TERRORISM RESEARCH CENTER
Luke Andrew Olney

Luke Olney was pursuing a dual major in political science and international relations at the University of Findlay in Ohio when he applied to the Washington Internship Program on April 4, 2006. Luke also completed basic combat training at the Military Occupation School and attended the Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center (Dam Neck) in Virginia Beach. He received a meritorious promotion to lance corporal and later corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps and was an honor graduate of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Intelligence School. In terms of political experience, Luke worked as a campaign manager for John Sparks, his computer skills were perfected at the University of Findlay Technology Center, and he worked in public relations for the Inn at Honey Run. Luke received the President’s Education Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement, and he attended the National Student Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. He also participated in the University of Findlay OILER Leadership Training Series, was a Presidential visit volunteer on campus, and helped disabled people through the Special Olympics. Finally, Luke won a Holmes County Educational Foundation Scholarship of $1,500 to be used toward rent at International House in the summer of 2006 when he took part in the Washington Internship Program. Following a phone interview in late April, WIP placed Luke on May 2 at the Terrorism Research Center in Virginia where he worked full-time (plus on weekends at home) from May 28 through July 28. Upon returning in the fall as a senior at the University of Frindlay, Luke became a teaching assistant for a course on Political Ideology.

Luke was one of five summer interns working at the Terrorism Research Center, which also has satellite offices in Florida, London, and elsewhere in the world. He was assigned to monitor terrorist attacks and write private threat analyses for Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Working with an Arabic translator, Luke traced news sources on a daily basis and contributed to a database of all terrorist activities that became part of a regional portfolio and a website that can be accessed by national and international clients of the Terrorism Research Center. Such information is extremely valuable for a wide range of government and intelligence services, police departments, fire fighters, and other first-responders. Before coming to Washington, Luke had seen a special on CNN profiling some of this work with Black Water, a private company handling security contracts overseas. Luke remarked: “Despite the disturbing character of the research, I greatly appreciated this fast-paced, exciting office that tested my writing and analytical skills. I liked the gracious, interesting people I met, and I learned so much from experts like our director of analysis who spent thirteen years with the Department of Defense before coming to the Terrorism Research Center. He was a great resource for me. This internship was amazing, and I highly recommend it to any students with a strong grounding in history who are capable of working independently on materials to be published. Although direction was provided, interns – like staff members – needed to function on their own and draft political analysis based on the facts they collect.”

            Luke visited a number of think-tanks and other government and private organizations on his own and under the auspices of the Terrorism Research Center. For example, he attended Congressional hearings on the U.S. sale of fighter jets to Pakistan where members of the House of Representatives expressed concern over the State Department’s pursuit of this sale prior to congressional authorization. Luke wrote a summary of this debate. He also visited the American Enterprise Institute (where another WIP intern, Brian Rose from Harvard University – who lived for part of the summer at International House with Luke – was working). At AEI, the conservative Luke was exposed to a liberal thinker speaking on his new book. Luke went a couple of times to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (where another one of his housemates at International House, WIP intern Yasmine Moezinia from Yale University, was placed). Here Luke met Mr. Zalmay, the U.S. representative to Iraq. Through CSIS, Luke was introduced to Mr. Talabany, a representative to the United States from the Kurtistan region (stretching from southern Turkey to northern Iraq) and who is the son of Iraq’s current president. Luke went to a Palestinian film series to hear a very one-sided view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. During the summer and throughout the year, WIP’s International House serves as an elite residential center where some of the finest interns at the best schools in America and abroad can exchange ideas and share experiences. (See picture of Luke with friends from International House.)            

Luke Olney (in yellow shirt) beside other WIP interns:
Paul Dragan and Liana Matei from Romania (left of Luke),
Suzi Oh (in pink shirt) from Carnegie Mellon University in
Pittsburgh, Laura Giovarra from Italy (behind Suzi),
Bethany Rees from Ithaca College in New York, and Varun
Rahman from Boston University. Eight of these interns from
International House visited the National Cathedral following
a WIP class at Georgetown University featuring this
architecture among other famous Washington, D.C. sites.

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