, bags and more.
• 

Jay Coupe Memorial Scholarship

The National Youth Leadership Forum on National Security is proud to award scholarship funding in memory of Captain Jay Coupe, Jr., USN (Ret.) (1940-2006).

Captain Coupe graduated from Princeton University and was commissioned an ensign in the Navy in 1962. He spent much of his service abroad, in Germany, China and eight years at NATO's Southern Command in Italy. He later became special assistant and spokesman for Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and handled crises such as the 1988 shooting down of an Iran Air flight in the Persian Gulf and the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut. He retired in 1988. Among his military awards were the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Bronze Star. Captain Coupe returned to public service in 1998, when he was chief of staff of the State Department's commission investigating the embassy bombings in East Africa that summer. The probe concluded that U.S. embassies worldwide were vulnerable to terrorism. In 2001, he became a special adviser to Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Captain Coupe was a valued supporter and friend of the National Youth Leadership Forum (NYLF) since its inception in 1992. He served as an advisory member of the National Youth Leadership Forum on Defense, Intelligence and Diplomacy (now the Forum on National Security) and as a trusted advisor to the NYLF Board of Directors. It was through his efforts that countless institutions through the years opened their doors to NYLF students.

In October of 2006, the NYLF Board of Directors unanimously voted to award all future Forum on National Security scholarships in his name.