Marilyn Stern (’12): An Artist’s Focus on Radical Islam

“IWP was a great experience. The professors were amazing.”
-Marilyn Stern (’12)

Marilyn Stern’s path to a career in national security began far from Washington, D.C.— in the creative heart of New York’s fashion industry. Originally a fashion illustrator and interior designer, Marilyn’s world was shaken during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when her brother narrowly escaped being inside the Twin Towers that morning. The experience was a personal wake-up call—and the catalyst that launched her into a second career: combating the threat of radical Islam.

Marilyn’s journey led her to IWP, where she earned her M.A. in Statecraft and National Security Affairs and focused her research on terrorism and extremism. Today, she works with the Middle East Forum (MEF) as part of a team producing a highly regarded foreign policy podcast and contributing to U.S. policy discussions on the Middle East.

This is the story of her transformation—from sketching fashion figures to shaping conversations on national security.

A Creative Career Interrupted by Crisis

Marilyn began her professional life as a fashion illustrator in New York, having studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology. After relocating to Pennsylvania with her family and studying at the Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, she transitioned into interior design and architectural rendering—a career she pursued for over a decade.

Then came 9/11. Her brother, an administrative law judge, had a hearing scheduled at the World Trade Center that morning but did not end up going. That narrow escape left a lasting impact.

“It really brought home to me how close I came to being personally affected by an international threat,” said Marilyn. “We have never really been hit on the mainland. We feel a surreal sense of impossibility that something like that can happen here.”

In the wake of that event, Marilyn began attending conferences on terrorism and joined boards of organizations focused on countering radical Islam. She attended the Institute for Counterterrorism (ICT) four-week certificate program at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC, now Reichman University) in Herzliya, Israel. Her experience there was so valuable that she and her husband donated a one-time scholarship for a female in financial need who had achieved top scholastic levels while completing her counterterrorism degree. “Women bring an important perspective to the counterterrorism fight,” said Marilyn.

Immersing herself in the field, Marilyn realized that while she had become well-read, she needed a full master’s degree to be taken seriously.

That realization brought her to IWP, and thanks to her studies at ICT, she had the confidence to apply.

Earning a National Security Master’s Degree

She enrolled at IWP while raising three children and commuting weekly from Philadelphia, staying in a small studio apartment during her time in Washington. Her husband’s support made it all possible.

“I had always used the right side of my brain,” Marilyn said. “I hadn’t studied history deeply, so starting a master’s program in national security was intimidating—but it was also an exciting challenge.”

She knew that there was a connection between her design career and her new field: “Design is seeing patterns and connecting dots. It’s the same principle as national security—you create order out of chaos.”

She remembers her first class—Case Studies in Counterintelligence with Prof. Brian Kelley, where she still recalls her PowerPoint case study about the World War II agent, Juan Pujol Garcia (code name Garbo), and how this one noble person influenced history for the greater good. The students—many of them younger than Marilyn—all went around the room that first day introducing themselves, sharing that they had backgrounds in fields like computer science or pre-law. Prof. Kelley looked up from his clipboard at Marilyn and said, “Oh yeah—you’re the illustrator!” Marilyn took it in stride and enjoyed the class.

Dr. Norman Bailey’s economics class was another pivotal moment. He presented the evolution of civilization in a way that resonated deeply with her as a visual learner.

“His explanation felt like I was watching a documentary,” said Marilyn. “The whole history of economics started to connect for me.”

A Deep Dive into Radical Islam

Marilyn focused almost every paper for her M.A. program on some aspect of radical Islam. In Dr. Bailey’s class, she researched Sharia Compliant Financing (SCF), its roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, and SCF’s connection to the political ideology of Islamism.

By the time she got to Dr. Charles Smith’s class on the Western moral tradition, he forbade her to keep writing about radical Islam because he knew she had been so focused on it in all her other classes. He challenged her to write about the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and she did. “I learned a lot,” said Marilyn.

Dr. Marek Chodakiewicz’s geography and strategy class was also eye-opening. In the art world, Marilyn had almost thought of the world like Saul Steinberg’s illustration of New York as the center of the world.

When it came time to select a research topic for her paper, she asked Dr. Chodakiewicz for guidance. He said, “Pick a country, and tell me something I don’t know about it. How about Mexico or South America?” Marilyn threw herself into research on Mexican drug cartels and the security threats just south of the U.S. border. Dr. Chodakiewicz praised her work, and her paper was ultimately published in the Small Wars Journal.

Marilyn enjoyed many other aspects of IWP, from Amb. Alberto Piedra’s stories of attending high school with Fidel Castro, to appreciating the intricate carvings in the wood paneling in her classrooms in the Marlatt Mansion.

Advancing the Dialogue on the Middle East

After graduation, Marilyn transitioned from board service to a staff role at the Middle East Forum founded by renowned Middle East scholar, Daniel Pipes, where she works to advance the conversation about U.S. foreign policy and the Islamist threat.

She is currently part of a team producing a weekly podcast that features subject matter experts in the field of foreign policy and Middle East studies. The podcast’s audience is already well-informed, so the questions and discussion on the podcast are of a high caliber.

Marilyn points to the types of jihadism that MEF investigates as part of its mission to “promote American interests in the Middle East and protect the West from Middle Eastern threats.” First is radical Islam’s violent jihadism. Second is the broad range of religious and political ideologies described as Islamism, and third is stealth jihad, which involves the exploitation of the West’s liberal democracy and the freedoms that we take for granted to undermine these very freedoms. MEF’s director, Gregg Roman, recently gave congressional testimony exposing USAID’s foreign funding of terror-linked organizations.

Marilyn has seen some concrete results of MEF’s work and that of her colleagues when the Middle East Forum reports and investigations have informed and affected U.S. policy.

Additionally, Marilyn and her colleagues are working to inform regular citizens so that they can be attuned to these issues. “I try to reach people who are where I once was—living in blissful ignorance. Being informed is the best way to protect our freedoms and pass them on to the next generation.”

From the design studios of New York to the foreign policy organizations of Washington and beyond, Marilyn Stern’s journey reflects both personal transformation and civic commitment. Her story is a reminder that the fight to safeguard democracy comes from unexpected places—and often, from unexpected people.