Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Stacy Arruda retired from the FBI in 2018. During her 22 year career, she held a wide range of operational and leadership roles in the Field and at FBI Headquarters. She is credited with drafting the FBI’s response to electronic attack in the International arena, as well as boosting the FBI’s computer crime and cybersecurity investigative capabilities. She directed numerous Counterintelligence and computer intrusion investigations spanning the globe, including denial-of-service attacks, bank and corporate breaches, and state sponsored intrusions. Stacy is a member of the Cybercrime Advisory Board at the University of South Florida, and an Advisory Board member of Hack Red Con, a Cybersecurity Conference.
Stacy earned a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of Florida (UF), a Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Cybersecurity Leadership and Strategy from Florida International University (FIU).
Stacy is the CEO and Founder of the ARRUDA Group, a consulting agency specializing in Cybersecurity Awareness//OPSEC Training and investigations. As a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Adjunct Faculty, Stacy delivered hundreds of speeches/presentations/trainings over the past 22 years.
In honor of International Women's Day, five extraordinary women from the Department of State and Department of Justice joined me to talk about the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP), Engaging Multinational Policewoman in Equality and Rights (EMPoWER). EMPoWER aims to recruit, train, develop and elevate policewomen globally so they can better combat terrorism. Join me on your favorite podcast platform to listen to Grace Mason, Ivana Brennan, Lynn Holland, Vanessa DuBoulay, and Sugi Gomathinayagam tell us about the importance of such an empowering program and their personal story!
This micro-series consists of three segments that will be released as follows: 3/8/2024; 3/13/2024; and, 3/20/2024
Grace Mason is the current Program Manager for the U.S. Department of State, Counterterrorism Bureau Programs Office. She is responsible for portfolios related to Central Asia and Women, Peace, and Security. Grace has a B.A. in Leadership and Public Policy. Prior to joining the DoS, Grace served as a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs. At the Department of State, she's worked issues ranging from the Afghan Relocation effort, after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in Fall of 2021, and she modernized the department's communications and contact management systems.
Ivana Brennan joined with the US Department of Justice International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program,ICITAP in 2015 and currently serves as the deputy assistant director for the ICITAP Global Programs and Women, Peace, & Security (WPS) Unit. In this role, she supervises a team of program officers, while coordinating and implementing dynamic headquarters driven global programs, to include the Engaging Multinational Policewomen on Equality and Rights (EMPoWER) program. Prior to being promoted to deputy assistant director, Ms. Brennan served for seven years as an ICITAP program officer. In that capacity, she was responsible for a complex portfolio, primarily supporting ICITAP’s efforts in the Europe/Eurasia region. During her time as a program officer, her portfolio included Albania, Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Pakistan, Serbia, and several regional initiatives, to include the Balkans CT Cell, INTERPOL, and the ATS-G programs. While overseeing financial and programmatic implementation for all the countries within her portfolio, she also led several efforts at headquarters, to include training initiatives for newly on-boarded ICITAP advisors and local staff. In 2022, Ms. Brennan worked closely with ICITAP senior management to help standup the Global Programs and WPS Unit and served as the acting deputy assistant director until her recent promotion. One of the primary roles of the new unit is championing the critical importance of advancing meaningful participation of women in law enforcement.
Lynn Holland serves as a Senior Law Enforcement Advisor for the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program, ICITAP, Engaging Multinational Police Women on Equality and Rights (EMPoWER) program. Over the course of her domestic and international law enforcement career, Lynn has played a critical role in establishing greater inclusion for women in law enforcement. She was chosen as the first female officer from the U.S. to attend specialized training at the Metropolitan Police, New Scotland Yard. Lynn became the first woman to serve on the executive management team for ICITAP for the Haitian National Police Initiative. Her international experience includes leading the Bosnian program to assist women and men victimized by rape as an “act of war.” She was selected to be on an elite law enforcement entry team into Kosovo where she served as a human rights investigator assigned to high profile cases of massacres and torture of adults and children in the Balkans. Lynn was instrumental in creating the post-conflict Kosovo Police Academy. She is recognized as a security sector reform subject matter expert by the United Nations (UN) and the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP). Lynn serves on leadership positions with sections and committees at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), and the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST). Lynn earned her Master’s Degree as a Bush Fellow at the George H. W. Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University.
Vanessa DuBoulay is a Program Officer at ICITAP, working under the Global Programs & Women, Peace, and Security unit, Vanessa helps implement foreign assistance programs that strengthen the capacity of foreign partners to detect, disrupt, and deter terrorist activity. Vanessa's academic and professional interest lies in the nexus between development and international security, which is why she’s developed expertise in topics such as corruption, transnational organized crime, conflict resolution, and peace operations. Prior to this role, Vanessa worked as a Program Associate for the International Association of Women Judges, helping design and implement foreign assistance projects that advanced the judiciary in countries such as Mexico, Dominican Republic, Uganda, Kenya, and Haiti. Previously, Vanessa also served as the Executive Assistant to the Office of the Assistant Secretary General at the Organization of American States and worked in education policy with Leadership for Educational Equity. From 2017-2021 Vanessa joined Teach For America as an educator and taught in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Vanessa DuBoulay obtained her master’s degree in international affairs from the George Washington University, where she concentrated in International Law and Organizations and International Development. During her last two academic semesters, Vanessa consulted for the United Nations (UN) and the Better World Campaign on matters related to contemporary peace operations and disinformation and informed on language for H.R.4169 - United States Commitment to Peacekeeping Act of 2023. Vanessa received her B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Sugi Gomathinayagam, currently serves as the Acting Deputy Assistant Director for ICITAP’s Europe and Eurasia Region. In this role, she supervises program officers overseeing EMPoWER programs in numerous countries throughout the region and ensures the smooth operation of ICITAP’s law enforcement development programs. Prior to this she served as the program officer for ICITAP’s Women, Peace, Security & Global Programs Unit where she managed programs on the global scale on a variety of Department of State funded programs related to Countering Terrorist Financing (CTF)/ Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Global INTERPOL partnerships, Export Control and Related Border Security (EXBS), and Women in Security sector programming . Sugi has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics from Texas A&M University. Sugi speaks several languages, Ukrainian, Russian, Tamil and Spanish shares her personal story and talks to us about her journey in the Peace Corps in Ukraine, the amazing work she did in the Balkans, and her current role as Acting Deputy Assistant Director for the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistant Program (ICITAP) Europe and Eurasia Region.
In this segment, which concludes our EMPoWER micro series, Grace Mason rejoins us and she talks to us about the importance of the USG's Women in Peace and Security (WPS) program. Lynn Holland also surprises me with a shout-out near the end!
Ivana Brennan and Lynn Holland
Grace Mason, DoS Counterterrorism Bureau
Sugi Gomathinayagam volunteers in Ukraine
Vanessa DuBoulay
Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer Cormack served in Army before transitioning to the FBI. While in the Army, Jennifer learned Arabic and also became an Engineer Officer, skills she brought to the Bureau. She served in the FBI for 20 years, where she worked counterterrorism matters, became a Hazmat member, and later in her career a liaison officer for CENTCOM and SOCCENT. Jennifer's exceptional work earned her a QSI (quality step increase) and an Impact Award, making her one of the few Agents I know to receive such commendations. In her retirement life, she continues to contribute and passes on her knowledge and Counterterrorism experience by being a consultant for DOJ's ICITAP EMPoWER and she is a volunteer for Skull Games, a platform that tracks and identifies potential victims of human trafficking. Tune in to her episode today!
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