In her career thus far, Arielle has assisted refugees in coming to the U.S. and protected the country from terrorists and criminals. Now a technical recruiter for Amazon Web Services, Arielle connects talented engineers with government clients. Her work, which requires a detailed understanding of the security clearance process, directly impacts our nation’s security.
Here, she shares about her experience at IWP and her career in the national security community.
Choosing a career path
When discerning what to do after her undergraduate studies in international relations at the University of Delaware, Arielle considered law school. However, after experiencing the LSAT, she quickly decided law wasn’t her favorite field.
She had loved her class on international law, but she decided to turn towards a career in international affairs instead. She was inspired by one of her university courses on diplomacy, in which students debated different foreign policy scenarios. “For example, we debated whether the United States’ involvement in Somalia in the early 1990s was justified.”
“I knew I was going to attend IWP”
After attending an IWP open house, which included remarks by career director Derrick Dortch and a conversation with Prof. John Tsagronis, Arielle said, “I knew that I was going to attend IWP.”
This was a significant decision because she had also been accepted to Tel Aviv University. “Anyone who knows me knows that I love the Middle East, and I have a strong interest in the Arab-Israeli conflict,” said Arielle. “The fact that I chose IWP says a lot about the IWP faculty and programs.”
Coming to IWP straight from her undergraduate studies, Arielle didn’t know what to expect. She was surprised by how challenging the IWP coursework was. “I used to be that person who never had to study and got straight A’s. At IWP, I had to put a lot of effort into studying, learning, and writing papers.”
Although she came to IWP with high-level knowledge of national security, her studies helped deepen and expand this understanding.
When asked what advice she could share with new IWP students, Arielle advised, “Take every opportunity that presents itself and don’t leave any stone unturned. If you don’t have an interest in an opportunity, still look into it and do your research. Otherwise, you may miss out on the opportunity that changes your life or launches your career.”
Advancing our nation’s security
Arielle graduated from IWP with a job offer from CACI. She began work there as a background investigator supporting CACI’s contract with the Office of Personnel Management.
From there, she took on roles as an intelligence analyst in several different organizations.
One of her significant achievements in these roles involved vetting refugees from the Middle East and North Africa who were applying to come to the United States. Arielle was responsible for ensuring that they didn’t have any connections to terrorism. Most of the refugees were cleared, but there were a few cases that had to be denied.
In another unclassified case, Arielle had to deny someone who was seeking asylum because of our laws about incest, statutory rape, and pornography.
Arielle enjoyed her work as an analyst, but she did not enjoy living in Virginia, far from her family.
Finding talent for the U.S. Intelligence Community
Arielle solved her geographical debacle by taking on a security intelligence position at Madison Square Garden and moving to New York, near her family. Eventually, she found her current role in tech recruiting with Amazon Web Services.
“I never saw myself as doing this!” said Arielle. “It’s a nice way to pair my background in what I studied at IWP with the corporate world. I am a people person, and I love talking to people every day.”
Arielle supports Intelligence Community customers who use Amazon storage, cloud computing, and database services.
In addition to understanding the needs of her customers and the skillsets of engineers, Arielle’s position requires a strong understanding of the security clearance process. She has to have a good sense of what can prevent an individual from upgrading his or her clearance with a full polygraph, as well as the different nuances that go into clearances.
“What I love most is that I get to make a difference, whether it’s for an individual on the job market or my customer,” said Arielle. “I get to have an impact by contributing to our national security strategy.”
Arielle with fellow IWP alumni