Master of Arts in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies
IPSS Assignment: United Nations Al Qaida Taliban Sanctions Committee Monitoring Team – New York, New York
Anna grew up in Bakersfield, California, and as early as sixteen began pursuing her passion as she attended a leadership conference in Washington D.C., on defense, intelligence, and diplomacy.
Anna first became interested in international policy issues after witnessing the complex situation her family lived through in Peru which was plagued by terrorism during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Continuing on this trajectory, during her undergraduate studies, she spent a summer studying Terrorism and International Relations in Oxford, England. The following summer, she studied Spanish Language and Peruvian politics and economics at the Universidad del Pacifico in Lima, Peru. In the subsequent summer, Anna participated in the Hansen Summer Institute on Leadership and International Cooperation, an international leadership program that brought young leaders from conflict prone regions to San Diego for a three-week course, which in few words, was life changing. Anna graduated from San Diego State University double majoring in International Security and Conflict Resolution, with distinction, and Political Science, with a minor in Spanish.
In the summer following her senior year, Anna received the Katherine Davis Scholarship to study Arabic at Middlebury College. Anna then came to the Monterey Institute, where she focused her studies on counter-terrorism, specifically counter-terrorism financing.
Anna’s IPSS assignment was at the United Nations, at the Al Qaida Taliban Sanctions Committee Monitoring Team. Anna conducted research on a variety of topics, including the connection between the Afghan drug trade and terrorism financing, UN Member State compliance with FATF 40 +9 Recommendations to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, incidences of terrorism in Pakistan, among other topics.
For the past year, Anna worked for Southern Pulse | Networked Intelligence, an open-source intelligence monitoring agency focusing on Latin American security, political, business and energy news, as the Managing Editor. She looks to her father every day for inspiration, and cannot thank both of her parents enough for their endless support, encouragement and love.
