Paula Reynal

Paula Reynal is a research assistant for the Project on Prosperity and Development (PPD) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she supports the project's research agenda and coordinates events. Prior to becoming a research assistant, she was an intern for the CSIS International Security Program (ISP) and a graduate teaching assistant at the George Washington University. During her internship at ISP, she coauthored a brief titled “Never Trust, Always Verify: Federal Migration to ZTA and Endpoint Security.” Her research interests include the crime-terror nexus, state fragility, the strategic implications of emerging technologies, the growing strength of China, and the interplay between international development and security. She holds an MA in international affairs from the George Washington University with a dual concentration in U.S. foreign policy and international security. She graduated magna cum laude from California State University in 2020, where she completed a BA in history and a BA in political science. Her graduate capstone project was titled “Conflict-Sensitive Education & Countering Violent Extremism: Ed-CVE in Mali & Nigeria.” Her undergraduate senior theses were titled “The Price of AI Keeping Us Safe: Surveillance, Privacy, and National Security” and “Fragmented Transnational Identities: Anglo-Argentines in the 20th Century.”