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Heather J. Williams

Heather J. Williams

Associate Director, International Security and Defense Police Center, RAND; Senior Policy Researcher, Professor, Pardee RAND Graduate School, RAND

Eradicate Hate:
2022

Heather Williams is associate director of the International Security and Defense Policy Program, part of the RAND National Security Research Division. She is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, and a professor at Pardee RAND Graduate School. Williams previously served as associate director of the Strategy, Policy, and Operations Program (SPOP) within the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC). She focuses on violent extremism, homeland security, Middle East regional issues, and intelligence policy and methodology.

Williams joined RAND from the National Intelligence Council, where she served as deputy national intelligence officer for Iran and acting national intelligence officer for Iran. In her twelve years within the intelligence community, she worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Special Operations Intelligence Center, and the Department of Homeland Security/Transportation Security Administration. She served as a founding member of the Foreign Fighter Task Force and served three overseas tours supporting Special Operations Forces counterterrorism operations.

Williams holds an M.S. in strategic intelligence from the National Intelligence University and a B.S. in U.S. foreign policy and national security from Boston University, and she was a Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholar.

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The catalytic power of this Summit in bringing together those who are devoting their lives to pushing back and working to confront, understand and work towards solutions around hate in our society is a noble and difficult task. The Summit not only energized those who attended but led to connecting the dots in a global network of those doing this work. The stories of the victims of hate were painful to witness but their courage in coming forward was inspirational. Those who attended left energized with the hope that by working together solutions can be forged.

Robert Rosenthal Board Member, Executive Producer, Acting CEO, The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR)