Farah Pandith – The Cipher Brief

Farah Pandith
Former Special Representative to Muslim Communities, U.S. Department of State

Farah Pandith is an author, foreign policy strategist, and former diplomat. A world-leading expert and pioneer in countering violent extremism, she is a frequent media commentator and public speaker. She served as a political appointee under Presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, and most recently she was the first-ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities, serving both Secretaries Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

She has served on the National Security Council, at the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in various senior roles. She has also served on the Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory Council, chairing its task force on countering violent extremism.

She is a senior fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School as well as an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is the author of How We Win: How Cutting-Edge Entrepreneurs, Political Visionaries, Enlightened Busiess Leaders and Social Media Mavens Can Defeat the Extremist Threat.

More From Farah Pandith

COVID Lessons Learned From Tackling Extremist Ideologies

June 11, 2020June 13, 2020

Farah Pandith, Former Special Representative to Muslim Communities, US Department of State Farah Pandith served as a political appointee under Presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and...

The Social Media Side of the Terrorist Threat

April 24, 2019April 23, 2019

The Sri Lankan government responded to Sunday’s deadly terrorist attacks in part, by shutting down access to some social media sites, calling the ban a temporary way to stop the spread of...

Why the U.S. is Losing the War on Extremism

March 11, 2019March 10, 2019

Extremist organizations are successfully preying on a rising generation of nearly one billion Muslim millennials in order to add to their ranks, according a new book published by Cipher Brief Expert...

Pandith: Trump’s Move a Gift to Extremists

December 7, 2017December 7, 2017

This is Cipher Brief Level I Member Only content. It can be accessed via login or by signing up to become a Cipher Brief Member. Joining this high-level, security-focused community is only...

Extremists Take Aim at the Plastic Minds of Kids

October 11, 2017October 10, 2017

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, thousands of young Muslims have embraced extremist ideology, providing terrorist groups with a steady stream of recruits. Puzzling on its face, this phenomenon...

Network Spotlight

James Lewis

James Lewis is a Senior Vice President and Program Director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Before joining CSIS, he worked at the Departments of State and Commerce. He was the advisor for the 2010, 2013 and 2015 United Nations Group of Governmental Experts on Information Security and has led a long-running Track II dialogue on cybersecurity ...