R. Kim Cragin

Welcome to my website. I am the Distinguished Fellow for Counterterrorism and Deputy Director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) at the National Defense University (NDU) in Washington DC. Prior to joining NDU, I was a Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation for 15 years. I also have taught at NDU’s College of International Security Affairs (CISA), Georgetown University, and the University of Maryland. I served as senior staff to the 9/11 FBI Review Commission, an advisor to the Multi-National Force – Iraq, and research staff to the Gilmore Commission.

My mixed methods research focuses on foreign fighters, terrorists’ use of new technologies, irregular warfare and counterterrorism. I have conducted field research in Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, northwest China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, Sri Lanka, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip, amongst others. I also studied Arabic at Birzeit University in Ramallah and Hebrew at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. I completed my MPP at Duke University and my PhD at the University of Cambridge (Clare College).