Lydia Khalil is the director of Arcana Partners, a risk consultancy

firm and a Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute where she focuses

on Middle East politics and terrorism.  She has a broad range of

policy, academic and private sector experience, and has spent her

career focusing on the intersection between governance and

security.  She was international affairs fellow at the Council on

Foreign Relations in New York where she analysed political and

security trends in the Middle East. She also served as a political

advisor for the US Department of Defense in Iraq. In Australia,

Lydia held fellowships with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute

and Macquarie University, specialising in counterterrorism,

intelligence, national security and cyber security.  Lydia also has

extensive national security and law enforcement experience. She

was most recently a senior advisor to the Boston Police

Department, working on countering violent extremism, intelligence

and counterterrorism, and community policing strategies. She has

also worked as a senior counterterrorism and intelligence analyst for the New York Police Department.  Lydia is a frequent media commentator and conference speaker and has published widely on her areas of expertise. She holds a BA in International Relations from Boston College and a Masters in International Security from Georgetown University.