Welcome to the episode number 19 of the Authors of Mass Destruction podcast. My name is Natasha Bajema, aka WMDgirl on Twitter. I’m a fiction author, national security expert and your host for this podcast.

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• This week, I’m plugging a few of my favorite things. The headline is “Empowering Girls in National Security” by Lauren Buitta on June 27 in War on the Rocks.
  • Having more women in national security leadership positions is not about equity, it’s about national security. It’s about seeing complex problems from all possible angles and that requires diverse perspectives.
  • In 2016, Lauren started up a nonprofit called “Girl Security” to “empower girls, from kindergarten through 12thgrade, across the United States in national security.” At the start of her mission, Lauren is focused on delivering an important message:
    • National security matters for women.
    • Education is critical.
    • Getting girls engaged.
  • Lauren says she started the initiative because she perceived a demand. She’s heard girls say:“I wish I had been trained in the skills I would need before college,” or “I wonder how my career might be different if I had a head start in high school.”
  • Lauren says that “For every 20 to 25 students (an average class size) who participate in our program, two to four students have a specific interest in serving in national security as military officers, intelligence analysts, lawyers, journalists, and even artists.”
  • What are they doing about it?
    • “employing specialized curriculum modules in K-12 classrooms designed by women in the field”
    • Building a mentor network of women “who represent the various industries and interdependent fields such as foreign policy and international security.”
    • Conducting “simulations designed by women in the field and informed by their real-life experience in national security”
    • Offering “intensive training programs on specific national security skills to provide girls with advanced learning at an early stage. Girl Security will host its first wargaming workshop with RAND Corporation in July 2019
    • They are also “partnering with girls’ organization such as the Girl Scouts where we developed the first national security patch program, “Secure You, Secure America.”
• Let’s get to the interview with a special lady who has a storied career in national security. This week, I’m talking to Retired FBI Special Agent Jerri Williams. In addition to a 26-year career with the FBI, Jerri is the host of FBI Retired Case File Review, a true crime and history podcast where she interviews retired FBI agents about their high-profile cases and careers, a fiction writer, and has just released her first nonfiction book, FBI Myths and Misconceptions: A Manual for Armchair Detectives.