
Kristofer Goldsmith
President & CEO, Task Force Butler Institute
2023, 2024
Kristofer Goldsmith is the nation’s most recognized authority on the targeting of American troops and veterans with disinformation and extremist recruiting efforts by hostile foreign and domestic entities.
After leaving the US Army at the rank of sergeant in 2007, he became a top advocate in PTSD treatment and suicide prevention, founding High Ground Veterans Advocacy, which trains veterans to lead movements to shape federal law and regulations.
As the Chief Investigator and Associate Director for Policy and Government Affairs for Vietnam Veterans of America, he led the successful campaign to remove the expiration date of veterans’ education benefits, creating the “Forever GI Bill,” and his work inspired two congressional investigations into the effects of disinformation and extremism on veterans.
Goldsmith earned a degree in Political Science with Honors from Columbia University in 2020 while working full-time for VVA and running High Ground Veterans Advocacy.
Immediately following the attack against the Capitol on January 6, 2021, he founded Sparverius, LLC, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business which employs veterans in detecting and disrupting disinformation and extremism campaigns that seek to erode America’s democracy.
He founded Task Force Butler Institute to exponentially expand opportunities to train and engage veterans in the hobby of maintaining a democracy
At the Summit

The effort to eradicate hate requires the active participation of every component of our society, to include governments, the private sector, communities of faith and indeed every aspect of civil society. There is no more urgent task in front of us. The organizers of the Eradicate Hate Global Summit are doing the United States and the world an enormous service by tackling hatred and extremism with a focus on honest dialogue and conversation, genuine learning and practical solutions. This will not happen overnight, but the Pittsburgh community’s leadership in this effort is genuinely inspiring and motivating.
