Carla Renner

Operations Manager

Carla Renner is an M.A. candidate at The Institute of World Politics, pursuing a degree in Strategic Intelligence Studies. With over eight years of experience in international healthcare and global network management under her belt, she brings extensive research experience and strategic analysis to national security topics. Carla specializes in trans-Atlantic affairs, counterintelligence threats, and Asia-Pacific relations.

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Clara Grace Cowden

Operations Manager

Clara Grace Cowden is a master’s student in Cybersecurity, Strategy, and Intelligence at Johns Hopkins SAIS. She currently holds an MPhil in Criminology from the University of Cambridge and an M.A. in International Relations and Philosophy from the University of St. Andrews. She specializes in organized crime in Latin America.

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Andrew Rolander

Director of Applied Research

Andrew Rolander is an expert in irregular warfare and strategic competition. 

Lucy Mathews

Deputy Director of Applied Research

Ms. Mathews is a Project Manager on the International Research, Data, and Technology Security team at CRDF Global and a Master’s candidate in Statecraft and National Security Affairs at the Institute of World Politics. She leads international capacity-building programs to counter threats posed by the misuse of emerging technologies and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. With a background in emergency response, she brings a strategic approach to security challenges, combining research, policy, and operational planning to safeguard U.S. national security interests.

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Lamia Zia

Executive Producer

Lamia Zia is an affiliate member of the Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute at Maryland (AIM) and a lecturer in the Communication Department at the University of Maryland. Currently pursuing a doctorate in Statecraft and National Security at the Institute of World Politics, her research explores the impact of Afghan women’s symbolic muting on U.S. national security through the lenses of foreign policy, intelligence, and statecraft. Lamia’s expertise lies at the intersection of media, security, and policy, contributing to a deeper understanding of how visual narratives influence geopolitical dynamics and foreign policy. 

Shane McNeil

Editor-in-Chief

Shane McNeil is a doctoral student at the Institute of World Politics, specializing in statesmanship and national security. As the Counterintelligence Policy Advisor on the Joint Staff, Mr. McNeil brings a wealth of expertise to the forefront of national defense strategies. In addition to his advisory role, Mr. McNeil is a prolific freelance and academic writer, contributing insightful articles on data privacy, national security, and creative counterintelligence. He also shares his knowledge as a guest lecturer at the University of Maryland, focusing on data privacy and secure communications.

Dr. John Callahan

Dr. John Marshall Callahan is an adjunct professor at The Institute of World Politics. Since May 2017, John Callahan has served as Director of International Relations and Homeland Security Programs at New England College. He was Dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies from September 2019 to August 2022. He has taught at NEC since 2010. His research focus is on foreign policy decision making, framing, and strategic communication.  John is a contributor to the UK Defense Forum’s Defense Viewpoints, focusing on EU enlargement issues. He is also a Co-Convenor for the Political Science Association of the UK German Studies Group, focusing on the rise of populism in Europe.

From 2007 to 2017, John served as a consultant to the Joint Public Affairs Support Element, U.S. Transportation Command, and the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.  In this role, John has worked as a strategic communications planner as well as a Joint public affairs and media trainer for all of the U.S. Regional Combatant Commands. Dr. Callahan served as Deputy Spokesman at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, helping the Director, Ambassador John Negroponte, to communicate key messages of intelligence reform to the American people.  Prior to this, John was honored to be selected by the Department of Defense and the Department of State to serve as a Public Affairs Officer at the American Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.  His missions there included working as an information officer for the Iraq Commission on Public Integrity and working as a portfolio press officer at the embassy.

Dr. John Tsagronis

S. John Tsagronis is the full-time Professor of Statecraft and National Security Affairs at The Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C., where he teaches graduate courses on the U.S. national security policy process, emerging threats and U.S. national security strategy, crisis management and decision-making, combatting violent extremism and the unique aspects of American irregular warfare (special and covert operations), and U.S. cyber and corporate statecraft. He is the former Senior Adviser to U.S. Special Operations Command (National Capital Region) on interagency planning and operations.

Prof. Christine Ballinger

A 2016 graduate of IWP, Christine Balling is the founder of Colombian nonprofit organization Fundación ECCO to promote democracy and youth leadership in areas of conflict. She has also served as a subject matter expert to the U.S. Special Operations South commander on demobilization and counter-recruitment issues, partnered with U.S. Army Civil Affairs teams, worked with the Colombian military’s demobilization group, and in collaboration with the Colombian Army, Air Force, and National Police, she led counter-recruitment projects in areas where the FARC insurgency operated. Ms. Balling has performed extensive fieldwork in conflict areas and interviewed female demobilized members of the FARC, ELN fighters, and female Yazidi peshmerga fighters in Iraq. From 2015 to 2020, she was the Senior Fellow for Latin American Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council.

Her articles have been published in the National Review, The Federalist, The New York Post, the National Security Journal, The National Interest, the Small Wars Journal, TheHill.com and Foreign Affairs. In 2016, Ms. Balling worked with the USMC Small Wars Center in Quantico, VA to co-author a section for upcoming revisions of NATO military doctrine and the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Field counterinsurgency doctrine (FM-34 MC 3-35.5) regarding female insurgents. She has lectured at the Escuela Superior de Guerra (ESDEGUE) in Bogotá, the National Defense University’s William J. Perry Center, Harvard Summer School, The #NatSecGirlsSquad conference, and The Institute of World Politics. In 2019, she testified as an expert witness at a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing on U.S./Colombia relations.