WHO Audra Richards, SSH’14, majoring in criminal justice and international affairs.
WHAT Co-op at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) in Herzliya, Israel, a leading academic institute and independent think tank facilitating international cooperation and providing expertise in the global struggle against terrorism.
WHEN January to June 2013.
WHAT SHE DID Richards helped monitor terrorist threats in Israel and around the world by tracking terrorist websites, social media, and news sources. She also conducted in-depth research for the ICT on an online-based extremist network to analyze its overall threat globally. And she helped with preparations for the ICT’s annual conference, a summit on counterterrorism.
HER FAVORITE PART Lunch! Because everyone from the head of the organization down eats together, this hour became a mini think tank in itself. Richards found herself in fascinating conversations with the director, one of few counterterrorism experts in the academic field; a founder, who is a former head of the Israeli intelligence organization Mossad; and a researcher, who was on the police force in Jerusalem during the Second Intifada. And that’s just to name a few.
