Mila Johns is currently running for a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates in District 18. She is formerly a Researcher and Project Manager in the Unconventional Weapons & Technology (UWT) Division of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), where she specialized in the study of terrorist organizations and networks and terrorist/violent non-state actor (VNSA) strategies for the acquisition and use of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons and technology.

Her research interests include assessing both current and emerging terrorist/VNSA threats to the United States and its interests abroad, terrorist organizational behavior, the Middle East (specializing in Iran), domestic radicalization, the role of gender in radicalization, and smuggling networks –both human and illicit RN materials- that target the United States and Pakistan. Ms. Johns has worked on projects for the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense – including DTRA, DNDO, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as well as the United States Senate, and many other federal government agencies. In addition to her professional experience at START, Ms. Johns holds a Masters in International Affairs, specializing in Comparative & Regional Studies of the Middle East, from American University, where she graduated with distinction. Her graduate research focused on the impact religious vs. secular values have on men’s attitudes towards women across the Middle East, as well as on the history, ideology and organizational behavior of the Iranian terrorist/dissident group the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). Ms. Johns has extensive experience in both the development and the application of a wide range of qualitative and quantitative techniques for conducting cutting-edge social science research and threat analysis.