1. What drew you to dedicate your career to the complex field of terrorism studies?
In the summer of 1985, my family traveled abroad, using TWA flights, and visited Spain, France, the UK and Cote d'Ivoire. We were in Madrid when ETA assassinated an army colonel and then detonated a car bomb in a department store parking lot. During that same trip, TWA Flight 847 from Athens was hijacked by Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad. So, here I was, a 9-year-old, trying to figure out why there were so many heavily armed soldiers in Madrid and throughout airports -- you just didn't see that level of security in the United States at the time. And then, in high school, I participated in Model United Nations and was a member of Amnesty International, and I became more and more aware of the human costs of political violence (and of heavy-handed responses to political violence). As an undergraduate, I continued coursework in political science, history, and economics, and complemented that coursework with extracurriculars like Model Arab League. I took my first class on far-right extremism (a topic I now teach) my junior year. I would say that my movement to this career was a steady trajectory of mostly small steps. I don’t think there was a single moment where I said, “I’m going to be a terrorism researcher.” But, there were some big punctuation marks or inflection points – I just happened to be a graduate student of Jonathan Wilkenfeld, one of the co-principal investigators of the grant that established START. And the project I was coordinating under his leadership was part of that initial grant. Being part of START in those early days really situated me to grow along with START – and gave me access to numerous leading scholars in the field. I do like to tell my parents that my career path really boils down to their decision to take our family abroad instead of to Disney World!
2. As both a professor and the Director of START, how do you balance leading a major research center with your passion for teaching?
As much as possible, I try to make my teaching complementary to START’s research. I love to highlight the research START has done in my classes. But, teaching also allows me space to prioritize reading widely in the field, as I build my syllabi. This helps me think through how START’s research fits into the broader field and how it should evolve. I love working with our students – they keep me energized about the work with their curiosity and enthusiasm. And I love seeing how they grow as individuals and young scholars over the course of their time in START’s programs.
3. What emerging threat or trend in terrorism studies do you believe deserves more attention?
The trend that keeps me up at night is the emergence of online networks that groom and exploit kids and coerce them into violence – and it’s frequently kids who are the perpetrators as well as the victims. While online radicalization has been a concern for almost two decades now, these networks – in which perpetrators usually identify vulnerable minors on gaming platforms and messaging apps, really gathered steam during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 764 network is probably the most well-known example. Its founder, Bradley Cadenhead, is currently in prison and established the network when he was 15, in 2021. These networks – with ties to accelerationist and Neo-Nazi ideologies – started with coercing victims into producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and engaging in self-harm. However, they are increasingly shifting to more public forms of violence, including links to school shootings and terrorist attacks.
4. Looking ahead, what is your vision for START?
First, I want START to continue producing top-tier, rigorous research on terrorism. We also need to increase our research footprint on other topics related to asymmetric threats and irregular warfare, as external priorities shift. I think START is well-positioned to make that pivot. I’d also like to continue to grow our graduate program – we launched our master’s program in 2021, and I’d like to see it grow significantly so we can provide some more tailored pathways for our students. The biggest pivot for START, which we started last year and will be imperative for our continued sustainability, is developing funded relationships with state and local partners, foundations, and the commercial sector. We must diversify beyond federal grants and contracts. Throughout START’s 20-year history, federal grants and contracts have provided most of START’s funding—usually between 90-100 percent of our funding. We’re now in a race to replace that funding with other sources. Over the next 12 to 18 months, I’d like to reduce our reliance on federal grants and contracts to be no more than 25 to 30 percent of our budget.
5. What career advice would you give to students aspiring to work in this field?
Think beyond the federal government. A lot of our students come into our programs wanting to work for federal intelligence agencies. Those positions are increasingly hard to find. However, state and local governments, NGOs, and the private sector all have job opportunities because terrorism and similar threats impact them as well. For example, Disney has a Global Intelligence & Threat Analysis unit. These job announcements may be harder to find (because there is no central listing like usajobs.gov), but they are out there.
6. Outside of work, what do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I’m actively involved in a local cat rescue, A Cat’s Life Rescue. I foster cats, as well as volunteering with trap-neuter-return efforts. I still love to travel and experience different cultures. I also like to garden – getting hands into dirt and the satisfaction of growing my own veggies is very rewarding.