Women in national security: A tipsheet on some good Twitter accounts to follow

Best Defense is on summer hiatus. During this restful spell we offer re-runs from the past 12 months. This item originally ran on May 15.

The other day, Vanity Fair‘s Jim Warren carried a comment of mine about how nowadays there are a lot of smart women in national security commenting on Twitter. Here’s the list I gave him:

@Susan_Hennessey
Susan Hennessey. Former NSA lawyer, now managing editor of the Lawfare blog.

@nadabakos
Nada Bakos. At CIA was the lead targeting officer hunting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the godfather of the Islamic State, killed in an airstrike in Iraq in 2006.

@TaraMaller
Tara Maller. MIT PhD, former CIA analyst.

@KoriSchake
Kori Shacke. Defense Secretary James Mattis listens to her, Okay?

@brooks_rosa
Rosa Brooks. Law professor, author, former Pentagon official.

@natsecHeather
Heather Hurlburt. Former White House, State Department, congressional staffer.

@FranTownsend
Frances Townsend. Former George W. Bush advisor, now a talking head.

@LorenRaeDeJ
Loren D. Schulman. Former assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

@burkese
Sharon Burke. Former Pentagon climate change czar — a position now eliminated

@SlaughterAM

Anne-Marie Slaughter. Former Princeton dean, State Department official. Now my boss’s boss at New America, the think tank where I hang my hat.

@anneapplebaum
Anne Applebaum. One of the best people on Russia.

@JohnsonFreese
Joan Johnson-Freese. Expert on military issues in outer space.

@nancyayoussef
Nancy Youssef. Veteran military reporter, tough and funny.

@malwareunicorn
Amanda Rousseau. Private sector cyber warrior.

And a foreigner:

@FedericaMog
Federica Mogherini. Foreign minister of the European Union.

Photo credit: Columbia Pictures/Zero Dark Thirty