An Interview with Alisha Deluty (JP 2010), Senior Strategist for the U.S. Department of State in the Bureau of Counterterrorism

Can List College students be superheroes? I interviewed Alisha Deluty, List College class of 2010, who works as a senior strategist for the U.S. Department of State in the Bureau of Counterterrorism (yes, it’s as cool as it sounds). She studied Bible at JTS and Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia. She then went on to earn her MA in Middle East Studies from George Washington University. I got an exclusive look into her life as a real-life peace warrior. Check out the interview below to find out more! 

How did you become interested in Middle East Studies? 

Just on a whim, I decided to start studying Arabic to fulfill Columbia’s cultural diversity requirement and that led me to the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures major. I was really fascinated with the linguistic similarities between Arabic and Hebrew, and decided I wanted to learn more about the cultures and politics of the region. I continued studying Arabic, and then I started taking some Middle East and Asian studies classes. I spent a semester of my junior year at Ben-Gurion University in Israel. There’s a very sizable Israeli-Arab and Bedouin population in Be’er Sheva, so I was further immersed in the languages and cultures of the region there.

I want to know a little about applying to grad schools with your List College degree. How did you use List College on a résumé? How did you talk about it? What was it like doing grad school interviews? 

On my résumé, I broke it down. I wrote that I have a BA in Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia, and I also have a BA from JTS.  A lot of people from my class at List College entered the rabbinate or the Jewish education world, and I was one of the few people who did not do that. I always asked myself, “How do I write this? How do I make sense of this degree?” But I decided to just own it. You should say you have a BA in whatever your major is at Barnard/Columbia and a BA from the Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies. Occasionally I’ve gotten the question, “Are you a rabbi?”  or “What does your degree mean?” However, usually people just read over it. Even in job interviews, sometimes it came up, and sometimes it didn’t. And you can go into as much detail or as little detail as you want. I usually did it on a case-by-case basis. 

How did you become interested in the field of counterterrorism? 

 When I finished grad school, I took a contractor position at the U.S. Department of Defense on a communications team, even though it was not what I wanted to be doing in the long-term. While I was there, I applied for and received the Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF), which gave me the opportunity to work in government for the long-haul. As a PMF, I worked in the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, where I served as the program officer for the Middle East and North Africa. I really put my regional experience to use, and I also thought that I wanted to focus on human rights in the region. In addition to getting experience in working on these issues, I was also able to travel a lot during my time working in that office. As part of the two-year fellowship, you also have to do rotational assignments, which include working for a couple of months in different offices. One of those happened to be in the Bureau of Counterterrorism. I was there for about six months, and I decided that I actually wanted to work on counterterrorism issues. Long story short, several months after I finished the fellowship, a position opened up on the counterterrorism team where I had done the short-term assignment, and I was able to move back there for good. 

What does a typical day in the life of Alisha Deluty look like? 

Well, there is no such thing as a typical day. When I get to work every morning, there are certain things that I know I have to do that day, but that might change if someone at a higher level than me needs me to do something else. I might also have to change what I do on a given day based on an event that happens in the world, for example. As part of my job, I’m the Bureau of Counterterrorism’s liaison with Congress. So something could happen on [Capitol] Hill, such as the introduction of legislation, and the State Department might need me to respond to it. No two days look the same, which keeps things interesting. 

What kinds of things are you dealing with at work? 

An issue that I work on is countering racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism, or REMVE, so kind of domestic terrorism abroad when it crosses borders or countries. This includes neo-Nazism, antisemitism, and violent white supremacy outside of the United States. For example, if a senior counterterrorism official has a meeting with a foreign counterpart, I have to figure out what points my leadership should raise on this issue and how we can better collaborate with our foreign partners to counter this threat. I also attend and plan international conferences on counter REMVE initiatives, so a lot of my time is spent coordinating these meetings with colleagues in U.S. embassies abroad and foreign counterparts.

Alisha Deluty

What’s the best part of your work? 

The people I work with are really smart, good, interesting people, who have a range of experiences and come from different cultures and backgrounds. I also really enjoy being able to travel, oftentimes to places I probably never would have gone to. Additionally, I get to interact with people throughout different U.S. government agencies, foreign governments, non-governmental officials, and Congressional Members and staff on a regular basis.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to students who are considering a similar career path or even just List College students, in general? 

I would say that your interests can change and to be open to that. Going into college, I thought I was going to be a psychology major. Then I took a psychology class at Barnard and decided I didn’t want to do it as a major. Also, even what you think you want to do when you finish List College might not be what you want to do in the long run, so just be open to all possibilities. When I was a first-year at List College, I never in a million years would have thought I would be where I am now. Just be patient with the process. Speaking from experience, especially going into government, it is a very long process, and you just have to be very patient and persistent and not lose sight of your goals.

In what ways does your Jewish identity relate to your work? Is there a Jewish value that guides you in your work?  

My Jewish identity is at the forefront of who I am. Jews are, of course, a minority, and when you’re outside of JTS, you’re more aware of that. I also work on an issue that touches on antisemitism, so I am more attuned to my Jewish identity at work on a daily basis. My grandparents were Holocaust survivors, so countering neo-Nazism and violent white supremacy has a personal side to it as well. Separately, I am a member of a Conservative synagogue in D.C., so my Jewish identity is very much a big part of my life outside of work.

I would say that public service is a Jewish value, it’s giving back to the community. It’s doing something for the betterment of society and the betterment of the public. It’s not just about wanting to have a high salary, or anything like that; it’s doing something for the greater good.