Congressional hearings, executive orders, federal indictments: this summer was full of technology policy movement of the sort that my first year at Duke Sanford School of Public Policy prepared me to study, write about, and act on.

Being a Carlucci Fellow gave me the opportunity to piece together a number of projects for my summer internship despite the coronavirus pandemic – and likely enabled me to cover more breadth than I would have had I been tied to one geographical place. I spent half of my time at Lawfare, the national security blog run in cooperation with the Brookings Institution and based out of Washington, D.C. The other half of my time was split across a number of cyber research projects run by Duke University professor David Hoffman at the Triangle Privacy Research Hub. Both jobs put me on the front lines of technology policymaking and analysis.

My job at Lawfare centered around my role on the Trustworthy Hardware and Software Working Group. The group brings together some of the greatest minds of technology policy to research how we can verify the security of imported hardware and software in our supply chain, with the motivating factor being the need to find a better solution than banning technology or restricting its use based solely on its country of origin. We are working to find a universal model that can be applied by any country, continuing the United States’ role as a leader in standards-setting and rule-making in the international order.

Also under the umbrella of the Trustworthy group, I began work on a project to make recommendations on the structure of the future Bureau of Cyber Statistics (BCS). Congress created the Cyberspace Solarium Commission to develop strategies to defend the United States and its advantages in cyberspace. The Commission proposed the creation of a BCS that “collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data on cybersecurity, cyber incidents, and the cyber ecosystem.” Together with Paul Rosenzweig, founder of Red Branch Consulting, senior adviser to The Chertoff Group, and former deputy assistant secretary for policy in the Department of Homeland Security, I developed a proposal for the basic organization of the BCS. I am continuing work on the BCS and for broader Trustworthy working group goals in the future.

Elsewhere at Lawfare, I contributed to articles about contact tracing, federal indictments and espionage, in addition to helping with day-to-day operations such as curating national security news stories relevant to its readers for Lawfare’s daily newsletter.

Being a Carlucci Fellow during the COVID-19 pandemic also enabled me to work for my technology policy professor on several projects at the Triangle Privacy Research Hub. I researched legal and policy issues around national security takedowns on social media platforms and helped organize a conference on the subject, bringing together dozens of technology and national security law experts.

I used my experience gained working for Lawfare to examine the Middle East’s contact tracing apps and evaluated them for privacy and efficacy as part of a team compiling a global analysis.

Finally, I represented Sanford School of Public Policy in a collaboration with Duke University Office of Information Technology (OIT) and private company The Media Trust to explore and publicize research results regarding the third-party code being served from major websites to users surfing the web from Duke.

I am grateful to the Carlucci family for their generous support, especially in light of the pandemic, and I look forward to building on the work I did this summer in my future endeavors.

This past summer I interned with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) within the modeling team. My specific work focused on IFC Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations (FCS) Division, a group of nations that struggle with a variety of unique factors (social and armed conflict, exclusion of marginalized groups, low levels of trust in public institutions, etc).

My summer project looked at developing frameworks to assist the IFC conduct ex ante and post ante evaluation of projects in FCS countries. I conducted research on a range of countries and ended up building four country specific frameworks that analyzed the drivers of fragility. I collected development indicator data and developed four primers that characterized conflict and fragility in a specific country, and connected conflict drivers and development gaps with existing World Bank Group development goals. This project helped me understand the systematic approach the IFC takes in evaluating their investments, while furthering my understanding development gap trends of fragile states.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 I conducted my internship remotely, but that did not prevent me from connecting with a wide range of practitioners. I was invited to observe an investment proposal briefing to IFC investment officers on a potential project in Latin America. This experience allowed me to strengthened my understanding on the decision-making process behind a development project.

I am grateful for the opportunity to work with the International Finance Corporation. As an U.S. Army Officer, I appreciated the opportunity to tie my previous work experience to developing frameworks that tie in unique conflict and fragility considerations to development and peace. I am thankful for the Carlucci family’s generous support during my summer.

 

My summer internship was at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). I was a visiting research assistant on the Inclusive Peace Processes Team that works under the Applied Conflict Transformation Center. I built research and analytical skills constructing different memos, resource guides, and research papers for internal and external use. I also gained a deeper understanding about conflict resolution strategies such as reparations, ceasefires, confidence building measures, and reconciliation. I had the opportunity to learn about a variety of different conflicts around the world and was able to join team meetings that were facilitating peace processes.

 

Despite the virtual internship I was amazed by how welcoming my team was and how supportive everyone was throughout the on-boarding process. I enjoyed being able to attend weekly team meetings and USIP team-building sessions. A highlight of my internship was being on a women-led team that took the time to explain details of regional conflicts to me and USIP’s role in the peace processes. Learning from experts and working with them on various projects made the experience engaging.

I spent my summer interning at the North Carolina Human Trafficking Commission, under the supervision of the Executive Director Christine Long. Through this position, I was able to both develop more thorough analytical skills, along with learn more about the political and functional processes of state commissions.

My summer projects involved analyzing the prevalence of human trafficking in North Carolina. I looked at statewide data on charges related to trafficking across the state along with tips from the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

I very much enjoyed my experience working with the Commission. Christine gave me a lot of freedom to explore the data in ways that interested me. I was also able to further develop my skills for making reports with the analyses I completed. I was able to present my findings at the statewide Commission meeting in July, and to participate in multiple committee meetings over the summer as well.

Through my internship, I developed a close working relationship with Christine, and have been able to extend my time at the Commission. I am currently working on two grants with the Commission, one in which I am creating a resource directory for all agencies across the state partaking in anti-trafficking work. For the other, we are partnering with WRAL to create training videos aiming to debunk common myths about human trafficking and raise awareness across the state.

I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the North Carolina Human Trafficking Commission and Christine this summer. I gained a better understanding of what trafficking looks like in North Carolina, and further developed skills that will be essential throughout my career. I am very grateful for the Carlucci family’s generous support, which enabled me to work with the Commission.

My 2020 summer internship developed from the Carlucci Fellowship network. Matt Buchanan (MPP ’20) recommended North Carolina State’s Laboratory for Analytic Sciences based on his positive internship experience. The lab is a collaboration between the National Security Agency, NC State University, and industry partners.

Although the global pandemic shifted the entire summer to virtual work, I can honestly say my experience was overwhelmingly beneficial.

My summer project analyzed the ways technology has transformed news media consumer’s preferences. We explored how journalism organizations have remained competitive in a rapidly evolving market. This research then compared these trends to how the NSA creates and disseminates reports.

It was exciting to contribute to an operational effort to improve the intelligence enterprise. As an army intelligence officer, it was great to interact with members of the intelligence community while enhancing my research and policy development skills.

During my first fall at Sanford, I knew I wanted to be abroad for the summer – the only question was where, doing what, and how. I knew I wanted to be working on strengthening civil society and bolstering marginalized populations, particularly in turbulent regions. Thanks to the generous support of the Carlucci family, I was able to land my dream internship in Lebanon. A tiny country, Lebanon is stunning yet polluted, resilient yet fragile, at the crossroads of peace and conflict. Nested between Israel, Syria, and Jordan, Lebanon not only experiences turbulence from its volatile neighbors but also struggles with its own complex legacies of civil war, human rights abuses, and colonial challenges. Despite – and in some ways, because of – its complexity, it remains an eminently lovable country.

This summer, I worked with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN ESCWA) in its Centre for Women (ECW) in Beirut. UN ESCWA serves as a regional hub for Arab states, providing technical assistance and research on a wide variety of topics. At ECW, the team focuses primarily on the role gender plays in the current Arab context, most notably in the realm of conflict, peace, and security.

My supervisors involved me in a variety of workstreams during my time at ECW. I attribute this in large part to the rigorous training I received at Sanford this past year, which significantly improved my writing skills. I served as primary researcher on a number of initiatives, focusing on strengthening democratic institutions, improving protection of women in conflict, and supporting Arab women-led civil society. I provided talking points for senior staffers on the state of women, peace, and security in the Arab region for international donors, wrote speeches for public events, and designed  Among my work outputs, I contributed a chapter to a groundbreaking report on women’s shelters in the Arab region, authored a parliamentary document for the Commission on the Status of Women on the resilience of national women’s machineries, and produced an op-ed on the plight – and power – of Sudanese woman human rights defenders and the fall of Omar al-Bashir. And my colleagues were not only experts in their fields but also excellent examples of strong Arab women. They represent many of the women across the Arab region whose stories of resilience we don’t hear enough about in media.

Living in Lebanon this summer was a fantastic experience, and it was a pleasure to work at ESCWA. Without the Carlucci family’s gracious support, I would never have been able to pursue this opportunity.