'You have to persist': Three Generations of Women in Terrorism Research

“I hope that I contributed to making it a respectable academic subject, one in which there actually was a body of knowledge in which you could study it and not have people raise their eyebrows when you said you studied terrorism,” she said.

Her work caught the eye of up-and-comers, like Gina Ligon, who studied Crenshaw’s work in graduate school.

“She talked about three different types of innovations, but one of them was about in terrorist organizational structures and how they can reinvent themselves, and it really resonated with me as an I-O psychologist,” Ligon said. “I don't know enough about innovation, tactics, and attack methods, but I know about organizational structures and how people can collaborate. So, I thought that was a space that I could step into.”

This sparked her interest in how leaders influence mass movements and get people to act. An Oklahoma native, Ligon was a teenager when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. For her, terrorism had never been a far-flung subject. She was a graduate student when 2,977 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

“I think time and place are probably the two reasons I got interested in terrorism,” Ligon said. “I mean the act of terrorism is about affecting a target that is a symbol of your broader idea and a broader class of people that you hate. So, what is the most effective way to send that message via a symbolic act and symbolic target?”

Years after first becoming interested in terrorist leadership, she was asked to present about ISIS leadership to an undergraduate class in Omaha focused on hate groups and terrorism. Braun was an undergraduate student when she attended the presentation and was hooked.

“I had never felt impacted by the subject matter like that before, and I spoke to (Ligon) afterward, and she offered me a job,” Braun said.

The job: coding the creativity and lethality of terrorist attacks perpetrated by about 250 organizations. This inspired her to pursue a master’s degree, and she began managing data sets containing the life history of extremists. After completing her master’s, she began to pursue a Ph.D. in criminology and continued to focus her research on extremism.

During her studies, she worked closely with Ligon. When Ligon sucessfully pursued a 10-year grant from the Department of Homeland Security to establish a new center focused on terrorism research, Braun was right by her side. She even came up with the name: National Counterterorrism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, or NCITE for short.

“I think an inclination of extremist researchers is to talk about how the fear is disproportionate to the risk. The chances of any of us really experiencing a terrorist attack are pretty minimal,” Braun said. “But there's such a widespread fear that we're always at risk ... The chances of being involved are really low, but I think that that's becoming less and less true.”

While it is important to talk about risk and security, it has been difficult to talk about terrorism and extremism because of how polarizing it has become.

“I definitely think that you do need to adjust how you behave and how you act in front of these audiences,” Braun said. “We’re at a point where terrorism is a very taboo topic. And there are events that have happened in our country and data sets that people look at that anger one side or the other. So, it's about how many people are going to be angered by what I study.”

Braun has expanded her research into domestic terroristic threats and has helped create a booklet to train law enforcement to recognize mobilization indicators, among other work.

“I think I've had a lot of opportunity to already make a significant impact in the last eight years that I've been with Gina,” Braun said.

Years of Persistence

Crenshaw began her studies at Newcomb College, a women’s college within Tulane University, after having to search for a school that would accept her. As Crenshaw entered graduate school, there were still institutions of higher education that didn’t admit women into academic programs. In fact, the institution where she earned her Ph.D., the University of Virginia, didn’t admit women into their undergraduate programs when she was applying for graduate school in 1967.

Ironically, even though being a woman kept her out of some institutions, Crenshaw was studying a subject — terrorism — that few people seemed interested in at the time, so there was space for women scholars like her. She got “some raised eyebrows,” when she said she was an expert on terrorism. Despite building her reputation as a rising scholar, her expertise didn’t shield her from sexism.

“When I was entering academia, I was told to my face by my professors that women should not be getting Ph.D.s, that it was a waste, they would just get married and never work,” Crenshaw said. “And even when I first began teaching, I was told by my colleagues that women should not be professors. That they took jobs away from men, and that they encouraged these men's wives to want careers. I kid you not. I was told that to my face.”

Still, she pressed on. She wanted her career and tried not to let other people define her worth.

“I enjoyed what I did. I enjoyed teaching. I enjoyed doing research, and I just kept right on,” she said. “So, you have to persist.”

However, as more women entered academia, things began to change. Over time, women had senior positions in academic departments and were decision-makers. This encouraged junior women to enter academia and consider leadership positions.

“Now they (women in academia) can make sure that women are fully considered as opposed to just automatically pushed aside,” she said. “And so now I think things are quite different.”

Times changed for women in academia and for terrorism as a field of study. Ligon credits her rise to supporters and mentors who included men.

"I could write a whole book about their unwavering commitment to elevating women and underrepresented people in our field," she said, naming nationally-known male academics and national security officials.

Still, challenges remain.

In meetings, she’s often one of the only women in the room. When it comes to the research itself, field work also can be problematic because it can be difficult for her to talk to extremists with misogynistic ideologies.

Then there was the time a man told Ligon she'd won the NCITE Center of Excellence award only because she was a woman. To suggest that Ligon was given a leadership position because of past bias against other women – rather than as recognition for her merit – was diminishing. But she wasn’t deterred.

“It was really important for me to show that I deserve to be the director,” she said. “And I was going to be the best director that they had.”

Ligon has resolved to be prepared and be an expert so she never gives people a reason to doubt her and her ability. Having learned from her experiences, she hopes to support young women in the counterterrorism field.

“I think having to interact with a lot of males in this space has helped me to have empathy for other young women,” Ligon said. “And it's good for me to be a role model and to help other women to understand how to catch up.”

This includes Braun, who Ligon has mentored throughout Braun’s master's degree and Ph.D. in criminology. Braun will present her dissertation in spring 2024.

Braun said she feels “very fortunate” to follow in the footsteps of people like Crenshaw and Ligon. Even still, decades of progress have not removed challenges she has faced for being a young woman. She recalled being a presenter on multiple occasions only to be asked by someone else in the room to fetch coffee. It underscored the challenges of being a graduate research assistant before she has had time to establish her credibility.

“Those moments impact you, like they see me as an intern, or they don’t see me as a presenter,” she said.

Additionally, when Braun presents about involuntary celibates, known as incels, she is sometimes seen as a potential victim instead of a researcher.

“It used to really hurt my feelings when I first started,” Braun said. "I've gotten more numb to it."

But over time, this bothers her less and she is more resilient.

"I no longer let myself question my credibility or my knowledge or my expertise," she said.

Witnessing Ligon has been instructive. She has observed Ligon, when on the receiving end of denigrating comments, respond pleasantly but dismissively with a “thank you for your feedback.”

“She's being professional," Braun said, “And speaking in a way that doesn't call out the behavior but lets people who know her well understand that she's being pleasant ... But she recognizes that this is a waste of our time to speak to this particular individual.”

Another way to deal with sexist remarks and experiences that Braun has found is calling out the behavior if possible.

“I feel like part of it is calling out bad behavior as it happens to kind of stop in its tracks, right?” Braun said. “If you're in a presentation where someone is nasty or rude to a woman who's presenting, being a voice in there to call out the behavior and to be a girl’s girl – to be an ally.”

Having a good support system has helped her deal with sometimes negative experiences in the terrorism field through giving her good feedback and supporting her through hardship. Something else that Braun says has helped her is “knowing who in your field are the baddies” like Martha Crenshaw and Gina Ligon.

“Just knowing that no matter how many times you're told to go get coffee in a meeting, that there are people like that in the world who are making incredible strides and who have done incredible things with their careers,” Braun said.

Mentoring Women

Crenshaw, Ligon, and Braun have all worked to mentor and support younger generations of women in academia and national security.

“I tried to always make sure that, if I were asked who to invite to write a chapter, who to invite to come to a conference, that I would name (a woman entering the field) and make sure that I could give them what visibility I could,” Crenshaw said.

Her mentorship has inspired the generations that followed.

Ligon described how, as an NCITE researcher, Crenshaw promotes the work of junior researchers who collaborate with her.

“She is always thinking about their career goals first, with her deliverables with her budget,” Ligon said. “She makes a lot of her decisions about developing people around her – specifically women – which is really cool to see.”

Ligon’s efforts to support other women has extended to her mentorship of Braun.

“For someone like Clara, I always wanted her to have the best CV that she could have so that she could get any job she wanted, whether it be applied or academic,” Ligon said. “My job is to mentor her so there's no doubt that she is where she is because of her capabilities.”

Her mentorship of Braun includes the personal and professional – like how to present to different audiences.

“As a researcher, I don't think it's common in graduate school to have your mentor be so vested in your professional development instead of teaching you 'these are methods,'” Braun said. "So, she's always (been) pretty influential in how I've grown up.”

Ligon has mentored other women about how to “be confident and strong and see yourself as deserving.” And her leadership has affected women beyond her mentees. For example, when Crenshaw wanted to add junior colleagues on the grant, Ligon was enthusiastic about including them.

“Gina was very, very welcoming,” Crenshaw said. “She was delighted to see younger women entering the field.”

Throughout her Ph.D., Braun has also mentored other students who are now working in the counterterrorism field.

“I have friends who graduate every year and go off and do incredible things in their careers, and I'm still in touch with all of them,” Braun said. “And every time I see them, I just am in awe. I know it's not related to me personally, because their accomplishments are their own, but even being part of how they've grown up has been invaluable.”

Braun will soon graduate with her Ph.D. in criminology and has a promising career ahead of her. In the same way that her predecessors offered paths forward, she will continue to do so for future generations.