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Orientation Video Transcript

Participants:  Vijay Jain, 2007 ISEF Scholar, Harvard University, Biochemistry; Jinju Yi, 2007 ISEF Scholar, Stanford University, Biochemistry

Transcript:

Murray: Today I’m presenting on Hawala, which is an Islamic way of changing money and changing debts. I intern at the DHS headquarters, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, working on Islamic radicalization, and while this isn’t exactly what I worked on in my internship, it’s in a similar vein in that in changing debt in Hawala in Islamic society, it’s often a way that you can move illicit money, and that can be used as a terrorist tool. And something that we’ve seen in Afghanistan particularly with the Taliban is something that you see in a lot of Muslim countries, and so my research focuses on what are the roots of this system, how is it being used by terrorists currently, and what are some implications for DHS in terms of regulation and cooperation in the international community to alleviate the damage caused by Hawala?

Question:Do you plan to continue this research in the future, and if not, what other topics are of interest to you?

Murray:  I’m very much interested in Hawala, and if I don’t continue research specifically on Hawala, I will continue research on radicalization in the homeland, particularly within Islamic communities. Other areas of interest that I’m really pursuing right now are radicalization in Pakistan and how terrorist groups move across borders and how they radicalize, they send actors out into other countries.

Question:How has the DHS scholarship influenced your education and professional development?

Murray:  When I applied and became a scholar in 2004, I didn’t really know much about DHS or about homeland security, and after my internship I knew that I wanted to work at DHS. I wanted to work in intelligence, and this really cemented my goals and gave me practical work experience to take into a job. And I just want to let everyone know that aside from a lot of the other policy scholarships and fellowships that you see out there, and the internships, DHS always gives you substantive work, something that you can really dig your teeth into in terms of research, and that’s something that you’re not going to see in a lot of internships. And so I thank DHS so much for the real work experience.

Question:Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?

Murray:  I would like to be an analyst working on issues similar to the ones that I’m working on today at DHS or another federal government agency.