Sent out each weekday, The CNS Soufan Group Morning Brief offers a roundup of the most important current events stories related to national security.

 
 

Morning Brief Staff

Elissa Miller

Morning Brief Senior Editor
Elissa Miller is a Program Analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation in the Department of Defense. She is currently on a detail from the DoD to the Office of Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin. Previously, she was a Research Associate in the Intelligence Analysis Division at the Institute for Defense Analyses, where she focused on defense and security issues on the African continent. She also served as a Program Officer at Strategic Capacity Group, where she supported a Department of State-funded project on strategic planning for security sector reform in Libya. Prior to that, Elissa served as a Rosenthal Fellow in the Office of African Affairs in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. Additionally, she was a Nonresident Fellow and an Assistant Director at the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. Elissa is a finalist in the Presidential Management Fellowhip class of 2020. She holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Tufts University. (None of the views expressed here represent those of the Department of Defense or the U.S. government).
 
 

Abigail Kukura

Morning Brief Editor & Writer
Abigail Kukura is an Associate Director of Research and Analysis for the Special Competitive Studies Project, a non-profit initiative studying U.S. competitiveness in the technologies reshaping national security, the economy, and society. Previously, as a Senior Associate for the consulting firm Command Group, Abigail worked on security strategy and implementation projects and conducted open-source intelligence analysis. She also previously worked as a Program Coordinator and Research Assistant for the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Abigail holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where she studied international security and foreign policy, with a specific focus on nonviolent resistance movements, as well a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from the George Washington University.
 
 

Lindsey Sullivan

Morning Brief Writer
Lindsey Sullivan is an ETC Coordinator at the D. E. Shaw Group, a global investment and technology development firm. In this role, she focuses on event planning and wellness programming for the firm. Lindsey holds a Master of Arts in Elections and Campaign Management from Fordham University. During her studies, Lindsey worked as a student researcher and executive assistant at the Center on National Security and as a research assistant for Nana Osei-Opare's Socialist De-Colony: Soviet and Black Entanglements in Ghana's Decolonization and Cold War Projects. Prior to her graduate studies, Lindsey completed her Bachelor of Arts in History.
 
 

Olivia Chioffi

Morning Brief Writer
Olivia Chioffi is the Program and Research Associate for the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC), where she helps to manage the Postdoctoral Program on Technology and International Security and the annual Public Policy and Nuclear Threats (PPNT) Boot Camp. Prior to joining IGCC, Olivia worked as a Senior Legislative Fellow at Monument Advocacy, a Washington, D.C.-based government relations and public affairs firm, and served as the Academic Journal Director for Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development at Columbia University. Olivia earned a Master of Science with distinction in conflict studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), as well as both a Bachelor of Arts in human rights from Columbia University (magna cum laude) and a Bachelor of Arts in politics and government from Sciences Po Paris as part of a dual degree program.
 
 

Alexandra Munro

Morning Brief Writer
Alexandra Munro recently completed her Master’s degree in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies with a financial crime management specialization at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. She will be joining the U.S. Department of the Treasury as an Analyst working on illicit finance issues. During her graduate studies, she interned with the Treasury’s Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, developing and supporting anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) policies around the African continent. She also interned at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS) where she conducted open-source investigations into North Korean maritime sanctions evasions. Alexandra holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs and French from Lafayette College.